Reviews tagging 'War'

This Vicious Grace by Emily Thiede

31 reviews

brdiaz1123's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: War

one_more_chapter96's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective 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

Phenomenal story. I absolutely adored Alessa & Dante’s story & seeing them slowly (and reluctantly) fall for each other. The world building, the language elements, the magic system, the religion system was all fascinating and so well introduced. The side characters were so funny & well enough developed, and it was beautiful to see Alessa grow in confidence. Wonderfully written book which made me laugh & cry out loud. One of my favourite reads of 2023 so far! 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Grief, Religious bigotry, Death, War, Gore, Blood, and Confinement

Minor: Torture, Death of parent, Suicide attempt, and Child abuse

xtsukix's review against another edition

hopeful tense medium-paced

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

5.0

I loved every moment of this. The ending ripped my heart out, sewed it back together and then stomped on it for good measure. This is one of the best fantasy romances I have read in a long time and I will cherish it. It really has a bit of everything I love in it, so it kind of feels like I was meant to read this. I absolutely cannot wait to continue this series and hope that my bleeding heart can mend itself. I really want to see Alessa blossom as a character and I really believe we will see that progression. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, War, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Violence, Death of parent, Death, Suicide attempt, and Grief

jenniferj's review against another edition

lighthearted reflective medium-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt

Moderate: War and Death

wrensreadingroom's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny inspiring mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Hate crime, War, Vomit, Confinement, Cursing, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Sexual content, Religious bigotry, Panic attacks/disorders, Addiction, Body horror, Physical abuse, Murder, Deportation, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Suicide, Stalking, Bullying, Classism, Death, Death of parent, Genocide, Gaslighting, Violence, Abandonment, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Blood, Domestic abuse, Gore, Grief, Suicidal thoughts, Self harm, and Police brutality

joygarcialim's review against another edition

slow-paced

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

1.5

The writing wasn’t particular bad, but extremely monotonous and mediocre. A lot of things happened without a lot of things happening. It was just small little things that didn’t contribute to the plot or made a difference to writing. There were bits that were poorly executed and I had to re-read multiple times to try and perceive what the author was trying to convey. There’s the endless stream of proverbs that did nothing and had absolutely nothing to do with the writing as well.

The main characters were kind of bland and replaceable. They didn’t really stand out individually and the writer didn’t give them enough personality to show what their characters were supposed to be. Other than Alessa and Dante of course. Alessa is kind of a woe-is-me character and I get that her life is difficult in many regards but that’s most of her personality. Dante is a tortured devil archetype and kept saying he was evil with no proof. I get that they lived in a world where that mentality is enforced on him but it wasn’t really explained well. Dante was the most interesting character imo.

The chemistry between Alessa and Dante seemed kind of awkward too.

Spoiler

There didn’t seem to be a reason they were in love with each other

, other than their deep-rooted insecurities.

The world-building wasn’t great either. It was there but it wasn’t at the same time. It was just kind of vague but written about enough to let readers know it was there. The author emphasised a lot more on the romance part than the fantasy part.

Overall, very underdeveloped and poorly executed.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Mental illness, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, War, Abandonment, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide attempt, Blood, Death, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Child abuse and Fire/Fire injury

faith_faherty3's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Death, and War

Moderate: Bullying, Confinement, Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, and Body horror

kirstenf's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Violence, and War

Moderate: Religious bigotry, Suicidal thoughts, Murder, Sexual content, Grief, Confinement, Fire/Fire injury, Deportation, and Death of parent

Minor: Medical content and Sexism

mikaelaandherbooks's review against another edition

adventurous tense medium-paced

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Death and Bullying

Minor: Grief and Sexual content

dragonwriter's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny 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

5.0

“This Vicious Grace” by Emily Thiede was an absolute delight! I cried three times, and lost count of how many times I laughed! The banter between the sunshine x grumpy couple had me CACKLING.

Alessa is the god-touched Fuenta, given the power to drain and amplify the powers of others with a single touch. The problem is, she doesn’t know how to turn it off. She has picked three fuentes to help her fight the incoming demons, and killed each one accidentally. Now a religious cult claims she’s a demon disguised as the Fuenta, sent to room them and leave them helpless against the oncoming demon horde, and the lead priest is trying to get his acolytes to kill her. Desperate to fulfill her duty to save her people and starved of touch, Alessa goes to the dark underbelly to find someone to help keep her alive until she can find the fuentes who can survive her touch and save her city. But the grumpy Dante goes above and beyond just keeping her alive; he helps her learn to get her power under control, and find the connection she so desperately needs.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: War, Suicide attempt, Violence, and Religious bigotry