Reviews tagging 'Violence'

Dark Water Daughter by H.M. Long

14 reviews

abby_can_read's review

adventurous dark mysterious 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

4.0

📱
I had a great time reading this book. I loved the worldbuilding and the magic system. The storm magic was awesome. I liked the fighting and action scenes, both on the ships/in the ocean and on land. The characters were great. I liked how Mary developed. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, and Violence

Moderate: Gun violence, Slavery, and Kidnapping

Minor: Sexual assault, Vomit, and War

persephonefoxx's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Violence

Moderate: Gun violence, Slavery, Kidnapping, and War

Minor: Sexual assault and Vomit

meganemarshall's review against another edition

adventurous medium-paced

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

3.75

Everything about this book is good. The setting is amazing. You are basically on ships in the middle of a winter sea for the entire book. The world building is amazing. The mythos of this world is really interesting. The magic system was really cool. The idea of ghistings was fantastic. 

But for some reason, I could not connect this book. This book dragged for me until I found it on audio book. I was suffering through this. I don't know if I didn't connect to the characters. Or is the pacing at the beginning of the book dragged for me? I just didn't want to pick this book back up. However, I know it was an amazing book, and people should give it a chance. And I'm going to read the second one. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence

Moderate: Gore

misterwisp's review against another edition

adventurous emotional lighthearted relaxing 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? No

3.0

The ideas within the setting are neat. The characters feel strong and distinct. There is a bit of fun high seas piratical action to be had although not as much as I was hoping for. The story was a bit of a mixed bag and some parts were fast paced and others slow. There was more of a romance subplot happening than expected. So overall it's mostly fun although slow in parts and there is less action than you might think from the way the book presents itself. Not bad overall and an easy read. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death and Violence

Minor: Confinement, Vomit, Trafficking, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and War

lizziaha's review against another edition

• Strong character development? It's complicated

3.75

Ultimately, I just disliked Samuel, one of the main POVs of this book. Because it’s the first book in a series, I’ll give Long the benefit of the doubt. This could be laying the foundations for an incredible villain arc. But it just didn’t hit in this book. I felt like the relationships between the characters were underdeveloped, and it was just missing some of the pirate charm that I expected. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Gore, Rape, Sexual assault, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Kidnapping, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Gun violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Blood, Trafficking, Suicide attempt, and Murder

ijustreallyliketrees's review against another edition

adventurous dark slow-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? No

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Violence, and Blood

Moderate: Slavery and Kidnapping

Minor: Sexual assault

jenpen's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.0

I loved this book, even though I really did it a disservice by taking so long to finish it. Her writing is very descriptive, making it a slow read, but with such beautiful prose I am not complaining. I especially enjoyed all the foreshadowing and hinting at things to the reader without directly saying it, as this book is absolutely full of mysteries that gradually become unraveled. Even brief lines from the first few chapters hint at plot twists at the very end, making for such a satisfying read. 

Funny thing is, there really isn’t much of a plot - I struggled to figure out any character’s motivation for what they were doing. It was the weakest part of the book overall, but by far the strongest would be the world building. The magic and history of the world were extremely well thought out, and the snippets of lore between chapters help immerse you and explain details that would have been unnatural to fit into the main story itself. 

The characters were loveable (and I especially loved all the funny lines), but again, not much development going on there since not much happens plot-wise. I hated how Mary seemed to fall in love with every single male character she met, and even the main romance didn’t make sense. As such a heavily character-driven story, this actually makes me more excited to read the sequel to see what happens with the characters from here on, even though this reads as a satisfying standalone. Overall, I found the book immersive, creative, and very fun. Who doesn’t love a good pirate story!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Sexual assault, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Addiction

mirificmoxie's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful 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? No

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping and Murder

Moderate: Confinement, Sexual assault, Violence, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Slavery, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

katievallin's review

adventurous dark hopeful lighthearted mysterious tense 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Stalking, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol

Moderate: Child abuse, Vomit, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Animal death, Suicide, Torture, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Sexual harassment

miraileah's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

4.75

4.75. Absolutely loved this. The vibes were immaculate, the prose was great, the characters were fun, I really enjoyed it. It honestly reminded me of Naomi Novik’s writing style in Uprooted and Spinning Silver, which I obviously love. HM Long definitely has a way with words, and I’m looking forward to checking out more of their works. 

The magic system in this book was very unclear to me for most of the story (and much of it still is), but I imagine it’ll be clarified in book two, and it was likely an intentional choice. Not sure if this is something I’ll read and reread over and over, but I really enjoyed it and I will definitely be continuing with the series. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Slavery, and Violence

Moderate: Alcoholism, Body horror, Gore, Forced institutionalization, and Abandonment