Reviews tagging 'Physical abuse'

Air Awakens by Elise Kova

23 reviews

literarymary95's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional 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? Yes

3.0

This book had an interesting concept but it felt like not much was happening until the last third of the book. I'm still going to continue reading the series, but the start of it was really slow.
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bunny_herondale's review against another edition

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adventurous funny lighthearted fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? N/A
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

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blacksphinx's review against another edition

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adventurous medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated

1.5

Where do I begin... The protagonist's name being two random Norse words? The chapter that is Divine Rivals But Worse? And actual dialogue tag that is "demanded gently"? The love interest asking the protagonist if she's ever fucked a man or masturbated two pages after calling her a child? (She's seventeen by the way.) The way the love interest's entire personality changes chapter to chapter? (And no, the protagonist thinking "the two halves of his personality don't seem to fit" does not fix that.) Why does this love triangle have so many sides when it's crystal clear who she is going to end up with! 

I literally only finished this due to a reading challenge. The back 40% was better than the first 60%, but I cannot get over how bad it was.
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rad_blackthorn's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional 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? No

4.5

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brindlecat's review against another edition

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Poorly written dialogue and fairly severe abuse by the MMC to the FMC
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shadow_summit's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

1.0

Don't be fooled by the 'quiet library book girly thrown into magic and intrigue' premise. Our main female lead Vhalla, isn't the smart, intelligent librarian the intro suggests.
The initial force that brings Vhalla and Crown Prince Aldrik together may have been meant to come across as a kind of academic rivalry and  challenge, but instead is dripping with insults, genuine abuse and down-troding by the Prince towards Vhalla. Through this, though I was put off and saw red flags flying our female lead's brain cells slowly escape her and are replaced with an attraction that is forced and cringe.
One gripe I especially have is her sudden behaviour towards one of her besties, who when confronted with her sorcery, is shocked and then investigates ways to prevent it: Vhalla becomes bitchy, shows no grace and blames the friend, despite the fact that she had the exact same reaction when she found out.
TO continue with her loss of all sensible reasoning, Vhalla ends up following a row of out of character decisions and events that leads to the big finale and into the rest of the series. By out of character, I mean, she loses all librarianisms which were supposed to be so important to her, and chases after the Prince by embracing noble fanfare and carryings on.

Overall the characters are unlikeable and the plot is melded together by dumb decisions that will frustrate anyone with a little intellect.
Very disappointing read, as I was hoping for a strong female lead with the smarts to counter her foes and the willingness to grow to overcome challenges, I don't find that here.
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morriganlefaye's review

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dark emotional funny sad 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

3.75

The story is gripping and the writing flows pretty well, although definitely not as well as in Ms Kovas newer books. 
It's a bit rough around the edges and it took me a few chapters to really get sucked into the story, but in the end, I couldn't put the book down anymore. 
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akirokis's review against another edition

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

4.0

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quietlyfierce's review against another edition

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3.75

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aseel_reads's review against another edition

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adventurous 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? It's complicated

4.25

MC was a bit annoying at the start but she got less annoying quickly. I absolutely did not see the ending coming at all, otherwise a great read and I really like the world 
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