Reviews with content warning for Torture - The Crown of Gilded Bones

Reviews tagging 'Torture'

The Crown of Gilded Bones by Jennifer L. Armentrout

43 reviews

melethwi's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

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

2.5

It was entertaining and held my attention for the most part, which is the only reason I'm rating it 2.5 stars and not lower.

Rant review because I'm a salty lesbian lmao.

JLA has a nasty habit of shoving massive amounts of information down readers' throats, passing it off as her MC Poppy always having a lot of questions, when the truth is she just sucks at worldbuilding. Maybe I wasn't paying close enough attention but I truly don't understand what the gods are in this world or what their purpose is. Are they just super powerful magic users??? So confusing. Seems like the rules of magic get bent at JLA's will when she needs something convenient to happen.

Poppy, Casteel, and Rhysand from ACOTAR should get together sometime and dissertate on white feminism. This book has a lot of balls to have a black character named Tawny and then turn around and use "tawny" frequently to describe the dark color of another character's skin, whose name (Kieran) means "dark one." Just ????? What ????? Could JLA not afford a SINGLE sensitivity reader?

I really think these books would work a lot better if they would stop kidding themselves about overdramatic plot and just have the romance. As it stands, we just see Poppy and Casteel willing to kill, kill, and guess what? kill people to get revenge for the other person, but the only interactions we actually see Poppy and Casteel have either have almost no chemistry or their attraction is PURELY physical.

I really, really cannot decide if I want to spend time from my life reading the next book. I kept going this long because I thought Poppy and Casteel might go through some sort of development, but there really isn't much to speak for.

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prairieraven's review against another edition

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adventurous slow-paced

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

3.0

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cait's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark funny mysterious sad tense slow-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

3.0

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missgarceau's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

4.5

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yarisbooksandbevs's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious 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? It's complicated

4.5

This book definitely surprised me. I would say this is the best book in the series so far.

I think Poppy really started to blossom in this book and she still makes mistakes but she’s more mature and aware in this book. I loved quite a few characters in this book. I loved Eloana

despite her knowledge of Isbeth and the lies she has also perpetuated

, I loved Kieran and Willa. Many of these characters were honest and upfront with Poppy and Cas. There were many secrets revealed (many I didn’t see coming) and lots of twists that fit the story very well.

I do have to say I feel like sometimes Armentrout’s writing is a little repetitive. A lot of jokes are recycled from earlier in the series and a lot of information gets repeated a little too much.

I also didn’t like where the sex scene after they get to Spessa’s End and have the argument about Ian was placed. I liked the argument and the sex scene itself was well-written and intimate but I didn’t like where it was placed. I felt like it diminished the discussion they just had

.

Overall, this book really surprised me and I’m excited to read the next book and see how Poppy handles the events at the end of this book.

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alxisrae's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense slow-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

5.0

Content Warnings

cnohero's review against another edition

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adventurous dark sad tense fast-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? It's complicated

3.75

1/3 of the book could be edited out due to repeated redundant scenes emphasizing how amazing
Poppy is and how much Cass loves her. It just got to be too much

I persevered and now I’ve got to the intense ending I HAVE to move in to the next book to find out what happens 🤷‍♀️

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