Reviews tagging 'Violence'

Gallant by V.E. Schwab

69 reviews

justmys's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

An brilliant book that would be perfect reading on a stormy winter's night. 
Beautifully paced with intriguing characters and a bone chilling ghost story woven throughout. It's not a hopeful read, but it's a gift of a story.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Child death, Death, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Ableism, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Gore, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Terminal illness, Torture, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

rinku's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Death, and Blood

Moderate: Ableism, Child abuse, Mental illness, Self harm, Violence, Death of parent, and Abandonment

raginsagein's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Grief, and Death of parent

Minor: Child death and Violence

theinfinitebookcase's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious 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? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Suicide, and Violence

leonormsousa's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gore, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

rondasue27's review against another edition

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

5.0

This is such a great YA fantasy read. It’s a little bit horror mixed with Secret Garden inspo. I thoroughly enjoyed it after I hit about 150 pages in. It hit its stride and just sucked me into the story. I couldn’t put it down. The writing was so good. I felt myself speeding up with her nerves or her running just by the way the sentences were structured. And a mute character as the main character/protagonist was written so well. The little glimpses into her past interspersed in the story really rounded her out as a character and showed her desire for a family from a very young age. Merilance was so vivid in my mind just as much as Gallant and the other Gallant. Just such good writing. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Suicide, and Violence

laurensalisbury's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, and Death of parent

kathrynleereads's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense slow-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? No

3.75

I really enjoyed this book. I haven't ever read a book where the main character was unable to speak, and it was really enlightening to be able to visualize and better understand the struggles Olivia was going through.

I've always enjoyed reading a story with a static clue that twists and morphs throughout the story, just as the journal did in this book. The context and meaning of the journal entries and drawings shifted as the story went on and as Olivia began to understand her mother better and better.

I do believe that the story ended a bit abruptly and could have used a bit more at the end.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Ableism, Child death, Violence, Death of parent, and Murder

Minor: Abandonment

charlottx's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-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? No

3.25

I wasn’t too fond of our protagonist in the beginning but I greatly enjoyed all of the side characters/ villains! I look forward to reading more of Schwabs works and hopefully I can find some that have more horror elements as that’s what I thought I was missing in this book! 
Loved Matthew <3 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Body horror, Child death, Death, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Medical content, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

alexlynx's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad medium-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

Oh man how I loved the first 2/3 of this book. The writing is so good, bury me in her words honestly. The story started and it took me less than 5 pages to be completely drawn into this world. The main character has that kind of grinning, deserved revenge thirsty personality that I really like and the mysterious, creepy elements were not too intense but still made me shiver.
But then I feel like the story suddenly revolves around itself for way too long before any kind of official explanation is given, and when there is finally one it's not very surprising, which maybe wasn't the intention anyway but the absence of said explanation was so loud that it felt like there should have been some new element. That also extents to the plot twists,

except for the fact that her father was actually made by the monster,

most of them were pretty obvious.
And the last pages, the finale one could say, felt very very rushed as if there wasn't enough time and frankly not enough ideas on how to resolve it.

With the vibe of this book starting of so dark and lonely, I would maybe even have preferred a more tragic rather than a happy ending.

I still stand by the fact that the foundation of the story was really great and I haven't had my imagination run that wild in a long while. I will definitely check out other books by Schwab but I think I'll also be hunting for a book with a similar vibe and a more fitting ending to feel a little more closure.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail