Reviews tagging 'Violence'

Ruin by John Gwynne

14 reviews

kylieqrada's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Just a masterpiece. I knew sh!t was about to go down because third book in a series, plot cues were popping, number of pages was steadily increasing throughout the installments, but LORD, I loved this book. I can't say much because #spoilers, but I love how we get so many different perspectives, many of them "villains." It gives the story so much texture and nuance and I am LIVING. John Gwynne did the damn thing and, in typical fantasy fashion, my heart may not survive this series. Now for a brief romance interlude and I'll be back for book four. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Violence, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Child death, Death, Gore, Sexual assault, Slavery, Torture, Medical content, Grief, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Rape

seanml's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

What in Elyon’s name have I just READ? I was reading the last quarter of this and then glanced over to the still unread sequel Wrath on my shelf, and thought there’s another book after this? I am consistently impressed with Gwynne’s ability to have me pumping my fist in the air for

Veradis

one minute and then putting my head in my hands for

Corban

the next. 9.5/10.

Highlights: Cywen, Veradis, Alcyon, Fidele, Tukul, Corban, Farrel, Trigg, Laith, Coralen, Wulf, Camlin, Halion, Edana, Balur – the list can go on and on. And also, the amount of different narratives means we have many differing antagonists, so we can enjoy the conflicted villain, the anti-villain, and the classic evil-doer all in the same narrative.

Oh and one more thing: F#^%

Lykos,

all my homies HATE

Lykos.

He has easily joined the echelons of Ambrose from Name of the Wind and Harold in the Stand as an antagonist that makes me seethe with rage.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, and Murder

Moderate: Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Slavery, Vomit, and Death of parent

Minor: Infidelity, Rape, Excrement, and Cannibalism

hummyk's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Violence, and Death of parent

Moderate: Animal cruelty and Child abuse

jashanac's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful tense slow-paced

• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

So this took me like a solid month to read. Partially because the pacing is a bit slow in the first half or so for sure, but also partially because I'm the worst and was reading 4 other books at the same time for a few weeks. OOPS

I have my favorite characters and I swear to god if anything happens to them... !!! 

John Gwynne writes such EPIC action and battle scenes, in my opinion! I struggle to care about those scenes in MANY books, because they often feel tedious. But he manages to make those scenes really come alive for me. There were so many EPIC moments toward the end! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore and Violence

Moderate: Animal death and Slavery

Minor: Sexual violence