Reviews tagging 'Animal death'

The Shadow of the Gods by John Gwynne

35 reviews

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

siomhaw's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Murder, Alcohol, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Animal death, Body shaming, Child abuse, and Death of parent

Minor: Excrement

hobbitslibrary's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional informative 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Death, Gore, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

i_write_on_occasion's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

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

3.5

Interesting worldbuilding with a lot of potential, but is unfortunately pulled down by its lack-luster characters

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, and Violence

Moderate: Animal death, Slavery, and Kidnapping

shahdirose's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Slavery, Kidnapping, and Grief

Minor: Animal death

kristinas_booksncats's review against another edition

adventurous dark medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Murder

Moderate: Animal death

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

ohloulou's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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? No

4.5

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Child death and Death of parent

Minor: Sexual content

saltycoffee's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad tense fast-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Gore, Slavery, Torture, Xenophobia, Blood, Trafficking, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, War, and Classism

dogearedbooks's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad 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

Blood. Everything comes down to blood. 

This novel was amazing and captivated me from the first sentence. Orka and Varg were the stars. Vengeance driving them forward. Blood on their hands and death in their heart. Elvar was the weakest point in the story, and I actually prefer some of the side characters in her sections then to her. All POV's are important binding together like a woven tapestry, leading to a brutal ending for a first novel. 

Death sits on the shoulders of all characters in this novel, her wings casting wide shadows. It is heartbreaking, violent, and one of my favourite novels of 2022.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Gore, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail