Reviews tagging 'Gore'

Defy the Night by Brigid Kemmerer

15 reviews

lkristin2018's review

adventurous emotional mysterious sad 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

3.5

In a land where citizens are dying of fever, there is only one treatment, and there isn’t enough for everyone. Tessa and Wes steal from the rich and distribute it to the poor until things go badly. The world building is excellent, and feels relevant in the world of Covid. The characters are complex and engaging and the political intrigue keeps the reader guessing. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Chronic illness, Confinement, and Physical abuse

Minor: Ableism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, and Alcohol

Ableist language for mental illness used multiple times (crazy, mad, insane) suicidal/self-harming thoughts including

tossing oneself into a fire, insisting on being killed with a crossbow as a sacrifice for one’s kingdom being glorified

juliapatt2007's review

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Gore, and Torture

Minor: Sexual content and Sexual violence

dinaisreading's review

adventurous medium-paced

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

3.5

Overall pretty good. The ending

was a little rushed. The part where everyone chants “I trust Tessa” had me seriously cringing, but it was otherwise not that unbelievable.

The MC was a bit irritating at times, confused and naive, but it didn’t get in the way of the story too much. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence

Minor: Gore

dezzella's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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? Yes

4.0

I would say this reads as upper YA  dystopian fantasy with dark elements/themes. I was hooked as I started reading this, and very quickly the author had my jaw dropping with surprise. You have this kingdom that is facing an illness, and struggling to give medicine to everyone. Tension is rising and though the king has strict restrictions on the flower that seems to be halting most things, there is an underground market risking their lives to get the medicine - whether for greed or for more.

The romance is definitely a sub plot, and the focus is more on the sickness affecting the kingdom, but I like how it was done. The book feels like a combination of the futuristic dystopian novels and a fantasy setting. There are magical/fantasy elements and I think everything blended pretty well. 

Over pretty good and I had a good time reading it, will definitely be continuing to book 2.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Gore, Torture, Violence, and Death of parent

e_zindel's review

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Love plot twists and the romance

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Gore, Violence, and Death of parent

thumbeleia's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense fast-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: Body horror, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

gaby_readsss's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful mysterious 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? Yes

5.0

Just finished my reread of this book and I loved it just as much, if not more than the first time. 
I loved revisiting this book because it allowed me to notice things I didn’t the first time I read it and also it reminded me of everything that happened and details I had forgotten. 
This book will always be a favorite of mine.
I’m so stoked to read Defend The Dawn!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Death, Gore, and Death of parent

zozo_reads's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious 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

4.5

Great world building did sort of expect the ending though. There was a plot twist in the beginning that I would have never expected. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Gore, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Child abuse and Child death

fremzz's review

adventurous 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? It's complicated

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence

Moderate: Death, Grief, Death of parent, and Alcohol

Minor: Gore

theespressoedition's review

adventurous challenging 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

5.0

Whew. What a wild ride this was!

I really enjoyed the Cursebreakers trilogy and was excited to find out that Brigid was starting a new series. I heard tons and tons of raves about this when it was first released, which made me simultaneously more excited to read it and also totally wary. I'm not always huge on hyped books, but I gave it a go - and I'm glad I did.

Personally, I would categorize this as new adult. Somewhere in the middle of the book, Corrick mentions how several years ago, he and his brother were 17, which means that they've got to be at least 19-20 in the story, if not older. I'm not sure Tessa's age is discussed, but no matter what, the content felt older than just YA. Not because of anything sexually explicit (there's romance and some subtle physical contact, but nothing further) - but because of the gore. There was quite a bit of it and it even made me uncomfortable at times.

I was completely entranced by the story. It was pretty quick-paced, with great character development, short chapters, fantastic twists and turns, and political intrigue that actually kept me intrigued. This is a feat, I must say. Political intrigue usually bores me to tears, but this time, I was interested. The characters actually made you care about the cause and I found myself feeling so hopeful for a solution throughout the story.

The secondary characters were nearly as fascinating as the protagonists and I'm looking forward to seeing how the sequel might dive into their stories a bit more. I just know that this felt like a really refreshing high fantasy and I'm excited for whatever's next.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Gore, Torture, Blood, Death of parent, and Murder