Reviews tagging 'Torture'

The Shadow of the Gods by John Gwynne

43 reviews

lausiusplau's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Death, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

violinknitter's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

3.75

So much viscera and fighting. So much. Also, despite the fighting, the main plot moves very slowly. I didn’t mind, since I was enjoying being immersed in the world (whenever I wasn’t having to skim gory fights), but it didn’t really do much until the last part of the book. And it’s not a standalone. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail

zoelinea's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark slow-paced

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

3.75

The world is rich detailed and based around a cool concept, but it is clear the author intended this book to be the first of three. The pacing is incredibly slow. I would have liked to get further into the plot before the end of book 1 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: War

valjeanval's review against another edition

adventurous dark slow-paced

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

4.0

My book club billed this one as "reading Skyrim," and I think that's pretty spot on for better and worse. The characters and setting are all pretty excellent with great world building. I especially enjoy viking warrior mom even if I kept misreading her name as Okra instead of Orka. Honestly, I appreciate everything Gwynne does to subvert the patriarchal norms of historical fiction and saying, this is still fiction. This is fantasy. Let's just make a society where the genders are more or less even because we can.

The plot, however, is meandering and constantly interrupted by random encounter fight scenes.  Fun to play as a game, less fun to read. And those fight scenes are gory to a level that I just don't enjoy. It also suffers from being only half a book, and I'm not sure I enjoyed it enough to pursue the sequel right away. We shall see, but overall, a unique piece of norse-inspired fantasy though not entirely my cuppa.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Torture, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol

zeroschatz's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense fast-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? No

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Trafficking, and War

Moderate: Vomit and Injury/Injury detail

dmeda03's review against another edition

Triggers

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Murder, and War

hiddeninfantasy's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Genocide, Gore, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail

sinaprst's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny 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? It's complicated

4.75

this was ngl one of the best fantasy books I've ever read!

the plot, the lore, the characters, the monsters, the magic, the fighting, all of it is just amazingly written and really sucks you into this beautiful and compelling but deadly world, where nothing and noone ever feels save... 

... and the ending just leaves you wanting for more! 

(the beginning was a bit slow though, which is the only reason why I'm not rating this 5 stars)

recommended reading ambience: https://youtu.be/ERW4uLhNoH8?si=9qcRSMORewkBwLev

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal death, Torture, and Kidnapping

changelingreader_adrian's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny inspiring tense medium-paced

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

4.5

Was a temporary DNF because it wasn't catching me and I had other stuff I needed/wanted to get to, but I liked this enough to pick it back up once a hold on an audiobook I forgot I placed came in. Very slow for like the first half-ish and then got really going and good. So. Medium pace is the best I can give it since it's slow and then pretty fast

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body horror, Murder, Alcohol, and War

Testicles and descriptions of them are a bit weirdly there, so be prepared for that

xta_07's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

A truly bloody brutal fantasy story loosely based in Norse mythology.
This book follows three main protagonists - A former slave trying to find his place, a warrior seeking to make a name for herself, and a battle hardened mother on a quest for revenge. 

What a ride! I was hooked from the beginning. John Gwyenne KNOWS how to write a compelling fight scene, and that seriously a good thing since there was a major fight or battle almost every other chapter in this book. What I truly appreciate was that this wasn’t just a book about revenge, or glorification of violence. It truly explored the bonds that people create through trama and what found family can look like. Also, the world building and character development were near perfect. I can’t wait to read book 2!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child abuse, Slavery, and Classism

Minor: Torture