Reviews tagging 'Gore'

Tower of Dawn by Sarah J. Maas

36 reviews

liesthemoontells's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious medium-paced

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

3.75

A welcome disruption to the drawn out repetition of the previous book. The worldbuilding of a new civilisation and continent injects some variety into the series, although at times I found it difficult to suspend my disbelief at the glowing descriptions of the khaganate's empire and political structure. 

While I don't know if Chaol *needed* a redemption arc, this book executes one remarkably well for a character who was so insufferable in earlier . 

While this book at times felt like it is just moving the chess pieces into place for the finale, it also includes some delicious twists and revelations to be explored in the next book.

I took half a star off for the overuse of classic Maas phrases such as "eyes lined with silver" and characters saying something "too softly" - girl needs to pick up a thesaurus.

PS: lampshading the irony of me accusing Maas of needing to pick up a thesaurus when I use the word "book" five times in four paragraphs

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Drug use, Genocide, Gore, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Colonisation, Dysphoria, War, and Classism

Moderate: Infertility, Racism, Medical content, and Medical trauma

dalek_caan's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful medium-paced

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

3.5

I liked this book more than I expected to considering I went into it kind of indifferent about Chaol. Still glad I did the tandem read. Definitely worth it for the way both books wrapped up nicely together and actually finishing with this book was definitely better. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Vomit, Suicide attempt, Pregnancy, and War

noetical's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad 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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Pregnancy, War, and Injury/Injury detail

verafogel's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional mysterious 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

4.75

I didn't ser the princess being possessed, excellent plot twist. 
I loved Chaol and Yrene so much that it usually made up for the fact that I wasn't enthralled with Nesryn's story.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Gore and Sexual content

undecidedpersonality's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective 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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Genocide, Sexual content, Pregnancy, Alcohol, and Colonisation

Minor: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Child death, Confinement, Drug use, Slavery, Fire/Fire injury, and Classism

iloponis's review against another edition

5.0

this was, genuinely, one of the most beautiful books ive ever read

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Violence, and Murder

annamary54's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

If I didn’t do this as a tandem read with Empire of Storms, I think this would’ve been more of a 3.75 ⭐️ read. Having the action of EOS really helped move this plot along. I’ve never been a big Chaol fan, but the development in this book is INCREDIBLE. I actually started to like him towards the end. I really enjoyed Nesryns journey especially because it brought more action to the book. The world building in this series is CRAZY, SJM you are amazing! My head is exploding at the last 50 pgs of every book. Could’ve done with out the explanation of their HVAC system for like two chapters in the beginning, but I understand why that point was really made at the end. Overall this was a very good character building story, I am glad I did the tandem read, otherwise I probably would have been a little bored at times. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body horror, Death, Drug use, Gore, Mental illness, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Sexual assault and War

jessikarose's review against another edition

adventurous 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Murder, Pregnancy, Alcohol, and War

huddle_dragon's review against another edition

adventurous 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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Gore, Sexual content, Blood, Grief, Murder, and War

meredith_williams_'s review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious 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

4.25

I am first and foremost a Chaol apologist and I love that he gets his own book in this series because his character arc deserves all 600+ pages. Honorable mention to Nesryn, because to be honest, she does most of the actual emissary work in this book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Sexual content, and Violence

Moderate: Death, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Vomit and Pregnancy