Reviews tagging 'Physical abuse'

The Shadow of What Was Lost by James Islington

5 reviews

chrisb913's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

This book gripped me in it's clutches from start to finish. Islington's use of mystery, action, and character work had me confused and second guessing who to even trust.

This is an very thick book and there is a lot of information on the world, magic system, and the characters but I felt Islington did a great job giving us just enough to keep us interested without info dumping constantly.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, and Blood

Moderate: Confinement, Self harm, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Physical abuse, Rape, and Sexual assault

nerdkitten's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Suicide, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Genocide, Self harm, Vomit, and Stalking

Minor: Ableism, Child death, Physical abuse, Rape, Excrement, Medical content, Kidnapping, Suicide attempt, Abandonment, and Alcohol

donatio's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

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

3.75

I did love the heavy world-building, that there was not as much romance as in many other books and I agree with all the people who say that the females were better-crafted than the male ones. 
Yet this book felt quite slow to me and as if nothing much happens. The time skips seemed to skip over important parts and it all seems quite "easy" as in the prota could always find a solution right away and there were many points when they could just TELL that someone was trustworthy, too often in my opinion. Furthermore I have not been able to really bond with the characters, their grief for example did not affect me. 
You can tell that it is a debut and not up there with Samantha Shannon or V. E. Schwab but I am intrigued enough to read the next books. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Death, Genocide, Gore, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

lectora21's review against another edition

adventurous 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? No

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: War

Minor: Bullying, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Torture, Vomit, Grief, and Fire/Fire injury

iono'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? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Death, Hate crime, Violence, Mass/school shootings, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Bullying, Child abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Torture, Police brutality, Kidnapping, and Grief