Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Forged by Blood by Ehigbor Okosun

10 reviews

dmrains's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful tense medium-paced

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

4.0

There were a lot of terms introduced that were spelled similarly that I had a hard time remembering what they meant, but thankfully they didn't impact my understanding. She included a "dramatis personae" at the end which was helpful because there were a TON of characters, so I could look them up at the back to help me remember who's who. The last 'act' seemed to escalate really quickly compared to everything else in the plot. Very well written

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Genocide, Hate crime, Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

manaledi's review against another edition

adventurous emotional medium-paced

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

3.25

A West African YA fantasy with heavy doses of not so subtle analysis of colorism and colonization and a FMC with a strong hero mentality. The setting was great and the characters were solid but I wanted more backstory. A lot of major historical events were plot twists which left us a little lost on the bigger picture who's who. The non-elemental magic also needed a little more explanation. I'll add book two to my list to see where this goes.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Hate crime, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail

pernrider's review against another edition

adventurous emotional inspiring tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Racism, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Trafficking, Grief, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Death, Physical abuse, Slavery, Torture, Police brutality, Trafficking, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Child death, Sexual assault, and Pregnancy

thereadingmarshmallow's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Hate crime, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual assault, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Police brutality, Medical content, Trafficking, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Outing, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

metaphorsandmisc's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

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

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Racism, Torture, and Classism

Moderate: Grief, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and War

Minor: Rape

kendal_reads's review against another edition

adventurous emotional 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? No

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, and Colonisation

Moderate: Child abuse, Rape, and Injury/Injury detail

roseleebooks's review against another edition

adventurous tense fast-paced

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

3.5

This book introduces us to a world on the verge of war, seen through the eyes of Dèmi, a young Oluso (magic user). The Oluso are in hiding, magic is forbidden in their world, and Dèmi is hiding secrets that would get her killed by the rulers of the kingdom.

I loved how strong a person Dèmi is in this story. She is powerful and holds to her identity and ideals. A really wonderful MC to follow and I'm looking forward to seeing how she grows in the next book.

The pace of this book is very fast, and I found myself wishing for some more internal dialogue or reflection to help me frame the information. There is one particular chapter in which there are several reveals about multiple characters and I had to reread it and review a previous chapter to understand what was going on. There was a little more explanation/review of that information later in the book which I appreciated, but it would have been helpful closer to the events as well. I also felt the relationship/love interest subplot could have been developed more, but suspect this will be explored in the next book.

We see Dèmi receive some warnings about the love interest so this may contribute to the plot going forward.

Although there were some things I thought could have been developed more, the world building, main character, and setup for the next book were all well done and I'll be looking forward to reading the rest of the story.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Rape

bettysbookishworld's review against another edition

adventurous emotional fast-paced

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

2.5

I would like to thank the publisher, HarperVoyager UK, for providing me with an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review!

Forged by Blood is a fantasy debut novel isnpired by Nigerian mythology. The mythology is what intrigued me about reading it and it delivered on this front. I enjoyed all the folklore and how it got effortlessly woven into the magic system and the worldbuilding. The story even takes part in a Spirit Realm, which was my favourite part of the book and the most interesting one, too. If this is the reason why you got interested in the book, too, the author does a great job with that and definitely try reading it.

However, I could tell this is a debut novel. The story was missing some sort of nuance. I feel like everything was happening at once without any room for a reader to actually get connected to the story and characters. Events were rushed, plot points got resolved too quickly and characters didn't have much time to actually develop further. It's also supposed to be an adult fantasy, however, the characters and their reactions felt very juvenile. There was also a romance aspect to the book, which consisted of tropes I don't enjoy. I think the love "triangle" was unnecessary when having fated mates/souls, because of its predictability. 

I really wanted to enjoy this story, but it just didn't work for me at all. On more positive note, I definitely want to read more fantasy inspired by African mythology and folklore, as I loved it in this book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Genocide, Racism, Slavery, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, and Colonisation

Moderate: Suicide and War

Minor: Rape and Pregnancy

shelvesofivy's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful tense slow-paced

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

4.25

From my first impressions of the STUNNING cover and the synopsis of a fantasy inspired by Nigerian mythology, I was super excited to get to this book. Once I got into the story, the author's way with words became clear: she gives very poetic and vibrant descriptions of Dèmi's emotions and the world around her.

Despite the lovely prose, it admittedly took me a while to become invested in the story. There seemed to be a slight imbalance between exposition and action, giving the feeling of a slow plot—despite the fact that this was not a slow or low stakes story by any means at all.
Around the halfway point, I finally felt hooked by the action and intrigue going on. I can't wait to see what the next book has in store for the characters and their (and my) unanswered questions. This is also the type of book that I'll definitely need to reread! There was a mix of twists that I predicted and did not, so I'd be interested to see all of the foreshadowing in hindsight. (I also want to reread a finished edition; since I originally read an unproofed copy, there were some punctuation and formatting errors)

When it comes to the characters, they really shine! Dèmi makes an incredible protagonist who's both strong and flawed. She has strong beliefs and her actions align with those beliefs throughout the book. 
I adored one of the love interests from the beginning, and even though the other one annoyed me (as is usually the case when I read love triangles), I still grew to at least appreciate his character.

This is not a light story by any means (please check CWs!), but it remains hopeful and even humorous at times with the character dynamics. The moments of banter and heart are what I live for, and this delivered ♡

|| Thank you William Morrow Books for the advance reader's copy! I won this arc in a Storygraph giveaway, but all opinions in this review are my own. ||

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Confinement, Death, and Torture

Minor: Drug use, Genocide, and Rape

amandadevoursbooks's review against another edition

adventurous funny 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? It's complicated

4.0

Thank you Net Galley and Harper Collins for the advanced reader copy. This is a 3.75 rounded up to 4. I rounded it up because I'm old and not the target audience.

Demí is a magic user. After healing a colonialist's kid(Jonah), her mother is killed. Demí is betrayed by a new friend, and she is forced to take a life debt to live. Fast forward 9 years, Demí is forced to kidnap her betrayer and go on a quest to save her people and her family. 

This reads like an entertaining YA. If you like love triangles, fated mates,  inventive African worlds, interesting revenge plotlines, and magic, you might enjoy this book. It was a fun read, and I can't wait for book two. 

It does cover colonialism, racism, xenophobia, slavery, child abuse, rand marginalization. Please check content warnings. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Genocide, Grief, Death of parent, and Colonisation

Moderate: Slavery, Violence, and Xenophobia