Reviews tagging 'Injury/Injury detail'

Spice Road by Maiya Ibrahim

15 reviews

shadow_cat94's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny lighthearted tense medium-paced

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

3.0

Maiya Ibrahim writes with beautiful imagery woven throughout the entire book as we travel through various locations during Imani's journey to her brother. The poetic language I found quite enjoyable to read from page to page. The pacing in each location also felt evenly timed for the journey without feeling rushed or dragging.

The things I didn't like about this book was the ending and the main character, Imani. I will be as vague as possible for the ending to avoid spoilers. In the final 20 pages we finally reach the climax of the story only for it to get resolved peacefully with an exchange of a few words. It felt anticlimactic, rushed, and frustrating even after I finished the book.

As for Imani, I was hoping for her to go through more character development during her journey than she did. There is nothing wrong with starting your book with a stubborn, selfish, and prideful main character as long as they end somewhere else at the end of the book. She is also a warrior known for these great feats, but she quickly gives up when confronted with large obstacles which made her warrior characteristic feel conflicting. Her only saving grace is her love for her family, which is to an obsessive point. Overall, I think Amira - the sister - should have been the main character.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Confinement, Death, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Toxic friendship, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Violence, Medical content, Grief, Murder, Toxic friendship, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Torture, Medical content, and War

kbairbooks's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful sad tense slow-paced

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

3.75

The growth of the main character was perhaps the most authentic and well done I've seen in a long time. I actually really liked the fierce and wise beyond her years younger sister. There were a fair variety of intense triggers so readers watch out! I'm very interested to see where the rest of the trilogy takes us.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Genocide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

cinnamonandpancakes's review against another edition

adventurous emotional fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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

3.25

Sometimes you read a debut novel and you don't notice until the end. This is not one of those novels. But there are some sparks of excellence in here, the descriptions are fantastic and the world building is really interesting. Unfortunately, the characters were just too frustrating. None of them make any steps along a character arc without taking a step back somewhere else.

For what it's worth, I think a fan of YA Romantasy would likely enjoy this much more than I.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Violence, Grief, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal death

Minor: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Racism, Sexism, Torture, Xenophobia, Police brutality, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

sophiesmallhands's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation

Moderate: Animal death, Death, Gore, Racism, Sexual violence, Blood, Police brutality, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Child abuse, Child death, Domestic abuse, Slavery, Torture, Death of parent, Sexual harassment, and War

manaledi's review against another edition

adventurous reflective medium-paced

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

3.5

An interesting magic theory with a good adventure. Might have needed a little more time in Qalia in the beginning to set up the class conflict between characters and why they hold onto beliefs so strongly. Sometimes hits you over the head with the moral questions of duty versus injustice versus family with a fairly brutal look at colonialism. Intrigued to see where we go from here.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Violence, Xenophobia, Colonisation, War, and Classism

Moderate: Bullying, Death, Emotional abuse, Torture, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

eahoffm2's review against another edition

adventurous tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Xenophobia

Minor: Murder, Sexual harassment, and War

fromjuliereads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

I admit it took me longer to pick this book up than it should have... but I have mixed feelings about it even a while after I finished it. 
Things I loved:
- the writing itself. Ibrahim has fantastic writing that makes you curious about this world.
- the worldbuilding is done so well! I loved that there were journeys and a map, everything made sense and added up, and was so well done! 
- I actually really liked the plot and the story. While it hit pretty close to what is going on in the world right now, making it a difficult read at times, it is a well done story. The reveals of the information worked well and I am incredibly curious to see what happens next in terms of the plot, based on the ending. 

The things I struggled with/ what made this a 3 star read:
- I REALLY struggled with the characters in this book. I struggled to find them likeable to be honest as they all have major flaws. And while I appreciate flaws being a part of the characters, these ones were just too big... if all of the characters are unlikeable, I find it really hard to root for them. I did like Qayn from the beginning though, as he is a fantastic character. I will also note that a couple characters have very good arcs, and their arcs make me curious where they will go with the next books. But as this set everything up, it was a struggle. 
- I'm not sure if this is a spoiler so I'll keep it vague, but the supposed "romance" that was trying to happen was so incredibly toxic thaf I couldn't get behind it at all. I get that they are teenagers and experiencing the harsh realities of the world or stuck under a terrible influence but my goodness. The switches in temperament/ personality and the toxic nature of the interactions irked me way too much. I can understand if the author is trying to do something with this as part of the story going forward in terms of how toxic it is, but not knowing where the story is going and seeing it as the possible "romance" for the series really doesn't work for me. 

I am curious to read the next book, as I mentioned for the plot, and for Qayn and the sibling relationships. I think the next book would be the decider if I finish the series or not. 
Definitely an interesting debut YA fantasy! 
Highly recommend reading TW/CW before reading, as it was a LOT darker than I had initially expected for a YA book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Confinement, Death, Physical abuse, Racism, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Violence, Murder, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Bullying and Blood

Giving stitches to someone, family member missing

kirstenf's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Blood, and Colonisation

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Slavery, Grief, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Bullying, Sexual assault, Torture, Vomit, Religious bigotry, Fire/Fire injury, and War

shannnne_reads_words's review

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Animal death, Child death, Sexual assault, Vomit, and Death of parent

marleywrites's review against another edition

adventurous emotional medium-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

5.0

Ibrahim blew me away with this book. I went in thinking it would be a book I enjoyed, but I didn’t expect to love it as much as I did. The prose was beautiful and unique, and I loooved the pacing of the story. Every fight and chase scene was well choreographed and epic. I felt like I was racing through the streets with Imani. I swear I could feel the wind on my face. 

I see reviews saying the love triangle is boring, but I find it interesting. It’s not crucial to the plot at this point, but I can tell it’s getting set up to be important. I like seeing the relationships fall into place. 

There were a few heartbreaking moments that really drove home the severity of the situation, and I felt my heart break with Imani’s. And at the same time, her joy was my joy. 

And every kiss with Taha was so emotional. I felt that!

If you are squeamish, there are a few gross scenes. There’s an animal death, human deaths, and description of dead bodies. They are impactful scenes, but definitely not for the faint of heart. 

I’m excited to get to know Atheer and Qayn more in the sequels. I think Amira will turn out to be incredibly important as well, as she was quite clever and helpful in this book. I’m also curious to learn more about Taha’s relationship with his father. I’m curious about their auntie as well. 

I’m wondering what the future of this series will be, but I have a feeling it will be awesome and epic. I look forward to the sequel of this trilogy. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Violence, Blood, Grief, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Torture, Vomit, Police brutality, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Sexual harassment

Description of decomposing bodies