Reviews tagging 'Torture'

Sorrow and Starlight by Susanne Valenti, Caroline Peckham

11 reviews

_alyssar_'s review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

2.75

I’m so confused.  This book dragged on, and almost went on my DNF list - which is extremely rare, and especially since I actually want to know how everything turns out for these characters.  

The story has been building and building over the first 7 books and then randomly in the last 10-15% of book 8, a bunch of loose ends get tied up, only for the whole story to unravel again in the last couple of chapters and leave us on a weird cliffhanger. Not only that, but the next two books in the series are apparently backtracks from different perspectives - the next one says it’s a retelling of the first book from the Heirs’ POV, and the currently final book in the series (book 10) says it’s a retelling from the POV of those that have passed.   So we’ll be left on this cliffhanger with no foreseeable ending through at least two more books before we can pick up and go again. 

The first few books really sucked me in, but the story is now spiraling wildly out of control with no ending in sight - pretty disappointed, as I’m now invested in this story through the first several books, but after book 8, I’m not sure I want to continue, despite still wanting to see how things turn out.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Self harm, Sexual violence, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Vomit, Alcohol, Gore, Violence, Confinement, Classism, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Blood, Child abuse, Excrement, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Bullying, Sexual harassment, Torture, and Fire/Fire injury

kotahlotah's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Grief, Murder, Sexual content, Death, and Torture

juliette_95's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Slavery, Blood, Misogyny, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Sexual content, Death, War, Confinement, and Murder

Moderate: Pregnancy and Death of parent

ells___'s review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Blood, Sexual content, and War

hbae's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Grief, Torture, Violence, and Death

nightgoesblack's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Sexual content, and Torture

Moderate: Death of parent and Sexual assault

Minor: Suicidal thoughts

emgrace93's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Blood, Gaslighting, Gore, Pedophilia, Death of parent, Drug use, Sexual harassment, Genocide, Misogyny, Torture, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, and Violence

Language and Smut

frankieclc's review against another edition

1.5

i cannot believe i just read a 1200 page FILLER BOOK like so much unnecessary plot please stop giving me point of views from characters i couldnt care less about i miss the good old days where it was just the main characters and god was this book mentally draining SO MUCH GRIEF 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content and Grief

Moderate: Body horror, War, Death, Genocide, Torture, Violence, and Blood

soraya's review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

3.75

This book man. As we left Heartless Sky in a depressing ending, this book continues in the same mood. It was honestly so depressing at times that it was hard to continue. Luckily the sisters continued to put in some hilarious scene like only they can. Mild spoilers below

I love the inclusion of Gabriel's family in this book, although it was kinda sad we didn't get a lot of scenes with him. Washer still gives me the creeps. And I want to smack the heads of Seth and Caleb to get their shit together. I loved that Max and Gerry seemed to have truly found each other even though the relationship didn't feel as fleshed out as the others. I'm very excited we got Darius back even though, as ToryxDarius are my fav couple, it took waaayy too long. Can't wait for book 9 and to see what else is in store for the Vega sisters. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood and Violence

Moderate: Torture and Death

briochebun's review against another edition

adventurous emotional slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

2.5 out of 5 ☆’s.

“Maybe we were never meant to win, maybe this was a tragedy, and I was in the final act, moving towards an inevitable end along with everyone I loved.”

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Warning: This review mostly consists of ranting and frustrated ramblings. You have been warned.

Goshhh, where to start with this one? 😅😬

I will admit that I went into this novel with rather low expectations given how I felt about its predecessor <i>“Heartless Sky“</i>. However, I was hoping that <i>”Sorrow and Starlight”</i> would surprise me and reignite my love for this series (spoiler alert: it didn’t). 

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The number one question that I have after finishing this monster of a novel is why?

I’m confused as to why certain plot points are still being drawn out — ESPECIALLY the situation with Seth + Caleb. This novel was a whopping 1,244 pages, and yet we still weren’t able to see them confess their feelings for one another?! 

It all just feels incredibly unnecessary at this point — why are these new villains arising now? We already have multiple that we’re still dealing with, why add another one?

Why not stagger these villains throughout the series and have the main characters defeat them at different intervals? Instead, they’re all just going to be defeated in book 9 (I presume)…😮‍💨

TLDR: I am tired and am just holding on for SethCaleb at this point…

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Blood, Torture, and Sexual content