Reviews with content warning for Child abuse - W obronie świtu

Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

W obronie świtu by Brigid Kemmerer

8 reviews

lalaelisabeth's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful tense medium-paced

5.0

5 ⭐️

I loved this. I'm such a sucker for an epic adventure onboard a ship and it was done so well in this book - I enjoyed myself immensely.

Again (like the first one) the author excels at showing how nothing is black and white in this story. All the characters (except Allisander, who can go f*ck himself, respectfully) contain more than just "bad" or "good". She shows how complicated everything is and how it can be seen from different sides and appear different depending on who we are following. Like meeting the Captain - I loved seeing this from both Tessa and Corrick's POVs and how differently they see him and what they each notice about him throughout the story. Expertly done!

The conflict between Tessa and Corrick is also just so realistic. Again she shows the different sides there is, and when you hear one of their POVs you can't help but feel exactly what that person is feeling - and then you hear from the other one and it puts everything into perspective and you can't help but also see it from their side. It's really impressive how much you get pulled into it and how quickly you relate to the different characters.

The addition of Harristan's POVs was amazing. I absolutely LOVED getting inside his head and seeing his narrow world view get disrupted a bit. He comes from a place of power and privilege and through both the first book and this one he slowly gains so much more perspective. It's such an important character journey. And also: I am already rooting an insane amount for him and Quint. I need that to happen as soon as possible.

A beautiful ride! Can't wait to see how everything unfolds and gets tied up in the final installment. So excited.

✨My thoughts don't know where to settle, because I've found Lochlan pretty frightening myself. But I know what it's like to be backed into a corner. Choices never seem like choices when the world only offers us bad ones.✨

✨"Lord, Tessa. Never apologize to me. You always make me better."✨

✨"Master Quint?" he says. "Exactly what was your plan?" "In retrospect," Quint says, wincing, "it's unclear."✨

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oakairi's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious 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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annelihghh's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring 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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takarakei's review against another edition

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adventurous slow-paced

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

3.0

This book felt like it was stretched a bit too thin without quite enough happening. It's hard to say without the third book being out yet where the story is going (I am anticipating the release and will be reading right away!) - but it felt like a series being stretched into a trilogy that could've been edited down into a duology. The first book Defy the Night is probably the best YA political fantasy I've read, and this one focused a bit too much on a character driven plot without a lot of other plot happening. Basically they were on this ship for a long ass time and nothing really happened? I love these characters so that's what was keeping me reading, but I did get a bit bored at parts. Protect Corrick and Harrison at all costs.
I am glad I waited to read this until right before the third book comes out...

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beautifulpaxielreads's review against another edition

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adventurous 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? No

4.0

Defend the Dawn is a worthy second book in the Defy the Night trilogy.

Brigid Kemmerer has delivered mightily in terms of character and plot. It is well-paced, with a good mix of both action scenes and quieter moments, as well as several well-timed twists - especially towards the end of the novel. The character work is excellent (almost too good in places, there were times when I felt Kemmerer was telling us how the characters were feeling rather than showing it). My favourite thing about this series so far has been the close relationship between brothers Harristan and Corrick, and Defend the Dawn offers up plenty to savour there (although I still could have used more!).

I'm looking forward to finding out what happens next in this series and how all the various plot threads will be resolved.

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