Reviews tagging 'Cursing'

The Golden Enclaves by Naomi Novik

11 reviews

carleneslibrary's review against another edition

adventurous inspiring mysterious 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

5.0

This was an incredible ending to an incredible series. I have thoroughly enjoyed El and Orion's journey. The stakes and plot were massively upped in this book and there were some super satisfying plot twists and world building that put everything into beautiful perspective.

El's character arc and development from the whole trilogy really came together in beautiful ways. I teared up several times at the end. What an incredible story, incredible conclusion, and beautiful characters.

My only regret is the sexual content. There were a couple of brief, easily skippable scenes, less than a page each, but they also were completely unnecessary. I was annoyed they existed, but I was glad they were not graphic in any way. Everything else about these books was so beautiful, and I learned powerful lessons about good vs. evil, sacrifice and hard work vs. shortcuts, and so much else. I'm mostly annoyed that those beautiful messages were dampened with that.

There is also excessive swearing, but for some reason it was used in a way that didn't bother me as much as it usually would.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and War

Moderate: Cursing and Sexual content

louise_french_rider's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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

4.5

What a series ! One of my favorite for sure, I really enjoyed every single book.
This book is full of plot twists we weren't prepared for. The end is quite unexpected, I had lots of fun reading it.
I like the characters development and the relationships are well developed. I still don't get why there's this lgbtqia + passage, it is unnecessary and adds nothing to the series, it feels like it's there to say we checked the box "Reaching the lgbtqia+ community". Apart from that, I would have liked a more developed relationship with Orion, it feels like he's there but not really there, which we can understand at the beginning but in the last chapters is confusing.
Overall, it is well written, you don't get bored while reading it, there's always a storyline making you want to turn the next page.
Congrats for this amazing series !

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, and Murder

Moderate: Body horror, Sexual content, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Cursing and Deadnaming

kelisabeth's review against another edition

adventurous emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child death, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

whynotreadwithalex's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

1.0

I absolutely hate disliking books. It honestly causes me physical pain because I love stories and I want to love each story I come to. But every so often I pick up a book that is just too painful, frustrating, or disappointing to like — and I’m so very sad that this has been the case with The Golden Enclaves. Especially because I absolutely adored the first two books and had every expectation that I would love this one. 
Unfortunately, there are a many number of things, characters, story elements, and plot choices that I found underwhelming but what really disappointed me the most was that all of the character development we saw in El over the course of the first two books was completely undone in the first half of this one, and then not adequately built back up again by the end. This left me feeling like I didn’t know her, which is not how you want to feel at the conclusion of a series. So many of the things I had come to love about her (such as her resilience, her discipline, her strong foundation of morals, and her journey of personal growth that allowed her to let people in) either faded into the background or completely flipped. She lost her voice, her passion, her ferocity, her community, her drive. And that just wasn’t realistic, interesting, or relatable for me. Not only that, but it made me really really sad. 
The wrap up regarding the creation of enclaves and how that is tied to malia was interesting — but the conflict with Ophelia, the revelation of the prophecy, and the resolution weren’t enough to make up for the other ways I was really disappointed. 
Finally, I love Orion. And I truly believe he deserved better. Not just from the other characters, but from the author. 
Honestly, really heartbroken with this one, guys.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Bullying, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Mental illness, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

torturedreadersdept's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Toxic relationship, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Dysphoria, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

cassielaj's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious 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

Ahhhhhhhhhhh I love this series and this was a phenomenal ending to it. El is one of the best main characters I’ve encountered: I love her determination to do good (especially when it’s a little bit out of spite), her dedication to her friends, and her reluctant acceptance of her abilities throughout this book. The story that Novik weaves here is intricate — at the halfway point, I had no clue how everything would get resolved before the end. But that just made the journey all the more exciting and emotional. I’m already ready for a series reread. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, and Violence

Moderate: Cursing

Minor: Sexual content

wickedgrumpy's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

4.0

It's been a while since I read book 2 in the series and I contemplated re-reading before picking this volume up because when I initially tried to read it I was overwhelmed.  Book 2 leaves on a cliffhanger and book 3 starts right after and so you see the immediate events and it was a little difficult to jump right it.

I thought that the series was quite solid.  Book 3 really tied it all together and bits that were resolved were introduced in book 1 so it was quite good closure to see actions that have consequences and a resolution all together.

Some of the reveals were also top notch, since there's (in hindsight) a lot of foreshadowing but to be able to put it all together wasn't something I managed.  I don't know if it was because of the gap between the books and it would have been obvious if I read them in closer succession but I was satisfied with how it came together.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

blissofalife's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense fast-paced

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

5.0

Could hardly put it down! Unlike the previous two books in the series, the stakes remain per high for the entire book. It doesn’t really feel like there’s a climax so much as several climaxes as El grows and gains an understanding of the nature of the enclaves. Lots of time spent on explanations. Ties the whole series up very nicely, and doesn’t leave any loose ends. Naomi clearly did a very thorough mapping of the series before beginning!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing and Death

Moderate: Body horror, Violence, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Child death, Gore, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Classism

krisalexcole's review against another edition

adventurous dark medium-paced

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

1.75

The previous two books had "what the fuck" endings in a good way. This one had a "what the fuck" ending in a bad way.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Child death, Cursing, Death, Infidelity, Sexual content, Violence, Kidnapping, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

coffeebot18's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious tense 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

A stunning conclusion - to a brilliant trilogy - that

makes sense of the events of the first two novels and clarifies El’s purpose

. Novik’s magical world is desperately dark, but protagonist El and her people are tenacious in their pursuit of a glimmering, golden hope for a better future.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body horror, Torture, Violence, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Child death, Cursing, Death, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Death of parent, Murder, and Classism