Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

King of Battle & Blood by Scarlett St. Clair

9 reviews

gcjay1994's review against another edition

dark fast-paced

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

2.5

Fun, quick and some sexy moments, but overall not my jam. I was having continuity issues between scenes where it became confusing how we jumped from one point to the other. The audio narrator was fine, but did have some cringe moments. Didn’t really care about the characters, and the plot (which is typically more important to me) was very secondary and didn’t have much substance to it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Death, Emotional abuse, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Gaslighting, and Colonisation

aaliyahhmcc23's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, and War

our_bookish_reads's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful tense 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

5.0

Can I just give this book 10 stars!!? 

This is my first time reading Scarlett St. Clair's work, and holy shit, it was astounding! The way Scarlett writes is absolutely beautiful. The descriptions of colors, food, scents, people, how things feel on skin and emotionally, make you feel like you're experiencing it first hand. I can't wait to start the next book, Queen of Myth and Monsters!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Misogyny, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

kyrstin_p1989's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense 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? No

4.0

I honestly think this one is spicier than the others I’ve read by this author. I loved the love story. It was enemies to lovers but in the best way. I loved the protagonist. I enjoy how she learns and grows as the novel progresses to become a more developed, understanding person - which is how I think we should all live. There was a bit of predictability in the plot and there were a few grammatical issues that led me to a four star rating as opposed to a five star rating. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Infidelity, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail

ashreadsandbowls's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Violence, and Death of parent

Minor: Emotional abuse and Physical abuse

golden_like_dior's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional inspiring mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and War

Moderate: Ableism, Animal death, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Medical content, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

jessbramleyyyy's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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: Sexual content, Blood, and War

Moderate: Cursing, Death, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Emotional abuse

beersbooksandbooos's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny 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? It's complicated

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and War

allisonwonderlandreads's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

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

2.0

A King of Battle & Blood tells the story of a tumultuous affair with a cacophony of emotions. And also vampires. It features high smut content from the start, throwing human Isolde into a diplomatic marriage with vampire overlord Adrian come to conquer her father's kingdom. It relies on common vampire paranormal tropes (violence, possessiveness, jealousy & angst), so if you like that feel or if you enjoy fantasy romance that keeps things approachable with only light world-building, you'll get what you're after here.

For me, this one was a miss. In terms of romance, I thrive on stories with a growing emotional connection and a slow build of tension. Without that, the (to me, not as a generalizable fact) abrupt and early arrival of smut on the scene left me sort of disconnected and uninterested in the proceedings. The generic plot elements also kept me at a distance. We have a woman who's been so sheltered that she hates all vampires and doesn't understand their history or humanity. She's forced to marry a vampiric hottie who she's attracted to on a nearly alarming level but who she also views as the root of all evil and would like to murder. The reader knows through it all that Isolde's weak understanding of the world will be overturned,  and the entire story is building up to an obvious revelation that took too long to arrive given its predictability. 

Meanwhile, the author works very hard to convince us that vampire god-among-men Adrian is the epitome of respect and attentiveness. He's certainly the king of instalove, which is explained away through a fantasy plot device. There's also a lot of energy put into convincing us that this is a balanced, consenting relationship. Adrian listens to being told no, Isolde is enthusiastic, and her past lover provides the foil as the needy, controlling human man on offer. However, Adrian's ability to read minds made me a bit uncomfortable. While he assures us it's outside his control, I wasn't happy with the choice to include it. Also, the jealous, obsessed, antagonistic way the two leaned into each other stressed me out.

On either the romance or fantasy front, I was not overly involved in this story. However, I can see why it would be engaging to readers with different interests and priorities, so I've tried to be specific here to help others decide for themselves. I need to stop trying vampire series, basically (but we all know I can't stay away).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Slavery, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and War