Reviews tagging 'Kidnapping'

Ash Princess by Laura Sebastian

6 reviews

esterslibrary's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense fast-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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

rinku's review

dark emotional 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? It's complicated

3.5

Ash Princess is your typical YA fantasy centred around a chosen one that has to earn her right place back by killing the hot prince™. The story is as cliché as it sounds, but still enjoyable because of the characters and the interesting and dark world which is why I gave it 3.5 stars. 

Like I’ve said, this general plot is not the most innovative, but I still liked the way that it was told. The main character Theo came into this situation because the Kaiser and his people conquered her country, killing the queen, her mother, in the course of it. Theo is now stuck at the Kaiser’s court as a kind of trophy while realizing that she finally has to do something against it. The story is quite dark already at the beginning where she’s forced to

kill her dad

which intrigued me immediately. There are many other dramatic moments in the story which were written so well, like

Elpis sacrificing herself

. Sadly, some plot lines were quite cliché and predictable, like

the main character almost having to marry an older man, or the masquerade ball. It was furthermore so predictable that Theo wouldn’t kill Søren and that her plan with the poison would fail as well

. 

The atmosphere of the story is just so dark and angsty which I absolutely love. The stakes are so high and there were some situations where I didn’t know how Theo would get out of them. Additionally, the lore around the magic and the stones is so interesting but was sadly info dumped at the beginning. It’s especially dark how Theo’s people are treated and how the stones are used by the Kaiser and his people as jewels while they are something holy for Theo’s people. It was also interesting how Theo didn’t use her magic because she didn’t want to risk not going to the afterlife, showing how strong her belief is. 

Looking at the characters, I quite liked Theo as the main character. She has a great character development and change of mind in the course of the story. It’s obvious that she struggles with her loyalties and needs time to figure out what the right thing to do is. Her hatred and anger are so powerful as well, I love it. What I didn’t love though was the romance. Theo of course has to fall for the first guy she meets aka prince Søren. It was interesting to see how she was getting closer to him, but their friendship developed a bit fast for my taste. Their relationship didn’t develop fully as I would’ve expected, so that was a little surprise. Sadly though, we also get a love triangle where the other part doesn’t interest me. 

Furthermore, what annoyed me was the lack of important female characters besides Theo and Cress and the villain being constantly described as fat. Talking about Cress, her over-the-top jealously annoyed me and

it was obvious from the beginning that she couldn’t be trusted but my heart still dropped when she revealed Theo that she knew everything about her. She could be an interesting villain in the following books

. 

After the dramatic ending, I’ll definitely continue the Ash Princess series. The world and the characters have so much potential, and I hope that this potential will be utilized.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Toxic friendship, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Fatphobia, Vomit, Kidnapping, Sexual harassment, and War

Minor: Rape and Abandonment

saara_ilona_muu's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Infidelity, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexism, Slavery, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Toxic friendship, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

majumita's review

adventurous emotional mysterious 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? No

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Slavery, Torture, Blood, Vomit, Death of parent, Murder, and Alcohol

Moderate: Kidnapping

onefineelephant's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad 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

4.5

9/10. This book was much better than I was expecting. There are not many times when I am genuinely surprised by a book, but there were two parts of the book when my jaw dropped. I also really love both of the love interests even though I am not usually a fan of love triangles. I am very much anticipating what could happen next in the other two books.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Infidelity, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexism, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Cultural appropriation, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Alcoholism, Mental illness, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Alcohol

navibo's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny 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? No

5.0

The ratings for this book are low, but I honestly loved it. There are a lot of plot twists and surprising connections. This is a 5 star read and I stand by that.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Torture, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Slavery, Violence, Trafficking, Death of parent, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, and Colonisation