Reviews tagging 'Blood'

The Stolen Heir by Holly Black

115 reviews

karambit's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body horror, Child abuse, and Physical abuse

Minor: Infertility and Alcohol

izzyreadswhilequilting's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Gore, Torture, and Blood

danielle_isreading's review against another edition

medium-paced

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

4.0

A fun, twisty-turns YA from Holly Black. Can’t go wrong!

This one was a little tougher to follow for me that The Folk of the Air. Not sure why! 

But I enjoyed it and am excited to see where it goes. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood

noellegrace8's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Unlike some Folk of the Air lovers who were disappointed in the lack of Cardan & Jude or a similar relationship dynamic, I was blown away by Black's ability to formulate a completely captivating story with far less use of such a dramatic love duo. I personally think Oak and Suren are a lovely duo, albeit less romantically present in their story than Jude & Cardan were in theirs. I actually think it's much harder to write a great story without the easier elements such as romance/sex & violence, so this book was next level in my opinion. I found myself hurting for Suren so many times to the point that I actually teared up, loving her adherance to kindness, and pleasantly surprised by plot elements. And the casual drops/updates about Jurdan and their reign? Love that. I just love Elfhame so much. I hope Holly Black keeps writing about it.

I give Saskia Maarleveld 5/5⭐️. Her narration was great, with distinction between characters and what I thought was a wonderful depiction of Suren's character through cadence & voice choices. Additionally, unlike many women narrators, I didn't find her male vocal imitation to be cheesy or too much. It did kind of bug me that she said soo-ren instead of ser-ren though.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Violence, Blood, Murder, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Gore, Toxic relationship, Grief, Stalking, Toxic friendship, and Classism

Minor: Animal death, Bullying, Cursing, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Self harm, Torture, Medical content, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and War

letiross's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Violence, and Blood

Moderate: Death, Torture, and Abandonment

Minor: Death of parent, Murder, and War

nexusthegreat's review against another edition

adventurous 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? N/A

5.0

Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god. I actually loved this book so much that as soon as I finished it, I was already flipping to the first page of prisoners throne. The plot twist was something I saw coming for quite awhile, but not that character development and ending!! Like, what?? Absolutely, one of my favorite books.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Violence, and Blood

Moderate: Physical abuse and Kidnapping

saretta02's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Cannibalism, Murder, and Abandonment

daenerystargaryen's review against another edition

adventurous dark medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Physical abuse, Violence, Blood, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child death, Confinement, Torture, Kidnapping, and Murder

Minor: Animal death, Infertility, Vomit, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Alcohol, and War

ludmireads's review against another edition

adventurous emotional 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse and Blood

readwithria's review against another edition

adventurous emotional tense slow-paced

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

3.0

The Stolen Heir takes the world of Elfhame that we know and love and expands it into the courts. We get to know more about Suren and Oak, and meet many new faces along the way. That being said, we don’t really get a new plot at all. 

I loved the political intrigue and social intricacies of the original Folk of the Air series, and I was hoping to find more of that in this duology. Unfortunately for me, that wasn’t the focus of this book. It was mostly travel, and while that’s great with a pre-established cast of characters to give them more time to interact with each other, I don’t think it worked super well with a new cast of characters.

I don’t feel like I know Tiernan all that well. I don’t feel like I understand Wren or Oak’s motivations much more than I did at the beginning of the book. I wish there had been more trust-building between the three of them, or at least more attempted. I also feel like the plot of this book wasn’t all that central to the story for the middle 50%. 

I’m excited to wrap up this series with Oak’s perspective. I hope the pacing and plotting issues I had in The Stolen Heir are resolved in The Prisoner’s Throne. 3 stars

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood