Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

Crier's War by Nina Varela

9 reviews

fairyollie's review against another edition

adventurous emotional inspiring fast-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

4.75

what an amazing, wonderful, beautifully-written book! I can't believe this is a debut! my only qualm is that the romance seemed to happen a bit quickly

at least on Ayla's side; I found it unrealistic how quickly she fell for someone she's spent her life hating and dreaming of killing; someone who represents oppression and evil.

(though, I suppose we sapphics, especially with our first loves, do fall quickly!)

 however, I am so excited that this is a series, and the second I finished Crier's War I began to read Iron Heart. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Genocide, Sexism, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, War, and Classism

Minor: Drug abuse, Drug use, Homophobia, Self harm, Toxic relationship, and Abandonment

elliott_the_clementine'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? Yes

4.5

Fantasy at it’s finest - Crier’s War is pure queer magic. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Infertility, Torture, Violence, Death of parent, and War

Moderate: Toxic relationship

some_random_person_hi's review against another edition

adventurous emotional tense 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? It's complicated

4.75

 This book:

-made me so emotional that I screamed out loud at one point and cried during the end of the Acknowledgements

-was a learning experience that I personally should not read something without spoilers

-was a pageturner

-has a very exciting ending 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Racism, Toxic relationship, Grief, Death of parent, and Abandonment

Moderate: Death, Sexual content, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Fire/Fire injury and War

stekka__'s review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious reflective 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? It's complicated

4.75

Great book! Mainly fantasy with a forbidden saphic romance. (Princess x servant) and loved the characters. Although this book was great I think it was very much a lot of world building for the second book (which I’m very excited to read!). The writing was great and never got slow.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent and Abandonment

Moderate: Death, Grief, and War

Minor: Gore and Toxic relationship

starccato's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

3.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Genocide, Misogyny, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Gaslighting, and Colonisation

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Hate crime, Death of parent, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Confinement, Infertility, Mental illness, Self harm, Sexual content, Police brutality, Fire/Fire injury, Cultural appropriation, and Alcohol

ashleycmms's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional inspiring mysterious medium-paced

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

2.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Sexual content

morganish's review against another edition

emotional mysterious 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

5.0

Crier's War started off a little slow for me, BUT. The book very quickly overcame my doubts, and I found myself really looking forward to picking it back up every night! It's fantasy of the YA variety, which doesn't deviate too much from a lot of the themes, stylistic choices, and characterization of other YA stories.

Yet even as I've been leaning away from YA fantasy and more toward adult recently, I found myself really absorbed in this one. The prose was straightforward, but sometimes unexpectedly beautiful; the worldbuilding wasn't dense or complicated, and yet the central conceit works well and there's a surprising amount of effective mystery. All the untold secrets yet to be discovered ultimately worked to hook me in. The romance is a kind I like but don't often find executed this effectively: angst-heavy, with lots of pining. It's a true slow burn, with outstanding threads still left hanging by the end of this installment, the first of a duology. Even though I'd heard others say this book was really good, AND even though I was excited by the idea of AI creations in a traditional fantasy setting, I was still surprised how good Crier's War was.

If you like your slow-burn romances to actually feel like something slow and aching and epic, this book probably has what you're looking for. (Especially if you're looking for more sapphic fantasy.) If you like the feel of YA fantasy stories, but sometimes wish the worldbuilding had just a little bit more mystery or intrigue like adult fantasy, this might serve, depending on your tastes.  But if you're just completely done with YA fantasy and all the aspects that come with it, or don't like romances that build across multiple books, OR don't like the enemies-to-lovers trope, this book probably won't do much for you. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Blood, Grief, and Murder

Moderate: Confinement, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and War

Minor: Genocide, Sexism, Cultural appropriation, and Alcohol

A lot of the elements I include about the content warnings are specifically fantastical, like fantastical xenophobia. Most of the other content warnings have some level of fantastic to them as well. It isn't a direct reference to IRL events and doesn't include IRL bigotry, for example.

stolen_honey's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious fast-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

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Death, Drug abuse, Blood, and Death of parent

Minor: Cursing, Gore, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Kidnapping, and Grief

alouette's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

What an absolutely beautiful read! Valera's debut novel is full of so much emotion, a lesbian romance that was absolutely heart-wrenching, and many twists and turns. I've been reading some plot heavy novels lately, but this one perfectly balanced character depth and exploration with a plot that took me by surprise with its reveals. I love the worldbuilding as well- the history of the War of Kinds and the different ways Automae see humans was really fascinating. The pacing was excellent as well, with lots happening but moments of respite (the tide pool scene!!!!) that kept it from feeling too fast.

Going back to the romance though- the descriptions of how Ayla and Crier see each other, the overlapping moments and POV switches giving their different perspectives, all of it was breathtaking. No matter what happened, I was always cheering them on and wishing the best for them. I can't wait to continue doing so in the sequel.

music pairing: moonday by flor

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Xenophobia

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Infertility, and Toxic relationship