Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

A Kingdom of Flesh and Fire by Jennifer L. Armentrout

12 reviews

iggylizard's review against another edition

This book is nothing more than traveling and poorly written smut. More than once there is non-consensual sexual relations. The characters have no development. They’re insipid, boring, and horny. There is no plot. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Murder, Violence, Sexual assault, Gaslighting, Body shaming, and Rape

thecatconstellation's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.0

I didn’t enjoy this as much as the first one, but I did still enjoy it. There are certain parts that felt a bit too drawn out and there are certain things that get repeated too often (gee I wonder what Cas smells like?). But I do mostly like the characters (many more than Poppy and Cas) and I do enjoy the plot. Medium pace fantasy novel with a decent spice level. Interested to see if the third one bounces back for me. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Kidnapping, Murder, Violence, War, Sexual content, Blood, and Confinement

Moderate: Death of parent, Cursing, Body shaming, Grief, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Sexual assault, Cannibalism, Misogyny, Sexism, Alcohol, and Vomit

cassie12_21's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark funny medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I’m low-key disturbed, and I also have no idea what this plot is; however, I can’t stop reading it, so….

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content

Moderate: Confinement, Death, Gore, Grief, Violence, and Toxic relationship

clapyourshands's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Cursing, Blood, Cannibalism, Confinement, Murder, Death, Sexual content, Violence, Gore, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Grief, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Classism, and Child death

abipereira's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense fast-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

If I were not so busy with school, this book would have been finished in a day or two!

I don't know how she did it, but this was better than the first book. I was hooked from the beginning of the first sentence. I highly recommend that you purchase all books at one time because now I don't know what to do with myself. 

I did have to read the last chapter twice... but thats on me; I stayed up until 4am to finish the book. LOL I suggest to stop reading when all the words are blending together. 

I can't wait to read the next book!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Violence, Toxic relationship, Injury/Injury detail, and Genocide

Moderate: Body shaming, Confinement, Death of parent, and Kidnapping

Minor: Emotional abuse, War, Grief, Cursing, Bullying, and Blood

hannalizzy's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny informative mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

Half the book I was screaming at the main character in my head to get over herself and fall in love, and the other half  I spent relishing in the SWEET GOODNESS OF HER ADMITTING IT! We get SO much world building  in this book that give the characters and relationships so much depth and complexity. Because it’s so freaking long too, I feel like I know every thought that goes through their heads. I fell in love with each character so much more in this book because of that depth we get. And the ending? Jaw. Dropping. The best fantasy book I’ve read so far. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder and Violence

Moderate: Blood, Confinement, Death, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexual harassment, Torture, and War

Minor: Bullying, Child death, Sexism, and Toxic relationship

kellicat94's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Bullying, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, and War

Minor: Abandonment, Cannibalism, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, and Pregnancy

theespressoedition's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

While the first in this series didn't give me much to really ponder as I read, reading this one was a different experience. Rather than a quick pace and interesting plot that had me hooked enough to not get too fed up with the things I disliked, this one was slow and the substance wasn't very intriguing, leaving me with lots of time to get irritated with certain things along the way.

1. We get it - Poppy is violent. And she asks a lot of questions. These two things were repeated so many times that I think if you compiled each mention of them, they would comprise at least an eighth of the book.
2. Hawke is Casteel and Casteel is Hawke. And he's horny. Another repetition that drove me nuts. This would be another eighth of the book. 

So now we have a quarter of the book just being statements about the characters that are repeated incessantly.

3. Suuuuper slooooow, drawn-out chapters where nothing happens, and then BAM! Majorly steamy sex scenes. It kind of threw me for a loop as I read because it was so back and forth and there didn't seem to be much of a rhythm.
4. Can someone explain to me why JLA likes to save the most interesting part of the plot until the last chapter? She did the same thing in the first book too! I get that there needs to be something to make you want to pick up the next book (and it worked because I totally will), but I just don't understand why this couldn't be brought in earlier or alluded to a bit better to drive up the anticipation.

One thing I did really appreciate was how they acknowledged the fact that their relationship was toxic from the jump. There wasn't any weaseling around the topic. They recognized the toxicity and they worked to communicate better from there on out. It wasn't perfect, but at least they didn't ignore the way they treated each other. While the violence is weirdly glorified, the actual "bully love" portion of it was tamed in this book.

I included the trigger warning for gore, but if you can't handle blood, you need to avoid this one entirely. It is disgustingly bloody and made me queasy on multiple occasions. Yikes!

I'm not the biggest fan of these kinds of books, and that's pretty obvious from this review, but I will say that I like it better than most of the "hyped" YA/NA fantasy series out there. At least it keeps me mostly interested!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Sexual content, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, and War

Moderate: Animal cruelty and Cannibalism

dariusmortee's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious slow-paced

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

3.0

This book was…. an experience. I had a lot more trouble getting through this one than I did with the first.

The reason I’m intrigued (hehe) with this book isn’t what drags most in. I like the world building this series has. I enjoy figuring out how this world works. 

I am, however, constantly annoyed by Casteel. Poppy is okay and Kieran doesn’t have a personality. This book is such a rollercoaster of good and bad things that I both want to directly continue to the next book and at the same time lay it down for a while. That ending though….. How am I supposed to not read the next one directly after this? 

I’m just…..

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, and Toxic relationship

amivireads's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

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

Used to love this series but now see many glaring issues and honestly would rather read more diverse books than this. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, and Violence