Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

The Assassin's Blade by Sarah J. Maas

37 reviews

lavendar's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Grief

Moderate: Physical abuse, Slavery, and Torture

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Drug use, Toxic relationship, Excrement, and Murder

ameydireads's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

"If you can learn to endure pain, you can survive anything. Some people learn to embrace it–to love it. Some endure it through drowning it in sorrow, or by making themselves forget. Others turn it into anger."

This book is divided into five short stories centering on Celaena. Each story is a new adventure or life lesson for her. She meets so many new characters, each of whom she influences in her own unique way.  I hope to see some of these interesting characters return in later books. One notably memorable character is the Mute Master, leader of the Silent Assassins. He was a refreshing character in the sense that he’s in stark contrast to Arobynn. Whilst Arobynn rules through punishment and ruthlessness, the Mute Master leads with unity and compassion. When the first story begins, Celaena is still very young and somewhat naive. Her strong sense of morality and justice pushes her to liberate slaves–a choice that sets off a cascade of events leading to her downfall. 

The five stories are linked by an overarching plot that tells the love story of Celaena and Sam. If you’re reading this book after Crown of Midnight like me, you already know how this story will end.

Everything inevitably leads to Sam’s death and Celaena’s imprisonment in Endovier. I couldn’t get this thought out of my head as I read, making the moments when Sam and Celaena speak of their hopes and future together especially heartbreaking. They believed they would have all the time in the world, but we readers know better.

 

I do feel I understand Celaena better after reading this book. No wonder this girl is no walking sunshine. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Vomit

Minor: Child abuse, Confinement, Rape, and Death of parent

_marycappiello3's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

littlered22's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny mysterious sad tense slow-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? It's complicated

3.5

Slower than the other tog books but definitely a necessary book. I read it as #3 in the series so I already knew the fmc. But this gave me some background and insight. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, and Blood

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, and Alcohol

Minor: Death of parent

mrsjburgin's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Physical abuse, Sexism, Slavery, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, and Abandonment

tabea1409's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional tense fast-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Genocide, Gore, Misogyny, Sexism, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

asimpson7's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

I’m not really sure what to say about this book. It isn’t the type of book that ive read before, but I really enjoyed it. It kept me hooked the whole way through. I couldn’t stop thinking about what would happen next. Even though Celina is an assassin, she still feels like the good guy.  liked how her and Sam ended up together, and I almost cried when he died. Which makes me hate Arobyn even more. I don’t understand how someone could treat a person like that. But now I get the hype over Sarah J Mass books and I can’t wait to read the next one !

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, War, and Injury/Injury detail

barbarianmissy's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.25

THE ASSASSIN AND THE EMPIRE:

ouch…. I knew exactly what was gonna happen but it STILL. HURT. ME! 

I loooooooove that “My name is Celaena Sardothien and I will not be afraid” is from the one person she had left in her life that truly loved and cared for her. I gasped when he said it the first time and needed a moment to cope! Rip Sam, you were one sweet pea. 

Arobynn, I hope you get brutally murdered in later books, I said what I said, and what I said is that you’re a stupid skank. 

AS FOR THE BOOK AS A WHOLE! 

I really enjoyed reading this prequel! It made me understand Celaena a lot more and appreciate her as a character and where she comes from. Dorian and Chaol better step up their game cause Team Sam alllllll the way, baby! 

One small thing I did notice though was that, for the world’s greatest assassin, Celaena sure does get betrayed and captured a lot in these novellas. But it made for a fun time! 

ONTO THE NEXT! 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Death, Gore, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Slavery, Torture, Blood, Vomit, Stalking, Murder, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

shlymiller's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

quietlex's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-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? Yes

3.5

I didn’t love or hate it. It seemed pretty lackluster and predictable at times. I didn’t believe the romance between Celena and Sam, it felt forced and uninspired. I think this book was more focused on the different missions and progressing the plot rather than developing interesting and complex main characters. I’m hopeful that the rest of the series will build on who Celena is and why she thinks and acts the way she does. Quite disappointed with the lack of spice as well. Not the best start to the series, in my opinion. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism