Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Ash Princess by Laura Sebastian

19 reviews

mariyah_reads'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

4.25

I love Theo. That's it, that's all I have to say.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Colonisation, and Classism

rnfortier's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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

3.75

I think it’s a good intro book for the series. The political intrigue is well done. Even though the violence can be a bit much at times it is fitting for the story.
It can be hard to be patient with Theo’s ignorance, but given her brutally sheltered upbringing it is to be expected. 
I’m interested to see how things progress. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail

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

auddiev_quinn2's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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? It's complicated

5.0

This is one of the best books I have ever read 100% recommended 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Genocide, Gore, Physical abuse, Torture, Blood, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Slavery, Suicide, Grief, Stalking, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Rape and Sexual assault

sweetchocolatez's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense 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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Torture, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal death, Mental illness, Misogyny, and War

Minor: Violence, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

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

allybean07's review against another edition

challenging dark tense 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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Grief, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Murder

Minor: War

sweetordinary's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

At the beginning, I was wholeheartedly intrigued and invested in the characters and plot. However, I found myself utterly dismayed and highly disappointed with the development of the main character. Her mentality has glimmers of shifting towards this powerful force; yet, moments later its dashed into a frustrating blend of selfish nativity for who she is as a character and what she's supposed to become in the future.

The political courtship navigation is a huge reason why I was intrigued to read this story. How Theodosia navigates it is quite painful to read let alone to follow along. I understand that I'm supposed to feel sympathy for her and rally behind her. However, there are events that occur which completely go off the rails because of her. Thus, my interests shift towards Blaise, Cress, Art, Heron, and Soren as more interesting lines of inquiry. I want to know more about their story, interests, personality, etc.

If I decide to read the sequel, it will be because of those characters not because of Theodosia.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Classism

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Slavery, Torture, Toxic relationship, Antisemitism, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Domestic abuse, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Sexual harassment, and War

words_and_dreams's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

YA Fantasy

This follows the story of Theo, a Princess whose kingdom was taken from an invading force and her mother killled in front of her as a child. She has grown up under the rule of the Kaiser who keeps her as a trophy, abusing and torturing her. She keeps her head down to avoid punishment. 

Events transpire that awaken her from her almost complacency and make her want to fight back and retake the kingdom. 

There is alot of elements that crop up in YA including a love triangle but I felt it did work in the context of the story. The stakes always felt high and with the torture etc it definitely had a darker vibe to it. It wasn't perfect but it got me out of a reading slump and was a great page turner.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Torture, Death of parent, and Murder

Minor: Grief

saara_ilona_muu's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Infidelity, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexism, Slavery, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Toxic friendship, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism