Reviews tagging 'Blood'

A Shadow Crown by Melissa Blair

7 reviews

melissaslibraryy's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful reflective sad 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Slavery, Classism, Confinement, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Grief, Medical content, Violence, Blood, Colonisation, Forced institutionalization, Murder, and Death

Moderate: Sexual content, Cursing, Genocide, Torture, Body horror, and War

mcluster1's review against another edition

dark tense slow-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? No

3.75

Overall this was a good read. The characters are interesting and easy to route for, even Keera. However, this book definitely had some pacing issues that the first book did not have. I had a hard time getting through the first 75% and then the last 25% was constant action. I am still very excited for the third book! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Blood, War, Xenophobia, Torture, Slavery, Self harm, Gore, and Colonisation

beckyyreadss's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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

4.0

I loved the first book in this series and I was so excited to read carry on with the series. I really hope I don’t have to wait long for some announcement of the third or even fourth book in this series because these cliff hangers are getting meaner and meaner. 
 

This book still follows Keera, who we met in the last book. To the kingdom, she is still chasing the Shadow and she is the King’s blade, his most feared and trusted spy and assassin. But in the shadows, she works with Prince Killian and his Shadow – the dark and brooding Fae, Riven – who sets her blood on fire. Together, they are plotting to topple the crown that sits upon the king’s head. A secret can only survive as long as its conspirators, and when nothing is as it seems, all are in danger. Keera swore she would never open her heart again after a loss she barely survived. But she will soon find she has more to lose than she ever imagined. 

This book is as thrilling as the first book with the details and action keeping you on the edge of your seat. I loved Keera and I'm scared of her, I want to be her, and she can hit me and I would say thank you - I loved that we got to know more about her and I love her bisexual rep and was nearly crying when she was talking about Brenna and how she is determined not to lose anyone else. I still adore the found family aspect in this book and how it was strengthened during this book and how everyone started to defend Keera and they were all fighting for each other. The storyline was strong and I loved all of these characters (minus Damian – he's a dick and I hope he has a slow and painful death) 

I just wanted more during this book, I felt like at times there was an information overload and then some information was just glossed over. I felt it was a little repetitive with the information we knew about and I get why it was done for the people who read the first book when it first came out but I was just skimming those bits because I already knew the background information. Some of the big twists were a bit predictable – like I guessed who the mole was, and what happened to the light fae and who was going to be the big bad guy.  

I enjoyed this book and was hoping for it to be five stars, but I was just wanting more. I will still be refreshing social media and keeping an eye on the book community world to see if there will be a third book and when it will be released. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Blood, and Violence

Moderate: Alcoholism, Self harm, and Confinement

Minor: Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, and Rape

kowhaiii's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense 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

4.0

Fantastic. Much more character focused than the last book, which is great because these characters are wonderful! I can't wait for book three. The worldbuilding is so enthralling and it feels so tangible on the pages. The characters really drive it home for me and we get some backstory for them all in this book. Yay!

I do have a few bones to pick with this installent of the series, unfortunately. There are quite a few typos and simple mistakes in this book, which was surprising considering how polished the previous one was. I was sometimes confused by the sentences and had to reread them a few times, and in places the writing was simply incorrect. This took away from the reading experience for me. I'm a stickler for spelling errors and grammar mistakes, alas.

I have mixed feelings on the ending of this book. No spoilers, but there is a big reveal that I didn't think was foreshadowed in a satisfying way. To me the ending was a bit rushed and felt disjointed from the remainder of the narrative. The ending made sense in theory, but is just didn't feel "right", for lack of a better word. Definitely the weakest point in the story for me. I understand fast pacing, but as a reader I needed more time to digest the newly revealed information before the big finale kicked off. Overall this book was great and tore at my heartstrings in all the best ways. I think the ending was a bit of a let down and thus this book pales in comparison compared to A Broken Blade. Great series, great author, and I cannot wait for the next one! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Blood, and Grief

Moderate: Violence, Self harm, Murder, Sexual content, War, Confinement, Alcoholism, and Death

Minor: Vomit, Police brutality, Torture, Injury/Injury detail, Child abuse, Alcohol, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual violence, War, Misogyny, and Death of parent

kat1105's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual content, Torture, Colonisation, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Drug abuse, Slavery, Body horror, Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Murder, Physical abuse, Self harm, Child death, Alcohol, War, Violence, Gore, Abandonment, Blood, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Grief, and Vomit

Minor: Rape, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, and Sexual violence

readingwithkaitlyn's review against another edition

adventurous 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Fire/Fire injury, Death, Sexual harassment, Blood, Violence, Sexual content, Grief, and Murder

Moderate: Gore, Racism, Colonisation, Confinement, Abandonment, Torture, Self harm, Death of parent, Hate crime, Medical content, Child abuse, Physical abuse, Alcohol, and Genocide

Minor: Sexual assault, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Child death, War, Alcoholism, and Trafficking

booksalacarte's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense fast-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? No

3.25

A Shadow Crown-3.25⭐️ 3🌶️

To the kingdom, Keera is the king’s Blade, his most feared and trusted spy and assassin. But in the shadows, she works with Prince Killian and his Shadow—the dark, brooding Fae, Riven, who sets her blood on fire. Together, they plot to topple the crown that sits upon the king’s head.

A secret can only survive as long as its conspirators, and when nothing is as it seems, all are in danger. Keera swore she would never open her heart again after a loss she barely survived. But she will soon find she has more to lose than she ever imagined . . .

✨My Opinion✨

I’m enjoying this series!

There are nods to the authors indigenous background, a LOT of inter world diversity that makes the cultures and magic systems very interesting and compelling. 

The writing seemed a bit more disjointed than the last book. I often found gaps mid-chapter where I needed to go back and try to reconfigure my mind’s picture of what was going on. But over all, I am really enjoying the series!

With this the second book, there was a huge betrayal and the MC’s were separated. I’m hoping that we get more of the reason behind all of that and get back to the romance!

Found family

One bed

Fated mates

Betrayal

Bi rep

Assassin 

Shadow magic

Grief

Political intrigue

Thank you Union Square & Co, Sterling Publishing and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Colonisation, Cursing, Genocide, Misogyny, Murder, Gore, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, and War