Reviews tagging 'War'

Six Scorched Roses by Carissa Broadbent

16 reviews

linnybear's review against another edition

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

2.75

 I think the author had a wonderful idea for this novel, I loved how each part is separated by roses representing each rose Lilith gives to Vale, I loved the setting of a plagued human lands and a dangerous forbidden love between human and a vampire but at the same time this book felt way too short to establish any form of connection between two main characters that didn’t feel artificial. Compared to Oraya and Raihn from book one, Lilith and Vale didn’t have that much in common and instead were initially drawn together by a sheer force of fate called ‘the author’s imagination’. I also can’t say I liked them as individual characters, I’ve spent too little time with them to fully understand them and their attraction. I think the entire story as well as their relationship unfortunately lacked that sort of depth we could get in a full length novel (but I guess we had enough time for a whole chapter of smut, right?).

I was also hoping for some insight into human lives away from Obitraes and Nyaxia’s power but didn’t get much of that. I think it’s a lost opportunity to not introduce the whole White Pantheon, show their qualities and sort of compare them to Nyaxia in this installment especially given ‘the plague’ and how it was caused by one of the gods. 

Not disappointed by the writing though, I think Carissa Broadbent has a way to write so much emotions and chemistry into characters even when seemingly there shouldn’t be that much there (seriously there’s one chapter around 50% mark when I suddenly was overwhelmed by Lilith’s words and how beautiful they were, given how one chapter earlier I didn’t feel any of that). I don't think about time with this book as really wasted, to be honest I oddly enjoyed it while acknowledging it didn't hold the standard of the first book at the same time. Definitely skippable piece if you are only interested in the main storyline of the series but short enough to give it a try if you need more. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Death, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Religious bigotry, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Rape, Death of parent, and War

coveredinivy's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Terminal illness, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Gore, Sexual content, and Death of parent

Minor: Rape, Sexual assault, Blood, and War

greyskale's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful 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

4.75

I adored this little book so much! I related to Lilith, I loved her struggles with human connection. She is very clearly autistic and I love the representation as an autistic person myself. 

I loved the blossoming love between Vale and Lilith and all the little ways he understood her when everyone else did not. Watching their relationship grow was truly something else. I loved these two so much 🖤

It had a satisfying, heart warming ending with a bittersweet tinge. Can’t wait to read more about these two. 

The only reason this is not a full 5 star read is the lack of world building, I had a hard time visualizing where this all took place. But the characters and story were great! 

Vale: I like her, I like that autistic woman

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Sexual content, Violence, Grief, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Animal death, Terminal illness, Blood, Medical content, Death of parent, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Rape

There is a passage about a needle that made me cringe at the description.

there is a part where Lilith is attacked on the road, the attackers tell her to remove her dress, it is implied they wanted to assault her. Nothing happens and she is saved before her dress is removed

Mentions of rape

boba_nbooks's review against another edition

4.75

Spice Rating: 🌶️ / 5

This was the perfect novella to read in between The Serpent and the Wings of Night and its sequel, The Ashes and the Star-Cursed King.

Six Scorched Roses is a novella that follows Lillith--a human whose town is riddled with a rapidly-spreading plague. In order to find a cure, Lillith decides to turn against the god of her town and seek assistance from one of Nyaxia's children--a vampire named Lord Vale. Lillith promises Vale six special roses in exchange for six vials of his blood so she might try to find a cure for the plague. In the process, the two find out that they have much more in common than the world has told them they do.

I'm currently reading The Ashes and the Star-Cursed King, and I loved being able to peek into Lillith's and Vale's story before seeing them appear in the sequel. Carissa Broadbent writes such beautiful love stories, and I'm so glad she added this novella to the Crowns of Nyaxia universe. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Sexual content, and Blood

Moderate: Violence, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Rape, Sexual assault, and War

shinyfox's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious fast-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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Death, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Murder, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Xenophobia, Death of parent, and War

Minor: Rape

hollymileham's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional fast-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

4.25

for a novella this was so good!! normally novellas feel so pointless to me but this had fully fleshed out characters & plot and i am very intrigued as to how it will connect with the rest it the story

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Blood

Moderate: Sexual assault and War

junixthebibliotaph's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Religious bigotry, Death of parent, and War

nova_lilias's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Terminal illness, Blood, Medical content, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Death of parent and War

lucindahoi's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful sad fast-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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Terminal illness, Blood, Medical content, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, and War

ka_ke's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful 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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Terminal illness, Blood, and Medical content

Moderate: Sexual content, Xenophobia, Grief, and Religious bigotry

Minor: Body horror, Gore, Xenophobia, Death of parent, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism