Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Gild by Raven Kennedy

21 reviews

jenminicricket's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad slow-paced

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

3.0

I definitely plan to continue this series. I am intrigued by the premise and hopefully that the future books in the series will be fit my reading style a bit better. Of course the genre that it is, there are plenty of red flags a waving everywhere, but we seemed to creep through the plot. It is definitely a character focused book, but I would have loved a few more answers and something a but stronger to pull me through the slower cadence of the novel.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Grief, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Emotional abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Misogyny, Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Rape, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Murder, War, Gaslighting, Violence, Child abuse, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, and Sexual content

onism_catharsis's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring tense fast-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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Grief, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Rape, Confinement, Emotional abuse, and Gore

hellodebbies's review against another edition

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Rape, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Physical abuse, Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Murder, and Vomit

Minor: Grief

viselik's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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? Yes

3.25

 The book does have its issues, and I think it you know what you are getting into it's fine. But please read the content warning, this book is definitely not alright for younger readers who don't know what they are getting into!

The first time I read this I did not know it had the content in it that it did due to me skipping over the content warning and I finished the book feeling like I had missed something and felt icky. I only figured it out once I read the content warning that I had accidentally skipped and reread the book that it clicked what had actually happened, it wasn't what I expected and made me like the book a whole lot more than I originally did.

 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Violence, and Sexual content

Moderate: Child abuse, Abandonment, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Murder, Rape, Self harm, Toxic relationship, War, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Grief, Sexism, Trafficking, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual harassment, and Toxic friendship

hanna's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective fast-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? Yes

3.0

Was really loving this in the first half — the romance was just dark enough to be fun and not to be completely disgusted — but the pirate plot in the second half threw me off 😅 Already obsessed with the Commander though — can't really be a dark romance with a blonde love interest, can it?

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Sexual assault, Murder, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Grief, Violence, and Alcoholism

Moderate: Gore, Adult/minor relationship, and Confinement

Minor: War

filipa_maia's review against another edition

dark sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

I have mixed feelings about this book.

I do appreciate this other side of the story. This is not King Midas' story (the one that everyone knows), it's someone else's... someone very important that stays in the shadows. Also, I very much enjoyed all this mystery around Auren, there is an aura of secrets involving her that kept me very focus till the end. Solving this mystery is exactly one of the things that is going to make me read the second book.

On a less positive note, this book is very hard to read: maybe I was distracted or maybe the trigger warnings weren't enough... I almost quit reading this book. Several times. I understand that women weren't seen as people, especially these women being King Midas' harem... but there is a less brutal way of describing some scenes. Honestly, the excessive use of some words were not to emphasise the narrative, but just to trigger the reader.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Abandonment, Blood, Bullying, Classism, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Murder, Sexual content, Colonisation, Grief, Confinement, Cursing, Sexual harassment, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Misogyny, Violence, Trafficking, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Torture, Slavery, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Infidelity, War, Alcohol, and Death of parent

Minor: Excrement and Vomit

midnacine's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny tense medium-paced

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

4.5

Third time reading the series, first time listening to the audiobook. My initial review is somewhere on here. But can I just say the male narrator (Blake Lockhart) is absolute perfection. He only read one chapter and yet I'm in love with him. I can't wait to hear him as [redacted] in the later books.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Violence, Death, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual violence, Confinement, Kidnapping, Murder, Rape, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Infidelity, Sexual content, Classism, Emotional abuse, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Cursing, and Gaslighting

Minor: Trafficking, Animal death, War, and Death of parent

micaelamariem's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

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

3.0

This book was well written with an intriguing plot and great worldbuilding that had me flirting through chapters. However, there was too much on page sexual violence that we were only sometimes supposed to abhor as readers. The main character definitely has Stockholm syndrome and I don’t think that’s going to be addressed. I’m just so afraid we’ll see more toxic relationships develop as the series goes on but perhaps something will surprise me! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, War, Gore, Violence, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual assault, Infidelity, Bullying, Sexual harassment, Slavery, Alcohol, Classism, Murder, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexism, and Sexual content

Moderate: Alcoholism and Grief

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Infertility, Colonisation, and Death of parent

katvou's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Violence, Kidnapping, Sexual content, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Alcohol and Slavery

Minor: Bullying, Grief, Animal death, Vomit, Excrement, War, Blood, and Gore

amidpages's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

3.5

It’s an interesting take on the story of King Midas. It just took so damn long to pick up. I kept reading strictly because I’ve seen so much hype about this series but I just didn’t get hooked on the story until about 75% of the way through. This is certainly a slow burn with a some world-building sprinkled in. I feel like this book was definitely written with the intention of being a series and does nothing for me other than to set the stage for the heart of the story… which I’m hoping is in book two.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Sexual violence, Confinement, Gaslighting, Sexual assault, Murder, Kidnapping, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Violence, Toxic relationship, Death, Misogyny, Rape, Slavery, and Sexism