Reviews tagging 'Vomit'

Ash Princess by Laura Sebastian

10 reviews

ivywall's review against another edition

adventurous emotional tense medium-paced

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

3.25

I absolutely loved this book, it made me fall in love with reading in highschool. However on this re-read I noticed a few things structurally that irked me. There was quite a few quick fixes to the plot and repetitive internal dialogue. Also, the author would put  certain words in italics for emphasis. Which to me just came off as immaturity. 
Now for the good news! It’s still the same wonderful story with all the tension and nail biting drama. I would recommend this to any fantasy fan or even political drama fan. Long live the Queen!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Violence, Vomit, and War

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Self harm, Slavery, Torture, Blood, Death of parent, and Classism

meghansarmiento97's review against another edition

adventurous dark sad tense fast-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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Genocide, Panic attacks/disorders, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

esterslibrary's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense fast-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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

rinku's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

3.5

Ash Princess is your typical YA fantasy centred around a chosen one that has to earn her right place back by killing the hot prince™. The story is as cliché as it sounds, but still enjoyable because of the characters and the interesting and dark world which is why I gave it 3.5 stars. 

Like I’ve said, this general plot is not the most innovative, but I still liked the way that it was told. The main character Theo came into this situation because the Kaiser and his people conquered her country, killing the queen, her mother, in the course of it. Theo is now stuck at the Kaiser’s court as a kind of trophy while realizing that she finally has to do something against it. The story is quite dark already at the beginning where she’s forced to

kill her dad

which intrigued me immediately. There are many other dramatic moments in the story which were written so well, like

Elpis sacrificing herself

. Sadly, some plot lines were quite cliché and predictable, like

the main character almost having to marry an older man, or the masquerade ball. It was furthermore so predictable that Theo wouldn’t kill Søren and that her plan with the poison would fail as well

. 

The atmosphere of the story is just so dark and angsty which I absolutely love. The stakes are so high and there were some situations where I didn’t know how Theo would get out of them. Additionally, the lore around the magic and the stones is so interesting but was sadly info dumped at the beginning. It’s especially dark how Theo’s people are treated and how the stones are used by the Kaiser and his people as jewels while they are something holy for Theo’s people. It was also interesting how Theo didn’t use her magic because she didn’t want to risk not going to the afterlife, showing how strong her belief is. 

Looking at the characters, I quite liked Theo as the main character. She has a great character development and change of mind in the course of the story. It’s obvious that she struggles with her loyalties and needs time to figure out what the right thing to do is. Her hatred and anger are so powerful as well, I love it. What I didn’t love though was the romance. Theo of course has to fall for the first guy she meets aka prince Søren. It was interesting to see how she was getting closer to him, but their friendship developed a bit fast for my taste. Their relationship didn’t develop fully as I would’ve expected, so that was a little surprise. Sadly though, we also get a love triangle where the other part doesn’t interest me. 

Furthermore, what annoyed me was the lack of important female characters besides Theo and Cress and the villain being constantly described as fat. Talking about Cress, her over-the-top jealously annoyed me and

it was obvious from the beginning that she couldn’t be trusted but my heart still dropped when she revealed Theo that she knew everything about her. She could be an interesting villain in the following books

. 

After the dramatic ending, I’ll definitely continue the Ash Princess series. The world and the characters have so much potential, and I hope that this potential will be utilized.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Toxic friendship, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Fatphobia, Vomit, Kidnapping, Sexual harassment, and War

Minor: Rape and Abandonment

majumita's review against another edition

adventurous 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? No

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Slavery, Torture, Blood, Vomit, Death of parent, Murder, and Alcohol

Moderate: Kidnapping

liviamello's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Torture, Death of parent, and War

Moderate: Toxic friendship and Sexual harassment

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Rape, and Vomit

emjen16's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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? No

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Racism, Vomit, and War

hapalyn'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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Genocide, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Physical abuse, Vomit, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

Minor: Adult/minor relationship and Rape

steffandbooks's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark slow-paced

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

4.0

I wasn’t prepared for this book to be so dark. There’s a lot of violence, death, torture throughout the entire book. Perhaps I only forgot that YA fantasy books tend to be like adult ones, just that the age difference makes so much more violent for me. I understand why Theodosia is acting the way she acts, but I also hate that she doesn’t choose the villain. Although, many wouldn’t put Prinz Søren as the villain, I think he is. Blaise certainly has a violent streak as well, however, he’s being seen as the hero, the one who does everything for his country, for his queen. We don’t get much background information on him in the beginning, so I‘m kinda mad that she chooses him over and over again because they apparently share some childhood crush and many memories. In the end, I can imagine that he might die because it’s clear that he’s mine-mad and might turn into one of those berserkers everyone fears. But it’s only the first book, it might not become the truth. At the same time, I have a feeling that we don’t get a happy ending with this. Theo might get her kingdom back, but I fear that she will be alone by that time. I don’t like Art very much at this point and Heron is too quiet for my liking and we haven’t had much interaction with him in this first book.
After all, it’s a good book. I tend to say that YA fantasy books have the best stories. Astrea and the world it’s in is remarkable and I haven’t read anything like it before. Some parts did remind me of the World Wars, Germany trying to overtake everything the Kalovaxians being the Germans in this scenario, although they mostly have Scandinavian names and look like that as well, pale, with blond hair and blue eyes.
The thing, though, I usually can’t wrap my head around anymore is the age. They are barely adults - 16 years old only - and you want to tell me that they have to act all tough and rose because the adults left can’t do it? No, that’s why YA books aren’t that appealing to me anymore, good story or not.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Bullying, Toxic friendship, and War

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Genocide, Rape, and Vomit

visar2007's review against another edition

adventurous tense medium-paced

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

3.5

It is a good book but not the best book I have ever read. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Slavery and Torture

Minor: Vomit