Reviews tagging 'Death'

Muse of Nightmares by Laini Taylor

56 reviews

immovabletype's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective 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

4.5

my rating is actually 4.43 stars, which i only point out because it's the exact same number as the average rating. wild! i did dock the half star because it took me a while to get into this one due to the focus on the main romance in the beginning (i'm a romance girly, but this one was just a little too young for me, i think, and i really loved the plot and wanted to get back to it). however, this duology is a new favorite that i want everyone to read if they haven't yet.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Confinement, Death, Rape, Sexual content, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Slavery and Pregnancy

Minor: Homophobia and Abortion

Child death/infanticide and rape are not graphically depicted, but they are so prevalent and baked into the worldbuilding and main conflicts that I can't call them moderate.

errie's review against another edition

adventurous dark

• Strong character development? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Trafficking, Grief, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Genocide, Rape, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, and Death of parent

Minor: Self harm

bethfern04's review

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense slow-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: Child abuse, Child death, and Blood

Moderate: Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, Trafficking, Grief, Death of parent, and Murder

tell_them_stories's review against another edition

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Sexual violence, Xenophobia, Kidnapping, Grief, and Murder

Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Blood, and Pregnancy

Minor: Confinement, Emotional abuse, Slavery, Suicide, and Trafficking

kathrynleereads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

Picking up only minutes after Strange the Dreamer ended, Muse of Nightmares, by Laini Taylor, was everything that its predecessor wasn’t… in the most surprising ways.

With the Citadel now in Lazlo’s control but still looming over the city of Weep, Muse of Nightmares opens with a whole new level of chaos. Citizens are fleeing, Eril-Fane is trying to corral the Tizerkane warriors, and Lazlo is meeting the other Godspawn for the first time.

Before we find out how the night's events play out, however, we’re introduced to Kora and Nova, sisters living in a desolate village, who have an incredibly different view of the blue-skinned “gods” that the people of Weep have come to dread. 

As the story plays out for the sisters, Lazlo, the Godspawn, and the people of Weep, the book really lives up to its name. 

Where Strange the Dreamer was all dreams and imaginary worlds, Muse of Nightmares is all horror and unimaginable crimes. The books were like two sides of a coin. Readers fell in love with the picturesque and awe-filled version of Weep, then had that whole idea spun on its axis until it was an ugly truth. 

There are very few times when reading a book that I can honestly say I experienced gut-wrenching horror, and Muse of Nightmares was the reason for many of them. 

All of the questions presented in Strange the Dreamer were finally granted answers, but they were the answers of nightmares.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Trafficking, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Confinement, Mental illness, Misogyny, Medical content, and Kidnapping

Minor: Homophobia, Infidelity, Abortion, Fire/Fire injury, and Abandonment

dcnarvaez's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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: Death and Genocide

Minor: Sexual assault, Slavery, and Suicide

beckyyreadss's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional mysterious 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

4.0

 

I’ve had this series on my TBR for so long and whilst I was on a treat yourself day, I picked up the first book in the series and loved it. So of course had to get the second one in the series. I really enjoyed this book but felt like this book went on a tangent at times, but still enjoyable.  

This book has several points of view. In the wake of tragedy, neither Lazlo nor Sarai are who they were before. One is now a god, one is now a ghost. They struggled to grasp the new boundaries of their selves as the dark-minded Minya holds them hostage, intent on vengeance against Weep. Lazlo faces an unthinkable choice – to save the woman he loves, or everyone else? Whilst Sarai feels more helpless than ever, but is she? Sometimes, only the direct need can teach them their own depth, and Sarai, the muse of nightmares has not yet discovered what she’s capable of. As humans and godspawn reel in the aftermath of the citadel’s near fall, a new foe shatters their fragile hopes and the mysteries of the Mesarthim are resurrected: where are the gods from, and why? What was done with thousands of children born in the citadel nursery? And most important of all, as forgotten doors are opened, and new words revealed: does the hero have to slay monsters or is it possible to save them instead?  

I think I can agree with everyone when I say that I loved Laini’s writing style and the way she describes things so beautiful and make you feel like you are lying on a soft pillow. I love the love story between the two MCs and was rooting for them throughout the book. I think it was so adorable and innocent. Lazlo being this monk but still wanting her and wanting to do things to her but doesn’t want to hurt her. Sarai just being equally confused and stressed and then scared. I just wanted to hug them both throughout the whole book. This story was so unique and it was so interested. I just wanted to stay and help them out.  

I was expecting Minya to be the bad guy throughout the whole book so when that was resolved pretty quickly and there was still a good chunk of books to go, I was confused and worried. I feel like the intro to these two sisters made it quite rushed and for a duology I felt like I was trying to play catch-up and learn new things that I didn’t know about. I felt like even though these two sisters were supposed to play a key part, they weren’t properly developed and that there need to be a third book to find out what was going on.  

This book jumped straight into action and had twists and turns throughout and I will definitely be reading more of Laini’s work in the future.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Suicide, and Grief

Moderate: Rape, Slavery, and Trafficking

grets_reads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective 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: Child death, Death, Violence, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child abuse, Confinement, Slavery, Xenophobia, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, and War

Minor: Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Suicide, Pregnancy, and Fire/Fire injury

taylorthewitch's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad 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 death, Death, and Abandonment

Moderate: Rape

lanid's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious tense

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body horror, Child death, and Blood

Minor: Confinement, Death, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual violence, Slavery, and Suicide