Reviews tagging 'Animal death'

The Stolen Heir by Holly Black

13 reviews

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

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

rchulin1's review against another edition

adventurous emotional sad 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

3.25

This book focuses on Suren a character who was mentioned briefly in the Queen of Nothing and also Oak it has been many years since the previous events and Oak is all grown up

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Torture, Blood, Dementia, Kidnapping, Alcohol, and War

thevanessa's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.25

Definitely not the same as the Cruel Prince, but it still had that fairytale essence that I love. But with that being said, I really did miss my conniving little Queen, Jude, though. I felt like it really lacked that element of gray, that Jude always gave; the one that always kept you on your toes and on the edge of your seat in suspense, questioning where it would lead and how it would end, so I didn’t read it as quickly as I did with the Folk of the Air trilogy. I do really love Oak and Wren though, enough so that I’m gonna ignore the fact that I figured out the whole plot in the first few chapters😅

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Slavery, Torture, Blood, Cannibalism, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Drug use and Alcohol

callidoralblack's review against another edition

adventurous emotional

• Loveable characters? Yes

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Bullying, Child abuse, Toxic relationship, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Animal death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infertility, Physical abuse, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, War, and Classism

rory18's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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

4.75

Only took off a quarter star because there was some weird nonsensical tense-switching. (At least in the audiobook)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, and Blood

Moderate: Child death, Toxic relationship, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Murder, Toxic friendship, and War

Minor: Animal death, Sexual assault, and Sexual content

The abuse Wren goes through really has ABA/abuse of an autistic person vibes, and she's autistic coded IMO even if it's not explicit.

picaresquedreamer's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Blood, Murder, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Kidnapping, and Toxic friendship

aysha_blake's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious reflective tense 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Murder, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Rape, Sexual assault, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, and War

chronicacademia's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Kidnapping, and Abandonment

Moderate: Ableism, Death, Gore, Blood, and Murder

Minor: Animal death, Toxic relationship, and Fire/Fire injury

_alyssar_'s review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Violence, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Animal death, Infertility, Blood, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Alcohol