Reviews tagging 'Blood'

A Dawn of Onyx by Kate Golden

9 reviews

clairebartholomew549's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

This is an incredibly typical fantasy romance, and I ate it up as I am wont to do. I wouldn't say this is anything original - plucky heroine who has secret powers she doesn't understand the import of, love interest who appears evil at first and turns out to be morally complicated at worst, world-building that honestly makes no sense and smashes too many tropes together (this series honestly seems like one of the worst offenders of this so far, to be honest, and I am simply not okay with the kingdoms being named after gems, lol), but it certainly scratches an itch and is satisfying enough. This book executes a tried-and-true formula to a tea, and I loved it and of course will be reading the rest of the series.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

doahdancer's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny mysterious medium-paced

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

3.25

Light reading with an enjoyable enough plot and characters. Nothing remarkable here, good or bad.

Writing was a bit stilted and characters were underdeveloped but perfect if you're looking for something casual that won't cause too much stress.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

kshertz's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-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

4.0

This is another romantasy that’s really wonderful. It’s intriguing, it has a bad ass femme hero, it has a brooding bad boy king, and lots of secrets. I’ve read these stories a few times and they’re always good. It wasn’t enough to get me to continue with the series, but worth a read!

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body horror, Confinement, Death, Gore, Misogyny, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, War, and Injury/Injury detail

rileydobereading's review against another edition

adventurous medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual content, and Alcohol

Moderate: Rape, Violence, and War

Minor: Animal death, Cursing, Blood, Grief, and Death of parent

memoirsofabooklover's review against another edition

adventurous funny 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? No

4.75

i loved this book. the world building sucked me in but wasn’t too complex as to leave me confused for the first half of the book. really interesting layers of unanswered questions throughout. i loved the mcs and their banter and all the twists (many i saw coning but still loved them). the tension was brilliant

(albeit slightly annoying as there was no release in the book) but it should make the eventual completion of a spice scene very rewarding.

i loved the beauty of the world, as well as the integrated mythology. thoroughly enjoyed, but not sure what i’m supposed to do with myself now whilst i wait for the next book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Sexual content, Medical content, Kidnapping, and War

Moderate: Child abuse, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racism, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, Death of parent, and Murder

Minor: Rape, Torture, Vomit, and Alcohol

aepompu's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Listened to the audiobook, but I definitely wish I had read the book instead! That being said, the story is really good and interesting, and the writing is enjoyable. Loved the twist at the end, and had some great female rage moments which we love 👍🏼

Looking forward to book 2!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Sexual content

lealovesbooks's review against another edition

adventurous emotional tense

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and War

Moderate: Chronic illness, Sexual content, Blood, Death of parent, and Classism

elntastic's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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

Even though the world-building and story wasn‘t something entirely new or grand, I still really liked all the ideas and characters. But most of all, I liked the dynamic between Kane and Arwen. It was a live-story that I thoroughly enjoyed even though their start was a little rough and (Attention Spoiler!! ) I didn’t get why he threatened to torture her and she just seemed to completely dismiss that he said that for the rest of the story. I thought that was too abusive. Also that he had to beg for getting a normal room instead of having to live in the friggin dungeons?! I would‘ve liked it more if he had offered it to her himself. It just made him seem cruel and then her liking him just seemed so stupid just because he was hot? 
Well, anyways, the rest of the book was very good! Couldn’t put it down and I can’t wait for the second part.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, and Death of parent

Minor: Torture, Violence, and War

dinipandareads's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious tense medium-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? It's complicated

4.0

I was feeling quite slumpy when I picked this up but it was apparently exactly what I needed to pull myself out of the funky mood! While I don't think this brings anything particularly new or different to the romantic fantasy genre, it delivers what it says it will and I had a really great time reading it!

The story is told solely through Arwen's POV and although she came across as young and naive for a good portion of the first half of the book, she does experience some considerable growth. She's a mentally strong and driven character who understands her weaknesses and does her best to balance that by challenging herself mentally and physically. I really enjoyed the friendship she develops with Mar who brought an excellent comedic element to the story! I also enjoyed the slow burn of the romance between Arwen and Kane. He was definitely a morally grey MMC who I wasn't sure about at the beginning because he's so extremely hot and cold and there were times that I wished the romantic element had actually been stronger, especially to show them get to know each other and the strength of their connection. That said, he really grew on me, just like he grew on Arwen and oof, the sexual tension really sizzles! The tension reminded me a little bit of The Bridge Kingdom and since that's one of my all-time favourite romantasies, it's not a bad thing at all! It was SO good and oof, just as things start to really get steamy, IT'S CHAOS! IT WAS SUCH A TEASE and with the way the story ended, I just know the angst and tension are going to get even stronger in the next book. I can't wait! 😍

Much like the FMC, we're kind of kept in the dark about the "truth" of what's happening in this world and it all comes to light at the end. But as much as I enjoyed the world-building that we got, I do feel like this element was the weakest part of the whole story because I feel like there's still a lot that I don't really understand. It would've been great to get more details about the history of the kingdoms and more about how the war really began; however, I'm hopeful that we can get more of these details in the next book because this WILD ENDING sets things up nicely for more "truths" to be revealed and I'm really hoping we get it!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Physical abuse and War

Minor: Chronic illness