Reviews tagging 'Death'

Silk & Steel by Ariana Nash

5 reviews

mallorypen's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense 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

1.5

This book took on the idea of “trashy romance novel” and just dialed it up to eleven, because this … this was trash. No nutritional value, ‘what the fuck am I reading,’ can’t quite look away from the dumpster fire trash.

And sometimes I might say a book is trash with affection and respect. Not so much for this one - the amount of gratuitous violence (mostly sexual) is certainly meant to titillate, but fell short of the mark in so many ways. The Yearning™️ that was meant to come from the many close calls of “oh no, he’s dead” swinging wildly to “oh wait, he’s alive” and back to “but alas, I have killed him unknowingly” never showed up. The explanation for why Lysander was so drawn to Erowan was practically nonexistent beyond “oh no, he’s hot.” The bond they forged over one campfire night was comically strong, and the squickiness of all the other sexual abuse made it hard to really engage with the romance plot line.

Am I gonna read the other books? Maybe … they’re already downloaded. But I also sense a DNF in the offing if the same kind of crap continues.
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raintje's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional tense medium-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? Yes

3.75

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bonriki's review

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challenging dark emotional 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

3.5

I’m enjoying the slow burn and emphasis on plot and worldbuilding but there was too much sex that slowed events down. The trauma level is also heavy handed, when the setting is already bleak you’re not adding much of value by torturing your characters anew every chapter. 
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marissaz25's review against another edition

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

3.0

This was an incredibly out of the box pick for me. I’m a huge fan of high fantasy but I’m not really into when the characters themselves are a different species. However, this one wasn’t bad. It was palatable, the world building was there, intriguing twists were prominent, smut was definitely explicit. A general, overall rating? This book was okay, I wouldn’t say bad nor good- somewhere in the middle. Basically, enough to read the second book.

For the most part, I was turned off by Lysander’s dialogue and internal thoughts, he’s definitely a character that felt completely his own. This book was kind of borderline incest? But not? Lysander seemed completely sickened by the prospect. His relationship with his mom (?) felt so gross. So just be prepared for that. I will say, despite his obvious flaws, I absolutely adore him. He's so kind hearted and let’s just say I’m rooting for him. The entirety of his "dragon clan" was very, very hard for me to get into. Yet, the politics and intensity of Lysander's world was seen through his time there. It gave a clear picture what corruption the dragon's have instilled into their world.

Eroan is probably my favorite character, he’s intelligent and determined. Some scenes with him felt a little bit redundant, but the chemistry between Eroan and Lysander made up for that. I did love perspective a lot especially when we see him in his own element- the world building from his perspective is really good.

Um, the smut? It was there and not gonna lie, it was a little odd at times. For the most part though, it did its job.

Once this again, this book was okay. Some of the content is definitely questionable and this book is most certainly, not for everyone.

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beholder's review against another edition

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adventurous dark slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? N/A
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

For the amount of content warnings needed, it's surprisingly not that hard to read -- it wasn't a visceral/painful read to me, that is. Of course, YMMV, but I think if you get through chapter 2 or 3 (the first one narrated by Lysander), then you can do the rest. The rest of the book is not as fucked up as those first chapters 😅

And I was expecting a slower burn, but I am not disappointed by the romance 👁️👁️
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