Reviews tagging 'Blood'

The Broken Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin

23 reviews

cms204's review against another edition

adventurous 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

3.25

I really enjoyed this book, minus two things. First,

the vivid descriptions of people being eaten

felt super unnecessary to me. Second,

Shiny and Oree falling for each other felt unnatural and forced. Oree's relationship with Matting was so established and believable, and then to throw her and Shiny together just because they needed a way to punish him again at the end? Left a sour taste in my mouth.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Blood, and Cannibalism

mlynch133's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Ableism, Incest, and Cannibalism

Minor: Slavery, Torture, Pregnancy, and War

mxkanteven's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad 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? No

4.0

MPREG, we have confirmed godly (and incestuous) MPREG.

Beyond that, I cannot explain to y’all how much I adore N.K Jemisin and her writing.

She’s one of few authors who I trust to write disabled characters without reducing them to they disabilities. Her ability to weave their existence as disabled people and their existence in society around them is nothing short of artful.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood and Cannibalism

Moderate: Murder

Minor: Incest

notthatlibrarian's review

adventurous dark emotional 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: Gore, Blood, and Grief

chaoticnostalgia'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? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Gore, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Sexual content and Abandonment

Minor: Incest, Vomit, Grief, Pregnancy, and Alcohol

thoughtsontomes's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

This book got off to a stronger start than the first one, but I still find it so jarring how much NK Jemisin's writing has improved since this series. This series so heavily leans into romance and I don't think this format of romance is where Jemisin's strong suit is. I much prefer her more subtle romances in later series. The romances in here feel more forced. I do enjoy the world building here and the array of gods. The audiobook narration also makes this more enjoyable as well. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood

Moderate: Gore and Murder

laguerrelewis's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful 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

5.0

Jemisin knows how to do a sequel. She’s refined it to an art, and her skill should be studied. I wondered at how the first installment could be followed up, but this one understands that a sequel need not confine itself, especially in a world like this. The new perspective recontextualizes and expands the world we got a brief look at in the last book, and the characters are just as rich and interesting, if not more so. With a middle entry like this, I cannot wait to see how this story is closed.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Death, Gore, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Cannibalism, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Xenophobia and Pregnancy

queenie_ofthe_void's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional 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

4.5

This book is even better than the first, which I didn't think was possible.

This book, particularly the ending, broke me. Emotionally. I sobbed and had to go on a walk. I finished days ago and am just doing a review, so I've forgotten details already. But Itempas leaving was too much to handle. Especially just WALKING OUT. No goodbyes, just gone. Heartbreaking.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Death, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Police brutality, Grief, Religious bigotry, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Death of parent

wlreed312's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful 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

I   enjoyed The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms a quite a lot, but this leaves that in the dust. Taking place ten years after the events of book one, this deals with the repercussions of the end of that book. Jemisin definitely improved her craft between the two books (and she started out damn good), and I also loved the fact that art can be magic in this world. I love Oree as a protagonist, and the fact that her empathy is her strongest and enduring characteristic is wonderful. There were a few twists I really didn't see coming (although I should have with one of them). I think this world and the way it looks at the gods is just great. Can't wait to see how the next book ties in. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Mental illness, Physical abuse, Blood, Grief, and Suicide attempt

anxiousnachos's review

dark mysterious

4.5

4.5 stars. The first one is still my favourite but this was an excellent continuation of the series and a truly wonderful introduction to Itempas, the other god who we haven’t seen much of in the first book. The book itself is brutal and horrific and the ending especially so and I don’t know why I expected different because it makes sense. And yet I hoped, because this hurt. 

There is one very problematic remark about domestic abuse implying women “choose” to take husbands who beat them and are stupid for doing so, which did sour an otherwise excellent read. This remark just made no sense coming from the character it did, and felt so out of touch. This is on page 330 of my copy. 

Content warnings: suicide, suicide attempts, blood, violence, murder, body horror, kidnapping, cults, confinement, forced medical procedure, torture, indoctrination, one problematic remark about female domestic abuse victims 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, and Murder