Reviews tagging 'Animal death'

Ash by Malinda Lo

12 reviews

bookdragonenby's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful informative 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 enjoyed reading this book. The conclusion was a little rushed for my taste.

15 pages left and there hadn't been a solution suggested. The detail of stories and world building were gorgeous and well thought out. But the relationship felt really lacking. I didn't know who I was meant to be rooting for. Over a solid read, but nothing too out there.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child abuse, Confinement, Physical abuse, Terminal illness, and Death of parent

Moderate: Bullying, Emotional abuse, Violence, and Grief

Minor: War

lady_valhella's review

adventurous dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Slavery, Grief, and Death of parent

levitatingnumeral's review against another edition

fast-paced

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

2.75

Ash is very much a “neither - nor”, on-the fence.
The story itself is bland. It doesn’t succeed in exploring the characters and their relationships nor does it have interesting events going on.
The world-building is lacking: sure, it’s set in a nondescript past, but it fails to portray anything in depth. For example: we know Gwen wants to marry and that is portrayed according to the historical stereotype, but are we going to ignore that women back then probably had personalities, motives, dreams? It’s like every single event or character is a mere caricature or stereotype.
The storytelling heavily relies on telling, rather than showing. Which I dislike, but I could’ve maybe defended with a “well, it’s a retelling of a fairytale, so of course it resorts to telling the facts, as is customary”. Except the book attempts to introduce a more literary twist, using descriptions and a more flowery language (at times). So the book is too long and detailed to be a classic fairytale and too focused on telling to be a well-written novel.
Finally, the author tried to give a feeling of “it’s in the past” through the use of both language (specific words/sentence structures) and figures of speech. However, this is used inconsistently and much too lightly, entirely preventing immersion.

I truly don’t understand the reason for this book to exist. The story is unremarkable, the characters are flat, the writing is underwhelming.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Domestic abuse, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Death of parent and Classism

kshertz's review

lighthearted 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? No

4.0

This was a super cute queer retelling of Cinderella. I enjoyed following the character on her journey. The magic and the fairy were a little confusing at times and the ending was a little unbelievable but I still enjoyed this rewrite and retelling. 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Animal death, Death, and Death of parent

belovedsnail's review against another edition

emotional 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? No

4.5

A retelling of Cinderella as a YA lesbian romance is delicious.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death

btorsi's review

adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious reflective fast-paced

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

4.5

such an odd book. it's pretty much sapphic YA royalty, so i knew it was a crime i hadn't read it yet. the writing is like that of a fable; there is such an odd amount of distance from the reader to the protagonist, but it still felt overflowing with heart. it was such a fast and enjoyable read. i didn't expect to love it as much as I did. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death, Child abuse, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Confinement and Death of parent

shybookstagramer's review against another edition

slow-paced

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

2.5

I really wanted to like this story. I liked the idea of it but I don’t think the execution worked for me. I found it very slow and kind of dull for my liking. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, and Death of parent

Moderate: Animal death

Minor: Confinement

animal death is a stag being hunted and killed

morgiei's review against another edition

adventurous emotional inspiring reflective 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Grief, and Death of parent

Minor: Animal death and Religious bigotry

strange_little_ranger's review against another edition

adventurous emotional relaxing medium-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Domestic abuse, and Death of parent

Moderate: Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Violence, Blood, Grief, and Death of parent

mothman19's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious relaxing medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Grief, and Death of parent

Moderate: Physical abuse

Minor: Animal death, Bullying, and Confinement