Reviews tagging 'Violence'

The Fae Keeper by H.E. Edgmon

30 reviews

queer_bookwyrm's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring 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? It's complicated

5.0

5 ⭐ CW: (provided by author) violence, murder, descriptions of blood and gore, body horror, panic attacks, dissociation, discussions of infanticide, cannibalism mention, off page rape, child sexual abuse mention, animal death, gender dysphoria, discussions of homophobia/transphobia, discussions of racism

The Fae Keeper by H.E. Edgmon is book two in The Witch King series. This book was just as good as the first one! For a book that covers a lot of intense and serious themes, Edgmon has done an excellent job of not making the story too heavy. 

We pick up with Wyatt where the last book left off. Emyr has abolished and dismantled the Guard, and is now trying to navigate how to get more equality for the witches among the Fae. Our gang learns pretty quickly that systematic oppression doesn't just go away over night, nor does the generations of learned bigotry go away so easily. Wyatt and Emyr try to get the other Fae kingdoms to follow their lead and abolish their own Guard and implement equality for Witches. 

Wyatt gets some much needed character growth this book. As much as I love that angsty little goblin, he tends to be a self centered, sarcastic asshole. He and Briar get into it, and he gets a reality check. Wyatt also finally gets a handle on his powers, but I do wish we had spent more time on that. I felt like he figured it out too quickly without trying too hard. I love the revelations the inhabitants of Faery bring! Turns out the witches aren't an accident of nature (just like queer people aren't an accident), but instead were created to compliment and balance out the Fae magic. Fae magic takes away, while Witch magic brings it back. 

Edgmon has created a dynamic world with amazing and diverse characters, and tackles some difficult topics with grace and enough dry humor and sarcasm to make the story feel lighter. I don't think this series is getting another book, but I would love one just about Faery. Just read this queer, angsty book. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, and Blood

Moderate: Murder

Minor: Homophobia, Racism, Rape, Sexual violence, Transphobia, and Cannibalism

ofbooksandechos's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring sad 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

loved it

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, and Violence

Moderate: Genocide, Sexual assault, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Animal cruelty and Racism

pagesofnay's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful 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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Cursing, Genocide, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, Transphobia, Cannibalism, Dysphoria, and War

Minor: Animal cruelty, Racism, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Grief, and Religious bigotry

sliceofsav's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense fast-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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Racism, Violence, Car accident, and Death of parent

Moderate: Abandonment

Minor: Sexual content, Sexual violence, Grief, and Cannibalism

blairextraordinaire's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny 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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Violence, Blood, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Sexual assault, Terminal illness, and Abandonment

Minor: Animal cruelty, Racism, Xenophobia, and Toxic friendship

bookwormbi's review against another edition

dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious sad 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

okay go off kings (or I guess not, since "kingdom" isn't really the right word for Asalin in these books.) truly Edgmon took these books and created such an expansive, beautiful, interesting fantasy concept. literally never reading fantasy that doesn't take structural inequity into account again this is so much better. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror and Blood

Moderate: Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Transphobia, Violence, Xenophobia, Vomit, Medical content, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, Dysphoria, and War

the_vegan_bookworm's review against another edition

adventurous funny medium-paced

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

4.75

I love the world created in the Witch King duology, and this book continues to explore it in an exciting way. The plot kept me super engaged, and I continue to adore all the characters. It was a great continuation of the first book in many ways!

The book lost 0.25 stars, because some elements of the plot (like Emyr and Wyatt's relationship, and the addition of the changelings) felt unecessarily complicated and caused the plot feel slow-moving at times.

The inclusion of sexual violence against Tessa was completely unnecessary, and I am really disappointed in the author for featuring it. It didn't add to the plot in any meaningful way short of showing how evil Clarke is (which was not needed - we already knew that when she killed her brother and ate his heart). Tessa just becomes collateral damage to show how depraved someone else is, and the author deliberately chooses to never even examine the harm that it causes her. For such an otherwise progressive read, I felt a little betrayed by this careless inclusion.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Death, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Dysphoria, and War

Moderate: Genocide

Minor: Racism

puttingwingsonwords's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Gore, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, Colonisation, and War

Moderate: Body shaming, Cursing, Genocide, Terminal illness, and Cannibalism

Minor: Animal cruelty and Dysphoria

paintedpebble's review against another edition

adventurous challenging 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? It's complicated

5.0

So far the best duology I've ever read. (sorry six of crows, you're a close second) My absolute favourite thing was that we learn the world building and magic system in The Witch King and get familiar with it and then in the next book it's just...well that was all a lie, nothing you know was ever true!
It makes you feel just like the people in this world, like truly getting sucked into it. And I love a snarky narrator, we need more Wyatt Crofts as main characters, what a delight that boy is. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, and Violence

Moderate: Sexual assault

Minor: Religious bigotry and Death of parent

perpetualpages's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective 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

CWs: murder and violence; some gore and body horror; on-page descriptions of panic attacks and dissociation; graphic discussions of infanticide and cannibalism; off-page instances of rape and assault; discussions of childhood sexual abuse; some animal death; explorations of dysphoria, racism, and transphobia; and some fade-to-black sexual content

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Transphobia, and Dysphoria

Minor: Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Cannibalism