Reviews tagging 'Injury/Injury detail'

Two Twisted Crowns by Rachel Gillig

69 reviews

chanlo1994's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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? Yes

5.0

Again, the prose in this book is stunning. So much lovely poetry and creative writing. Rachel Gillig is a beautiful writer.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Bullying, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Child death, Infidelity, and Vomit

alrsto's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.25

The author made an interesting choice with this second book in her duology: the narrator and protagonist from book 1, Elspeth, plays a much lesser role in this second half of the story.

Elspeth is there but much less present, and because there's little action she can take, she's not one of the characters moving the story forward.

Instead, it's her love interest (Ravyn) and three secondary characters from book 1 who take center stage. We readers follow the story mainly through two of those characters' (Ravyn and Elm) third-person points of view.

Along the way, those secondary characters—Elm, Ione, and the Shepherd King (a.k.a., the Nightmare)—become much more fully fleshed out.

In the first book (One Dark Window), I had mixed feelings about Elspeth, but I liked the ensemble of fairly well-rounded other characters she was surrounded by. Those characters, plus the story's distinctive system of magic, are what kept me reading. 

In one way, I actually enjoyed this second book more than that the first because Elspeth faded back, and the characters I found more interesting—and whose fates I found myself caring a lot about—came to the fore. 

The action throughout the story is strong and well paced, and it builds to a satisfying denouement, which is no small storytelling feat. For that reason, as well as the characters, I'd recommend the book. 

But I'd add a caveat: some of the writing was distractingly awkward. For example: 

"[H]er eyes crashed into Elm's."
"Elm's hand crashed into his pocket."
"[His] gaze collided with Ravyn's."
"the only noise between them was the clenching and unclenching of his jaw."

Then there are descriptors of little physical actions that I'm guessing are intended to convey a character's mood or emotions in a subtle way, but just get distracting because of how often they're used. 

Characters are frequently said to bite the insides of their cheeks. Their mouths become thin, fine, or tight lines. Or the corners of their mouths or lips are twitching or curling. 

There are also a couple plot points that, to me, aren't cleared up sufficiently at the end. 

When does Ione finally get free of the Maiden card when Hauth used it on her again, for example? And does she ever use it again?

What exactly happens to the extra Providence Cards that weren't used as part of "uniting the deck"—like the ones in the Rowan family's vault? The story implies that they still exist, are in circulation among the Blunder populace, and still work magically, but it seems like that fact should be a bigger deal in the kingdom, given what the characters have learned about them?

What did Elspeth's relationship with her father look like after the all that had happened? What about her relationship with her stepmother and twin stepsisters? The latter three are fairly prominent in book 1, so I expected them to be at least mentioned in book 2. But they aren't.

I do think it's a tribute to the rich storytelling and immersive world-building that I could even wonder about such details and care about how the characters' lives went on after all the drama concluded. 

Overall, this book is a satisfying romantasy. Just be prepared to overlook some of the writing quirks and loose plot ends. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Blood

Moderate: Physical abuse, Torture, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Bullying and Murder

isabelleroyall's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Gore, Self harm, Sexism, Torture, and Vomit

Minor: Cursing, Infidelity, Grief, and Death of parent

_meganrose's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious 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

This was absolutely captivating. Had me on my toes the whole time and I didn’t want to put it down, especially once I got to the halfway mark. Loved being able to see the different perspectives in this and loved this series.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Blood

Moderate: Cursing, Death, Gore, Torture, Vomit, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

sxndaze's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious 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

4.5

My darling, you’ve always had a choice.

an incredible sequel and an incredible duology. the mutilple povs give us so much more to digest and understand and while it took me a bit to get into elm’s story (not him though as i do adore his character), it comes together beautifully in the end.

everything is wrapped up beautifully and maybe too neatly, but im a sucker for happy endings and don’t crave angst too much.

the nightmare is my favourite and his banter with everyone is fantastic.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Confinement, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Torture, and Violence

Minor: Child death and Alcohol

bethann_coleates's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Bullying, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

ivykennerauthor's review against another edition

emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail

nakole's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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? It's complicated

3.5

𝒪𝓋𝑒𝓇𝒶𝓁𝓁: 3.5/5
𝒮𝓅𝒾𝒸𝑒: 1/5

I didn’t read this one as fast and that could be part of the reason I didn’t like it as much. Another reason could be that I was expecting Elspeth & Ravyn’s relationship to have more page time, but it just didn’t happen and it was kinda a let down. That is not to say I didn’t like the relationship that was predominately on page , because I did, it just wasn’t what I was expecting/wanting going into the book.

𝒜 𝐹𝒶𝓋𝑜𝓇𝒾𝓉𝑒 𝒬𝓊𝑜𝓉𝑒: “In the wood, the spindle is slight. A delicate tree against hail, wind, and might. But how the tree carries, and how the roots dig. She weathers all storms, no matter their bite.”

The duology as a whole was good and it is a series I would recommend. If you’re looking for a book with a dark gothic fairytale vibe with an interesting magic system and not a lot of romance, this is definitely a series you should give a try.

TW: Parental Abandonment; Child Neglect; Self harm for magic (mentioned); Alcohol Consumption; Blood & Injury Depiction; Whipping; Attempted Execution; Poisoning; Murder; Loss of Autonomy/Possession/Mind Control; Sexual Content (consensual); Suicidal Ideation (mentioned)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Violence, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Sexual content and Suicidal thoughts

tabea1409's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense 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? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

theresamothinmyroom's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Gore, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Torture