Reviews tagging 'Torture'

L'envol des Magpie by KJ Charles, KJ Charles

9 reviews

kaneebli's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious fast-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Homophobia, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Torture, and Classism

Minor: Infidelity, Pedophilia, Rape, and Sexual violence

cyberhavok's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Pregnancy

Minor: Miscarriage, Vomit, and Antisemitism

tankytoon's review against another edition

adventurous challenging mysterious medium-paced

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

4.25

What a finish to the series!

I thought there was hardly anymore to tell, the story of Lucien and Stephen but they surprised me this time, with Stephen getting a backbone and Lucien learning to compromise. However, it seems that Lucien sacrificed more of himself so that Stephen can be a slave to the Justiciary,

who is not only ungrateful but also working against them.

At one point, I even was expecting that Stephen and Lucien would part their ways due to the difference in lifestyle but I'm glad they reached an understanding. 

This was a delightful read, with a great sense of adventure, some mythical events, sprinkled with a dash of humor. Although I could do without the horrific descriptions of bodies and faces mutilated by dark magic, what's "A Charm of Magpies" book without it?

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Torture, Vomit, and Kidnapping

juchan's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.5

This review is for the whole trilogy:
I expected a fairly entertaining but otherwise unremarkable little romance fantasy. But hell I loved the trilogy. The story, the magic, the characters. Just amazing. It was unique and lovely and tense and beautiful. The realtionships were great and KJ Charles somehow managed to balnce everything perfectly in just a few pages. The adventure, the love, sex, friendship, magic and so on. And it feels like the whole world could be expanded and lots more stories could be told. I sincerely hope so.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Sexual content, Violence, and Blood

Moderate: Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Torture, Medical content, and Pregnancy

Minor: Addiction, Animal death, Drug use, Homophobia, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Rape, Torture, Murder, and Alcohol

Most of the content that is named is briefly mentioned and doesn't go into detail. Except of course sexual content since it is a very steamy romance. (If you are not into gay couples maybe skip this one). There is also a relationship with a rather big age gap. Violence is also a topic that is rather detailled as well as death since it is about solving rather hidious crimes in a sense. If you are not good with reading about blood, torture, death and violence I would refrain from reading this series.

pvbobrien's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious fast-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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, and Sexual content

Moderate: Homophobia, Torture, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Classism

Minor: Infertility, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Vomit, and Pregnancy

wilybooklover's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious fast-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Sexual content, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Torture and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Homophobia, Miscarriage, and Pregnancy

unwise_samwise's review against another edition

emotional mysterious tense fast-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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, and Murder

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Cursing, and Torture

Minor: Child death, Homophobia, Miscarriage, Vomit, and Pregnancy

siad's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious tense fast-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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Sexual content, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Cursing, Torture, Kidnapping, and Pregnancy

Minor: Miscarriage and Vomit

booksthatburn's review against another edition

dark emotional funny 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

5.0

FLIGHT OF MAGPIES beautifully wraps up the trilogy "A Charm of Magpies" with serious discussions and passionate sex while Crane and Stephen try to reconcile one's overly demanding job investigating murders and the other's need to leave England. 

This was a great end to the trilogy, I feel good about where the characters are literally and emotionally at the end of it, and I have a sense of what they’ll do next. There is a related book which continues the story of a minor character from FLIGHT OF MAGPIES, but as far as I can tell the story of Crane and Stephen is finalized here. It wraps up a bunch of stuff from the previous books, even reaching back to close things left open or ambiguous from book one. There is a storyline (the murders and immediate danger) which start here and weren't present previously, but this is by no means a stand alone book. It has a major thing introduced and resolved wholly within this volume. As the last book in the series, does a great job of wrapping up things from the trilogy as a whole and it feels finished. I'd happily read more in this world, but my immediate questions are answered. The main characters are the same as the previous volumes. They have very different styles from each other, but are consistent with their characterization in the other books. This wouldn't make much sense without reading the rest of the trilogy, even the sex is intertwined with their past history and current circumstances in a way that makes it matter to the plot. 

The ending is fantastic, one strength of this trilogy has been the heart-pounding danger which is inextricable from the love between the protagonists and this takes it to a great and beautifully literal place.

I love the relationship between Crane and Stephen, and I'm very happy about new developments for Merrick (which I will not spoil). This has an appropriate amount of tumult in figuring out how to fit together such different lives as the ones they led before their first meeting, and it feels like the story takes that seriously without slowing down the sexiness or distracting from the murder investigation. I had a great time and I'll definitely be checking out more from this author.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Sexual content, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Body horror, Cursing, Homophobia, Misogyny, Torture, and Blood

Minor: Child death and Vomit