Reviews with content warning for Infidelity - Valiant

Reviews tagging 'Infidelity'

Valiant by Holly Black

8 reviews

sidnilayne's review against another edition

DNF @ 71%

I honestly was really hating this book from the start, but because it's HB, I wanted to read it. By 50%, I was having such a hard time staying connected. The cheating, running away, homelessness, and active drug addiction left a bad taste in my mouth and I could not figure out what this had to do with Tithe. If this was one of the first HB books I had ever read, I probably would have never picked up another one of her books ever again, and that really sucks because her other books are phenomenal and she is one of my favorite authors.

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rachelgreenreads's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Valiant by Holly Black

I won’t lie, this was a challenging read. Holly Black is pushing at the very edges of darkness and cruelty with this series, and she does it well. I felt every dark and twisty thing I was supposed to, even down to the numbness and delirium that accompanied Val’s withdrawals.

I adored Ravus, and my only complaint was that we didn’t get more of him. These books are very character-driven, but focus heavily on the main characters, and we only really see the other characters through their eyes. This is very effective, but I just couldn’t get enough of sweet alchemist Ravus!

I will say that sometimes Holly Black’s dialogue can be dubious, and I found the dialogue in this book to contain a lot of non-sequiturs, and to otherwise be obfuscating. Sometimes this is in service to the overall mysterious atmosphere, but sometimes just didn’t make sense.

If you’re looking for something very dark and twist, with a heaping of teen girl rage, this is definitely for you.

4/5⭐️

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directorpurry's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious 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

2.75

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chasesys's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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beckyyreadss's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark fast-paced

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

3.0

I wanted to read this book because my goal this year was to discover more authors. Holly Black is adored on Booktok but didn’t want to jump in to her most popular series. I decided to start at the beginning and read the first book in the Modern Faerie Tales. I really enjoyed the first book of the series so I obviously wanted to carry on with the series. This book was a lot more difficult to get into than the first book.

This book followed seventeen-year-old Valerie and she has run away to New York City, after being betrayed by her mum and her boyfriend. She has got a new look and a new identity, she is taken in by a gang of squatters who live in the city’s subway system. But there is something odd about Val’s new friends. This is a young adult fantasy book. This is a retelling of Beauty and the Beast.

This book was brutal and fast-paced. I didn’t really like the characters in this book. I was expecting it to be about Kaye and Roiben who I loved in the last book, so I was a little disappointed. The storyline was weird and I didn’t really enjoy it especially after how it ended with the last novel. I would say the only saving grace was Roiben making his appearance and being bad-ass as always.

I hope that the final book in this series is better. I didn’t really gel with this book and struggled to get into it. I hope the next book goes back to Kaye and Roiben.

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