Reviews tagging 'Kidnapping'

Winterkeep by Kristin Cashore

50 reviews

bri_morgan's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Grief, and Murder

Moderate: Animal death, Child abuse, Confinement, Violence, and Kidnapping

Minor: Child death

imds's review against another edition

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

lizziaha's review against another edition

• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.75

I love the additions to the Graceling world in this book! I especially enjoyed the Keeper(?) perspective and the interactions with the silbercows. I also thought that Lovisa as a character was very complex, and it was refreshing to see a teen in YA acting like a teenager instead of a small adult. very excited to pick up the next installment! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Torture, Kidnapping, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Drug use, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Death of parent, and Sexual harassment

melanieapril's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional reflective 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Violence, Kidnapping, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Bullying

ksykes's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective 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? It's complicated

4.5

I really enjoyed this but I’m not 100% sure what to think of it yet. My favourite points of view are the telepathic fox and telepathic sea monster, and I also really loved Giddon’s character arc. It threw me that, because of the world expansion, the vibe of this book is distinctly more dystopian in flavour than previous ones (it actually reminded me a lot of The Queen of the Tearling). I didn’t dislike it but it wasn’t necessarily what I was hoping for from the book.

I haven’t read enough race theory to have formed a confident opinion on this but her portrayal of race struck me as a bit problematic. It was hard not to lay our own world and culture over top of the ones she has created and I don’t think the expectation should be that readers <em>can</em> do that. In context of the series as a whole her depiction of race becomes a little less problematic but I think these books are still meant to operate as standalones?

All that to say I really enjoyed this. It’s more in the vein of Bitterblue than Fire or Graceling and has a riveting mystery at its centre.

One final thing, there should be a huge trigger warning for extreme emotional and physical abuse of a main point-of-view character and other children.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping and Death of parent

Moderate: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, and Physical abuse

Minor: Gaslighting

margaret_k30's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious fast-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Death, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, and Xenophobia

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Sexual content

lubotomy's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Drug use, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Sexual content, Kidnapping, Fire/Fire injury, and Abandonment

Minor: Outing, Sexual harassment, and Classism

kllyholt's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional lighthearted 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? It's complicated

3.75

I think Bitterblue may be one of my all time favorite characters and I loved seeing her again in this book, and especially because all the parallels between her and Lovisa’s upbringings were really interesting. But I absolutely hated that

Giddon and Bitterblue ended up together- mostly because of the age gap. I mean I saw it coming, and yes she’s older in this book, but he met her when she had just barely turned eighteen and he’s literally in his thirties. It gives me the ick- the author makes it obvious that it’s alright because “Giddon is a such good man” but that feels like such a cop out and really poor excuse, especially given how he has been in almost a mentorship role with her the entire time. It just reeks of grooming in my opinion. It’s not the most egregious display of it I’ve ever seen, but it’s still disappointing. It’s why I’m rating this book a little lower than I might have otherwise.

I liked everything else about this book though, especially the political and environmental commentary- it was really interesting and fun to read. 
Also, Lovisa’s character seemed very autistic to me- there’s one quote where she says, ‘“Why shouldn’t I ask about it directly? Would it be so terrible for everyone to say what they mean when they do things, and what they want, and why? Wouldn’t it make things simpler, and create fewer disasters?”’ 
Growing up I must have cried about that exact same thing hundreds of times- because I couldn’t understand why everyone around me would be upset or read into what I say all the time when I was trying my hardest to communicate with them the only way I am really able to. Anyways, I don’t know if this was an intentional thing by the author or not, but I definitely saw myself in Lovisa because of that and it made me love her character so much more. 

Also, the Keeper and the silbercows? I’m obsessed with them. Love them. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, and Death of parent

Moderate: Animal cruelty

Minor: Animal death

lwooters's review against another edition

adventurous challenging hopeful mysterious 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Death of parent, and Sexual harassment

talonsontypewriters's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful mysterious medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Classism

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Drug use, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Gaslighting, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Addiction, Infidelity, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, and Vomit

Drowning. Slut shaming. Starvation. Relationship between characters who are currently both adults, but almost definitely met when one was around 10 and the other was an older teenager/adult.