Reviews tagging 'Incest'

The Ruin of Kings by Jenn Lyons

28 reviews

adragoninspace's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious 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

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Body horror, Death, Gore, Homophobia, Incest, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Blood, Vomit, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

marleens's review against another edition

adventurous challenging fast-paced

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

3.5

First of all: this book had some really great writing, there were so many sentences I highlighted as impactful quotes. The tension was high, there was much adventure and action, and I enjoyed the humour and snarkiness, both in the main story and in the footnotes. Also loved many of the side characters, and the worldbuilding was definitely impressive. Why I can’t rate it higher at this moment is mostly the confusion. The way the story was told was definitely inventive, Kihrin’s past being told in two timelines alternating chapters. But the more recent timeline, told by Kihrin himself was often so confusing to me because it would mention people or events that we hadn’t met/experienced yet in the older timeline. Despite being intrigued I found it often hard to keep track of who was who, what was happening, and what Kihrin knew or didn’t know about in each of the timelines. it was a slow and confusing, but nevertheless enjoyable read for me. I can see this getting a higher rating on reread when things are less muddled. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Slavery, and Violence

Moderate: Incest and Rape

ruthlessreads's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

2.0

Lots of things I loved about this book, including the world building and the interesting magic system. However, I’m always filled with distaste when systems of slavery are present, regardless of whether or not the text condemns it (this one does condemn it). The plot of this book is largely dependent on these systems of slavery and it was hard to enjoy the book for that reason. I gave 2 stars purely for the talent of the writer, which shines through at every turn, and the quality of the actual syntax. That said, the content just didn’t do it for me and idk that I’d read another book by this author. Also, not nearly enough dragons for a book with a giant dragon on the front. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Kidnapping, Murder, and Classism

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Cursing, Grief, and Death of parent

Minor: Incest, Toxic relationship, and Injury/Injury detail

anni_swanilda's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark funny mysterious tense slow-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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Slavery, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Body horror, Incest, Blood, Kidnapping, and Alcohol

Minor: Rape

bookbelle5_17's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

Review of Ruin of Kings

By: Jenn Lyons

            There is a prophecy about Kihrin, but instead being a savior of this world, he might be the destroyer. The long-lost son of the noble house D’Mon, Kihrin is fighting his family legacy and his destiny.

The narrative framework of this unique with three characters narrating the story for the reading.  It is recording of an event that happens in this world and the person recording providing footnotes that are funny and informative at the same time.  He gives us facts that Kihrin or the other characters might not know.  The book starts with Kihrin in prison claiming he’s bored, and his captor Talon shape-shifter type creature suggests he tell her the story of his life. He begins, but she stops him, not liking where he starts, and because she can see inside his head, she tells his story from the point she thinks he should have start.  The story goes back and forth between the two different parts of Kihrin.  It did take me some time to get into, but this framework provides a fun way to tell story once I got into the story.  I adored these complex characters, but there was one that I absolutely hate, Darzin.  The dragons were awesome and “the old man” was fun and scary at the same time.  He was so abusive and controlling and he made a terrifying villain as he was also unpredictable.  The world building was great, and the magic system has a bit mystery to it.  Though, the reincarnation aspect made the family tree confusing and there is some incest.  This is a great first book

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Slavery, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Incest and Panic attacks/disorders

szuum's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

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

1.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Biphobia, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Incest, Infidelity, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Slavery, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Death of parent, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Classism

Moderate: Gore and Sexual content

memento_morri's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

3.25

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence

Minor: Incest and Rape

anxiousnachos's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

5.0

Love love love love. The best of epic fantasy. It has such a huge, complex world that you really need the 800 page novel to dive into. It is so rich and detailed, you could never learn all there is to know about this world.

It has a fantastic, interesting structure. I am always one who loves a bit of a puzzle or weird structure to my novels and this definitely satisfied that urge. Told in two (and a half) POVs, to and from a jailer to their prisoner + footnotes from a third individual, this follows two different timelines as they slowly converge to explain how the jailer and prisoner ended up in their current position. The complexity of this structure is absolutely not for everyone. It is such a slow paced fantasy book, it weaves and wanders and you have to accept that you will not know what’s going on for the vast majority of this book. But I loved that about it!! I loved that each chapter ended on almost a mini cliffhanger. I loved getting to guess at what was happening and racing to read on. I found each POV section equally as interesting so even though the cliffhangers happened, I was still interested in the switching stories. It was just fabulously written. 

The characters are brilliant, as book 1 of a 5 part series I’m very excited to see how they develop. I believe the later books are poly? And the main character Kihrin is bisexual. Anyway I have the rest of the series on order, and I am horrific at reading sequels so that is truly a sign of how much I loved this! Please note, this did get very very dark though so note below content warnings. 

Content warnings: slavery (inc sexual slavery), death, violence, torture, rape, murder, blood, domestic abuse, physical abuse, child abuse, war, misogyny, incest

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Incest, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail

andromeda_1998's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense slow-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

This book took me a long time to read and the funny thing is that I didn’t mind. The book is written in a very cleaver way and I would really recommend it. But before you start reading it, beware! This is one of those books you need to finish before having an opinion. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Incest, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, and Classism

roguesaw's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body horror, Gore, Rape, Blood, and War

Minor: Incest