Reviews tagging 'Violence'

A Game of Retribution by Scarlett St. Clair

29 reviews

cscharfway's review against another edition

emotional hopeful tense fast-paced

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

4.0

There was a lot happening in this book, and I enjoyed how complex Hades’ interactions with the other gods has gotten. Though Hades is a bit clueless as a boyfriend sometimes, it still feels like he’s genuine and learning, and seeing through his eyes made me like Persephone more- in her saga, I find her angry reactions quite immature and  hard to read, but Hades somehow softens her with his deep emotional reflections. I also am fascinated by how much of a life he lives outside of what Persephone sees and is aware of. I really don’t like that their relationship conflict centres around honesty and communication and yet look at all the stuff he’s still keeping from Persephone!! 

The plot is moving along much faster in this book, and towards something important and I’m on edge to find out how it will all play out. This really shows that the book is purposeful and is not just falling back on the smut appeal, though there was a lot of that too. The sex scenes have started to bother me a bit with how many there are and how unrealistic they are, but hey, I guess people don’t read or watch pornography for the realism!  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content and Violence

Moderate: Cursing, Death, Infidelity, Sexual assault, Grief, and Alcohol

Minor: Suicide, Vomit, Trafficking, and Kidnapping

nonotyoshi's review against another edition

mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

Hermes >>>

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death, Gore, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

highlordmads's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence

Moderate: Suicide

sioxricky's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Sexual content, Suicide, Violence, Grief, and Car accident

yarisbooksandbevs's review against another edition

dark emotional 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? Yes

2.5

I’m super intrigued on the war. Hades is so quick to assume things and then ends up messing up with Persephone. I also feel like this man is sex crazy and I love smut but there were so many times where they had sex when they should’ve talked. Hecate and Hermes are definitely my faves

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, and Alcohol

Moderate: Grief, Car accident, and War

Minor: Kidnapping and Stalking

megthecatlady's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

I love that Scarlett St. Clair wrote the Hades books. I love knowing what Hades is getting up to when he's not with Persephone. I especially enjoyed this book because I felt so frustrated with him during A Touch of Ruin. I feel like he was barely with Persephone, and while the events in this book aren't an excuse, they do make sense and do so much of the world building the readers need to know about. I love watching Hades and Persephone grow as characters and I love watching their relationship evolve. 

Another thing I really enjoy about this series so far is the attention to detail and the attention to side characters. I am not sure that I have ever read another book where the side characters, were fleshed out so well and are just about as important to the storyline as the main characters. I appreciate that about this series so much, and am excited to continue reading this author's works.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Violence, and Grief

Moderate: Death

Minor: Suicide, Kidnapping, and Stalking

sophiecountsclouds's review against another edition

medium-paced

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

3.0

I stand by that this trilogy could have been nice Hades perspective novellas with the additional plot, but all the scenes with Persephone felt SO repetitive and so ridiculously smutty. They'd just be having a chat and then they were getting it on? It made no sense at all. Definitely didn't need to be over 450 pages long - 250 tops.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content

Moderate: Cursing, Death, Violence, Blood, and Grief

Minor: Alcoholism, Suicide, Vomit, Trafficking, and Alcohol

nitecrtlvr's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

2.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Mental illness, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Stalking, Murder, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

rchulin1's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny sad fast-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Infidelity, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Dementia, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

mmontemurro's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

3.75

This book was "A Touch of Ruin" from Hades' POV. It was interesting to see the other side of Persephone's struggles with losing Lexa. We get more of an understanding of why Hades cannot help her with bringing Lexa back to the mortal world. Not only does Hades have to bargain with the Fates to save a person, but another life will be lost to replace the one saved. Hades bears the scars for these bargains. He bears the grief he has for these decisions, therefore they must be made sparingly and only when a person WANTS to be saved. I believe the character development in this part of the story is for Persephone alone (other than Hades learning to trust Persephone a *little bit* more). Persephone must learn to let go of Lexa and also learn to trust Hades in return. This story in particular dove into Hera's labours for Hades, which he must complete to receive Hera's favour for marriage to Persephone. There are some very good scenes (namely Hades killing some deities, participating in a battle arena, etc.)  allowing Hera to continue her pursuit of Zeus' throne and challenging Hades in new ways. Persephone starts to gain and learn about her powers, understanding her role as eventual Queen of the Underworld, and dealing with grief and loss. Hades responds the best way he knows how, but by intentionally keeping information from Persephone, clearly not trusting her, and not being physically present for events, and during Lexa's death, she feels a gap in their relationship which must be rectified. In the future, Hades will have to start trusting Persephone fully (and not treating her like a fragile object) and Persephone will have to trust Hades and have faith in their relationship.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Sexual content, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Grief

Minor: Death, Suicide, Car accident, and Injury/Injury detail