Reviews tagging 'Grief'

The Queens of Innis Lear by Tessa Gratton

7 reviews

cmbohn's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional slow-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

3.5

I wanted to love this book. I love Shakespeare retellings. I love magic. It seemed like a perfect combination.

Instead I am conflicted. The characters were well done. But the story was SO SLOW. Elia dithered for hundreds of pages. The writing was beautiful, but sometimes too much. So many descriptions! And then so many POVs. I mostly enjoyed that part. 

This one is hard to rate. I feel like it will really stick with me, but it had too many flaws for 5 stars. And the ending made me mad. So I'm going to leave it at 3.5 for now. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infertility, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Blood, Grief, Murder, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

imds's review

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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: Death, Infertility, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicide, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and War

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts and Acephobia/Arophobia

cerilouisereads's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Bullying, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Acephobia/Arophobia, Murder, and War

Moderate: Ableism, Infertility, Miscarriage, Transphobia, Dementia, Grief, Pregnancy, and Gaslighting

Minor: Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual content, and Religious bigotry

chalkletters's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective 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? Yes

3.75

The Queens of Innis Lear is the second retelling of King Lear that I've read, and because I still haven't read the original play, I enjoyed trying to reverse engineer the plot from the similarities between this and A Thousand Acres. It's particularly interesting to see which of Lear's three daughters are treated most sympathetically. While Tessa Gratton really made me feel for Regan, The Queens of Innis Lear was definitely the story of Elia (our Cordelia stand-in).

Caroline warned us that The Queens of Innis Lear was long, but I was glad it was, because it allowed the political and emotional situation to spin out slowly, details piling up one after the other so that I always felt I understood what was at stake without long passages of exposition. The only place this didn't entirely work was in the relationship between Elia and Ban, which I felt quite impatient with at first — though I forgot that as soon as they could actually speak to one another rather than being in separate countries.

Given the tensions that mount up throughout the story, Tessa Gratton pulled off an impressive feat by making me feel for almost every character — with the notable exception of Ullo, whose perspective we are never given. I particularly loved Aefa, whose power to manipulate the plot is far more limited and who therefore has to think very differently from everyone else. Character motives were always understandable, without the reader being hit over the head with them. The one exception was Rory's realisation and return to Innis Lear, which seemed to come out of nowhere.

Elia's journey and philosophy were definitely the most absorbing, and I wanted to see her succeed. Without spoilers, I can say I was a little disappointed in the ending. From certain things Elia said, as well as Regan and Conley's relationship with Ban, I thought she was hinting at a way The Queens of Lear could end to (nearly) everyone's satisfaction. Maybe it was naive of me to think that would happen in a book based on a tragedy, but nonetheless, I felt as if the actual ending was one of relief rather than satisfaction.

Despite the ending, I want to read the rest of the Innis Lear series, and have added Tessa Gratton to my list of authors to follow.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Infertility, Miscarriage, Dementia, Grief, and Death of parent

Minor: Child death, Infidelity, Violence, Blood, Murder, Pregnancy, Alcohol, War, and Injury/Injury detail

lipstickitotheman's review

adventurous dark sad tense slow-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

3.0

I wanted to really love this, but I didn't. I liked a lot of elements. The magic system is metal as hell, and I love it. Rory is a wonderful charismatic bi slut; Gaela is a wildly brave, intimidating aroace; Regan is a tragic beauty; Ban,,, sure is a character; and poor Elia with socially brilliant Aefa. But something about the story or writing style just didn't vibe with me. I can see other people loving it, but I just didn't. 

Maybe I would like it more if I had actually read King Lear?? I'm not sure.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Death, Infertility, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Dementia, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Misogyny, Sexual content, and Medical content

emmeline's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

I am now obsessed with this book. I really enjoyed Gratton's writing style, it made the book engaging throughout despite the plot being pretty slow-paced. I enjoy morally gray characters and pretty much all of the characters in this book are. Also while I haven't read King Lear this novel had the vibes of reading a Shakespearian tragedy which was great. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Infertility, Miscarriage, Blood, Grief, and Death of parent

willemke's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Miscarriage, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide

Moderate: Death, Domestic abuse, and Infertility

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Transphobia, and Grief