Reviews tagging 'War'

A River Enchanted, by Rebecca Ross

10 reviews

heatherjchin's review against another edition

adventurous challenging 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? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Stalking, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Sexual content, Violence, and War

Minor: Blood, Self harm, Death of parent, Murder, and Torture

naomi_k's review against another edition

emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Chronic illness, Torture, Classism, Death, Grief, Kidnapping, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Xenophobia, Bullying, and Stalking

Minor: Sexual content and War

fn2902's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

🦋🦋🦋🦋🦋

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Infertility, Death of parent, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Terminal illness, Self harm, Chronic illness, and Gore

Minor: Sexual content, War, Abandonment, Blood, Death, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

chrisljm's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, and Blood

Moderate: Death, Pregnancy, Alcohol, Bullying, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Medical content, Miscarriage, War, Murder, Self harm, Terminal illness, Torture, and Violence

Minor: Child abuse

kaetheluise_nckl's review against another edition

adventurous challenging 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? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Spoiler

marriage of convenience and enemies to friends to lovers tropes ahhhh

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Sexual content, Blood, Miscarriage, Violence, Death of parent, Death, Kidnapping, Murder, and Self harm

Moderate: Confinement

Minor: War

jessgreads's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny mysterious relaxing medium-paced

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

4.25

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⬜

Title: A River Enchanted (Elements of Cadence #1)

Author: Rebecca Ross

Genre: Fantasy

Setting: The Isle of Cadence

Month Read: February, 2022

Book Type: Hardcover

Publication: 2022

Publisher: Harper Voyager

Pages: 467

TRIGGER WARNING- 

Death / Kidnapping / Murder 

"We are the earth, the land. The tongue that speaks and trips on the names of the dead as it dares to tell these stories of a woman’s line. Her people and her dirt, her trees,"

No Spoiler Summary:

A River Enchanted is a fantasy novel that takes place on the Isle of Cadence after Jack is called back by the King after leaving the Isle almost a decade before to go to school to be a Bard. He's brought back to help his childhood foe, the Heiress, find village girls who have been going missing without a trace.

Jack and Adaira must appease the spirits (Water, Wind, Fire, and Earth) with his music to try to find out where, and how, the girls went missing. As their partnership continues, they grow closer and start putting their old feelings in the past. Jack is also on a search to figure out who his unknown Father is as secrets and plans begin to unravel the farther, and harder, they search. 

Review:

I'm very glad I listened to my gut, and the great reviews, and got this book in my last Book of the Month box! I am not used to reading Adult Fantasy novels, but this book gripped me from the very beginning, and the British Isle location/lore drew me right in!

The stakes are high, you get just enough questions answered to both hold your interest and keep you wanting more, and there is *just* enough romance to not make it seemed super forced. As a musician, I am drawn to Jack and the incredible magic he possesses through his music. Adaira is a fair and just ruler, an Heiress of the People who is kind, but tough, and supposedly beautiful to boot. The side characters (Sidra, Torin, etc) keep the book going with mixed POV's. 

If you believe what you read on the internet, we might be getting a sequel this year as well, and let me tell you that this cliffhanger leaves you BEGGING for more. A perfect crescendo of drama, revelations, and high stakes climb until the last sentence of the book. I'm so happy Book of the Month chose such a perfect fantasy novel, because they don't normally offer this genre, and it's definitely one I enjoy quite a bit.

See more reviews at:  https://jessgreads.wixsite.com

"These are the incongruities of memory. It is hard to hold on to the entirety of something, but pieces may be held up to light."

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Kidnapping

Moderate: Chronic illness, War, Animal death, Grief, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Death of parent, and Sexual content

katiemcgregor's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious slow-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? Yes

4.0

A River Enchanted completely took me by surprise. Maybe it's because I was severely let down by the last fantasy I read, or because I had no idea what to expect going into this one, but I really enjoyed it!

I think that my favorite thing about this book is the poetically languid writing. This book is slow, but I would say this is more of a virtue than a fault. Ross crafts a vivid picture of Cadence and makes it incredibly easy to visualize, and even feel, each and every scene.

All of the characters are quite enjoyable as well. I like all of them individually, but I think that the romance may be a little lacking, mostly in the chemistry department (though, it's in a place where it could easily blossom to meet all of my expectations in the sequel). I didn't mind this too much, though, because of how beautifully the characters unfold on their own.

I'm looking forward to reading the sequel and seeing how this lyrical world further develops.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Kidnapping, Blood, and Death

Moderate: War and Murder

Minor: Miscarriage

jzthecatlady's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious sad tense 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? It's complicated

4.0

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. I was an easy to digest fantasy, as the world was easy to understand and get accustomed to. I did wish the beginning had not gone quite as slowly, but once the book hit it's stride, I read most of it pretty quickly. I'm definitely looking forward to the rest of the series, as I've grown attached to all of these very distinct and well-constructed characters. My two biggest issues were 1. we got multiple perspectives, which fundamentally is fine, but some perspectives we got throughout the entire books, some only once or twice, and sometimes the shift in perspectives was a little clunky. But that's always a pet peeve of mine with multiple perspectives, so it probably won't bother most people. Also, I feel like this book is terribly mismarketed. The blurb makes it seem like Jack and Adaira's story, and while it is, it's also equally Torin and Sidra's story. We got their perspectives just as much if not more than the supposed main characters. And while it worked for the book, it was surprising as it wasn't what I was expecting. We barely saw Adaira for the first 100 pages. All that to say, I loved the characters and the story, despite it not being exactly what I was expecting, and I'm excited to see what happens in the rest of the series.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Abandonment, Blood, Chronic illness, Death, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Violence, Grief, and Murder

Minor: Fire/Fire injury and War

abrich's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Abandonment, Blood, Death of parent, Death, and Kidnapping

Moderate: War, Violence, Terminal illness, Injury/Injury detail, and Chronic illness

veronicats's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious slow-paced

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

3.75

I'm not a fantasy person, so I had a hard time with this. Mostly found it uninteresting though I will say the writing and imagination of it is very good. Just not my thing I guess. I would've liked it more if I liked the characters better I think. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Blood, Chronic illness, Death, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, Self harm, and Violence

Moderate: Chronic illness, Confinement, Death of parent, Drug use, Grief, and War

Minor: Infertility