Reviews tagging 'Pregnancy'

Muse of Nightmares by Laini Taylor

15 reviews

amberacks12's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.75

I stand by what I’ve said before about Laini Taylor’s writing: it’s beautiful, lyrical, so imaginative, unique, and immersive. I really love Lazlo, the godspawn, and for some reason, Thyon Nero. The world she has crafted is magical and while I’m in the book I feel as if I’m in the world, not just reading about it. 
There are a few things keeping me from giving this a perfect five stars. They are nitpicky and not a big deal, but worth trying to explain I think. 
The first is that for some reason much of the storyline in this book felt superfluous. It felt almost as if the first and second books could possibly have been condensed into one. Maybe that’s because not a lot actually happened in Muse of Nightmares. 
The second is that I felt very stressed the whole time I was reading this. I think maybe because of the state of one of the characters made it feel as if there couldn’t possibly be a happy way to end it. 
Third is the side characters weren’t developed enough. We spent a lot more time with them in the first book, and I wish they’d gotten more screen time in this one. 
And finally I think despite how terrible some of the things a couple of the characters went through, it seemed they “got over” their issues rather quickly, and everything got resolved in ways that felt too easy. 
Despite these criticisms I did really love this book and I’m glad I’ve finally worked up the courage to read it. 

Enjoyment: 4.75
Emotional impact: 5
Educational value: n/a
=4.8

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Violence, Grief, and Murder

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Kidnapping, Suicide attempt, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Pregnancy, and Colonisation

molly918's review against another edition

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Slavery, Suicide, Xenophobia, and Murder

Moderate: Misogyny, Rape, Trafficking, Kidnapping, and Abandonment

Minor: Pregnancy

paintedgiraffe's review

adventurous emotional inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

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

5.0

Even better than the first! That almost never happens. Beautiful testament to pulling oneself and others out of trauma. Sometimes a person is too far gone, but sometimes it works <3

I was very pleasantly surprised to see that it takes place in the same universe as the Smoke and Bone trilogy.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Emotional abuse, and Murder

Moderate: Confinement, Suicide, Trafficking, and Pregnancy

Minor: Rape

cruspp_29's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts and Suicide

Moderate: Child death, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Trafficking, and Pregnancy

Minor: Pedophilia and War

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.

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

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

anneroza'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
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

doodeedoda's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide, Violence, Trafficking, Grief, Murder, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Domestic abuse

Minor: Self harm, Sexual content, Blood, and Death of parent