Reviews tagging 'Animal death'

The Starless Crown by James Rollins

17 reviews

zoe_archambault's review against another edition

adventurous emotional lighthearted tense 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? N/A

4.0

really enjoyed the world and characters though nothing really happens. there’s a looming doom that doesn’t really get addressed?? they just walk around but I was here for it. not a big fan of the questionable incestuous thoughts of one of the characters :/ but overall enjoyed it, wasn’t obsessed tho ya know

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Murder, and War

Moderate: Vomit and Grief

Minor: Incest

kharazimthelich's review against another edition

adventurous dark sad slow-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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Gore, and Violence

Moderate: Pregnancy

Minor: War

ryyyaaan's review against another edition

adventurous tense 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? It's complicated

3.75

The only reason I am rating this so highly is because I found the story so interesting and captivating. The world building was also fantastic (most of the time). I really cannot empathize how much I enjoy the story, otherwise, I probably wouldn’t have finished this book. There are a lot of grievances I have with it that probably would have stopped me from finishing it it I wasn’t enjoying the story so much. My major problem is the author’s liberal use of using sexist and racist tropes.

Also, the decision to introduce a blind character (I was thrilled to see some seemingly great disability representation!), only to very quickly have her blindness magically cured.

Most of the world building was wonderful, but one thing that irked me was the naming of certain things. There are a lot of great neologisms, but there are a lot that are just regular words with one letter replaced, like “chymestry”. And naming the planet Urth. Really? That was a cool word for about two seconds until I tried to pronounce it in my head. It’s just Earth. One final complaint, which is more a pet peeve of mine than an actual negative about the book, is the authors use of actual science concepts that he clearly only understands at a very basic level, but presents so pedantically as if he’s a genius for including them in his novel. I know I have a lot of negative things to say, but they’re possible to look past, and I really can’t overstate how much I enjoyed this book.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Death, Gore, Torture, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Excrement, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, War, and Classism

Minor: Body shaming, Pedophilia, and Religious bigotry

ericaco0's review

adventurous dark mysterious reflective 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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence

Moderate: Animal death, Body horror, Death, Physical abuse, and Torture

Minor: Cursing and Injury/Injury detail

acmack's review

adventurous fast-paced

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

3.75

If animal deaths are a big trigger for you, then this is definitely not the book for you. A lot of people and critters die, and it kind of feels unnecessary at times. But the overall plot is interesting enough to me that I'll read the second book.  Also, this is one of those books where I just over-write the author and the 14yo female protagonist in what appears to be magic highschool is actually a 24yo in magic college. I don't think a lot of the themes here are for 14yos so I'm not going to envision a 14yo (also I'm now a 34 yo and I desperately want books with older protagonists!)

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death

Moderate: Death, Violence, and Murder

Minor: Child abuse

maregred's review

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? It's complicated

3.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Gore, Torture, and Death of parent

Moderate: Infidelity, Slavery, Violence, Grief, Stalking, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Child death, Sexual violence, and Pregnancy

dips's review

adventurous dark emotional medium-paced

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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Bullying, Slavery, Grief, and War

rainbowkisses's review

adventurous dark slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No

3.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death

Moderate: Slavery

Minor: Sexual violence

readwthsam's review

adventurous dark tense slow-paced

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

3.25

overall, i did enjoy this book! it was fhe first ever novel i’ve read of Rollins and i was not too disappointed. 

albeit i did like the cast of characters, i feel as if there were a tad stereotypical (?) and the pov switching was a little distracting and hard to keep up with in the beginning, which then made it quite difficult to catch on to what the main conflict was. however the overall plot itself was interesting

undecided if i want to read the second book later this year 

ps: also i read this for a school project hence why i dragged out how long i read it lol

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Ableism, Bullying, Slavery, and Death of parent

Minor: Alcoholism, Rape, and Sexual assault

danreadsitall's review

adventurous mysterious 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? No

4.0

 Finished the first book in James Rollins' Moon Fall series "The Starless Crown." Basic premise, the planet is locked with the sun and moon in fixed positions so half the planet is burning and half is freezing. Along the strip that is habitable people live, but there are numerous Kingdoms, cults, and wheels in motion. I enjoyed the reveals and the little pieces that go together so I won't touch on the plot too much.

Nicola Barber narrated and she did a fantastic job. Terrific work.

Reasons to read:
-The timeline for future events in the book are on a more sensible scale, hope that means that the entire cast can age in the story
-Decent number of the cast are not the traditional MC archetypes
-Story does not sugar coat things and carries the brutality of combat on the characters
-Different take on magic in this setting
-Math showed the true threat, cursed math
-Lots of cool creatures

Cons:
-Worse spiders and wasps
-Bit rough on the animals 

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Death of parent

Minor: Animal death