Reviews tagging 'Torture'

Alas de sangre by Rebecca Yarros

84 reviews

hannahcstocks's review against another edition

adventurous funny lighthearted mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

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

3.5

Nothing groundbreaking (lots of cliches and tropes) but an enjoyable read. Pretty fast-paced, as there doesn’t seem to be much filler in any individual chapter outside of Violet’s internal monologue. The downside to this lack of filler can be that the world doesn’t feel fully built out, and the descriptions of some of the surroundings can feel lacking. I found my brain sort of filled in some of those gaps while reading though, especially when I didn’t overthink it. The plot was a bit repetitive and the internal monologue objectifying one of the characters was a little silly. But I don’t feel the book is trying to be anything beyond what it is, so I don’t begrudge those faults. Feels a little YA, which seems maybe to be a common theme in the NA genre, but just because it’s trope-y and your main character thinks like a lovestruck teen doesn’t make it a bad or unenjoyable book. Just not a profound one. Easy read despite the length, and while the plot was a little repetitive as mentioned, the chapters broke that up well enough that the repetition didn’t feel monotonous or at least still drove the story forward in some way. 

TLDR: Overall, kept my attention, and I found the pacing to be done well. If you can’t handle the internal monologue of a somewhat rebellious lovestruck high schooler (I know that’s not the age of the characters but it is how it reads) or relatively predictable but intriguing enough plot, this book isn’t for you. Even you want an easy read to take you out of your own head and world for a while, and you can take the aforementioned characteristics in stride, then give it a shot.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, War, and Injury/Injury detail

arf27's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark sad tense fast-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Bullying, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, War, and Injury/Injury detail

moriiooreo's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny 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? Yes

5.0

Will be updating when i annotate

This was amazing. I read and listened to this book at the same time and oh my god did the audio have so much emotion. Rebecca is an amazing author. I cried and yelled reading some parts of this book. This is the first real book I’ve read since being an AO3 reader and this was the best coming back experience I could’ve asked for. The twists in this book are amazing. this characters are written beautifully. I just finished the book and I already wish I could read it for the first time again. I can’t wait to read Iron Flame.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Sexual content, Grief, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Torture and Toxic relationship

cozy_gremlin4's review against another edition

adventurous tense fast-paced

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

3.25

I was honestly disappointed by the end of the book. It completely veres away from the plot and more or less only focuses on the romance.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Misogyny, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, War, and Classism

jenniferbowman's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring sad tense 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Animal death, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, War, and Injury/Injury detail

mysteryspouse's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child death, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Excrement

laleh_eve's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Animal death, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, and Blood

Minor: Animal cruelty, Death, Infidelity, Mental illness, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, and Classism

kyrstin_p1989's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad 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? No

5.0

I’m a sucker for a dystopian, fuck corrupt government, the bad guys might be the good guys story and this one is no exception. Toss in some spice, some romance, some high fantasy and fucking dragons? I’m hooked. Holy moly.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Sexism, Sexual content, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, War, and Injury/Injury detail

feli1727484's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional mysterious 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Sexual content, Torture, Blood, Vomit, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, and War

amelievonzeisig's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny inspiring 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 cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, and War