Reviews tagging 'Slavery'

Valor by John Gwynne

9 reviews

tcbailey32's review against another edition

adventurous dark inspiring 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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Violence, and Blood

Moderate: Rape and Slavery

Minor: Grief and Fire/Fire injury

laraloops's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark 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

4.5

A very good sequel to Malice, though I wish I read this one shortly after Malice as I had to brush up on all the character names again and like Malice the character list is extensive. 

Since the story did not have to spend as much time introducing characters the pace was nice and fast and it was a fun book with lots of treachery and running and fighting - all good fighting stuff.  The twists could be a bit predictable but it was all very entertaining. The ending wasn't as crazy as the first book but I bet it's the placement in the book series - I am very interested to see how all of the prophecies play out. There were some satisfying parts when

Corban finally met with his subsection of the Jehar and finally got some more information on his whole destiny

. I was very sad to hear that

Kastell was dead dead but Maquin's storyline was very interesting and it's nice to have some older protags in the lineup.

I hope that Fidele gets some good comeuppance for what she went through in this book.

A good viking fantasy read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery and Violence

Moderate: Rape

isi__1's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.5

This book had all of the positive elements of the first book (interesting plot, 3-dimensional characters, solid world-building), but without the slow setup. 
Although I do have to say that I don‘t think that the ending of book one was topped by the ending of book two, I do think that the pacing of this sequel was a lot more consistent. I couldn‘t stop reading! 
Even though this book isn‘t short, it is a breeze to get through. This is definitely made easier by the very short chapters, which manage to make any book go by way faster. 
There‘s a few new POVs added, but it wasn‘t hard to keep track of these new characters, because I was already familiar with the world, general direction of the plot, and the other characters. 

The only reason why it‘s not a perfect 5-star book is because I can see some improvements to be made in the pacing. Although I was never bored for long, there were certain scenes or subplots that did drag on a tiny bit, in my opinion. Don‘t get me wrong, this really wasn‘t a glaring issue & didn‘t happen most of the time. All I‘m saying is that I do feel like there‘s some room for growth. 

In any case, I can‘t wait to read the third and fourth book. Especially because people do seem to like these the most. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Murder, and War

Moderate: Slavery and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Rape, Suicidal thoughts, and Torture

ripxreads's review

adventurous challenging dark medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Slavery, Torture, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Sexual violence

kat1105's review

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful inspiring 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? It's complicated

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Child death, Confinement, Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Ableism, Child abuse, Trafficking, and Abandonment

Minor: Rape, Sexual content, and Sexual violence

darkefyres's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense slow-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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Slavery, Blood, Grief, and Death of parent

Moderate: Animal death, Confinement, Violence, Alcohol, and War

Minor: Child abuse

jaedia's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense medium-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? It's complicated

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Genocide, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Abandonment, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Confinement, Gore, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Medical content, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Animal death, Body shaming, Fatphobia, Misogyny, Torture, Excrement, Vomit, Suicide attempt, and Alcohol

the_unproductive_reader's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional inspiring reflective tense slow-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

4.5

Excellent follow up to Malice, bit of a slow start hence the 4.5 but to be expected really in this kind of sweeping narrative. Great character development and emotional ending. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery and Violence

Minor: Rape

kylieqrada's review

adventurous dark emotional hopeful tense medium-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

4.0

I am continuing to love this series!!! While I didn't adore this with the fiery passion that I did the first one, I still really enjoyed it. A few moments of fatphobia, bleh. But more character development for our strong female protagonists and some big reveals contributed to what's shaping up to be a potential new fave series. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Confinement, Fatphobia, Gore, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, and Murder