Reviews tagging 'Torture'

Silk & Steel by Ariana Nash

9 reviews

unicorn91's review

adventurous dark sad tense slow-paced

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

2.0

I really love both of the main characters. I like that its multi pov, and that the series has a happy ending. reason for two stars. this book has actual sexual assault on page to one of the main characters. the two main characters are always getting separated and I felt like lysander could never catch a break. i picked it up because my kindle recommended it after captive prince. in my opinion, the two are nothing alike

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, and Violence

emmhardt's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.25

High action, gritty, smutty, and dark. The gayest game of thrones vibes but more dragons and less characters. Major warnings for sexual assault, violence, blood, torture, and incest. Not for the faint of heart but well done for what it is. Romance is very convincing and well-paced. Also THE YEARNING.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Violence, and Blood

Moderate: Incest, Torture, and War

jennybugg's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Incest, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, and Murder

bonriki's review

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Incest, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

holly_n's review

challenging dark sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, and Violence

Minor: Incest

yoda32's review against another edition

dark fast-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Incest, Physical abuse, Rape, and Torture

livsdirelibrary's review

dark medium-paced

• 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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Toxic relationship, and Blood

Moderate: Homophobia, Incest, Torture, and Violence

Minor: Drug use

lily_books's review

adventurous dark tense fast-paced

• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Incest, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, and Blood

cassberrie's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

And here we have my second foray into adult fantasy mlm, and boy, is it gritty. So gritty that at one point I actually clenched my own teeth shut with dread at one point.

TW: graphic violence, sexual violence, incest, non-con, substance abuse

Silk & Steel follows Eroan, an elven assassin sent to kill the queen of dragons, and Lysander, the dragon prince who thwarted Eroan's plans. Eroan is set to become a slave in the queen's harem, and Lysander maybe wants to murder his horribly abusive queen mother.

On one hand, I enjoyed the fact that both characters were so deeply flawed and broken, which kept the story interesting as they fumbled their way through life. On the other hand, I internally cringed as they just made bad choices all over the place. I understand that hypersexuality is definitely a possible byproduct of sexual trauma, as a way of wrestling control back in your own mind, but I cringed real hard whenever

Eroan got frisky with someone else (who was clearly in love with him) and kept thinking of a certain dragon.

Nevertheless, the fascinating push and pull of the Eroan/Lysander dynamic is really interesting and the tension of their scenes is palpable. Honestly, the cliffhanger ending is just BRUTAL.

The worldbuilding is cool, and I appreciate the side characters, especially Seraph. The general pacing of the story confused me as it moved from place to place almost haphazardly. And... I could've done without those incestuous undertones.

Sure, it's framed as a bad thing, especially when it's the evil queen touching her son, but when said son starts thinking about screwing his own mom?

Yikes. Wish that hadn't been there.

Anyways, both Eroan and Lysander just need a mug of hot chocolate and a warm blanket. Poor messy babies.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Emotional abuse, Gore, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, and Blood

Moderate: Addiction, Homophobia, and Incest