Reviews with content warning for Rape - Her Name Is Knight

This was good! A lot of action and a budding romance. The ending was bittersweet, but I’m glad Nena got some form of closure. I may or may not read the next installment.

Content Warnings

rinku's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-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? Yes

3.5

Her Name Is Knight is a really brutal and dark book which gets 3.5 stars from me. I liked the idea behind it a lot and found Nena to be an interesting character, but the violence was sometimes a bit too much for me, and some moments were a bit too predictable. This book includes many triggering topics, like graphic (sexual) violence and death of parents, so please only read this book if you’re in the right headspace for it.

Nena is an assassin, working for the Tribe, an organization that fights for African countries and diaspora. I find this concept just really intriguing and it’s more morally grey which I liked. On one of her missions, she sees a man she has terrible past with and decides that she wants her revenge. The story is told in two timelines; we see this present time story but also a past timeline where we see how Nena became an assassin. This past of Nena is very brutal and disturbing, and it’s so terrible to think about the fact that these kinds of things probably happen in reality as well. The present timeline is not less shocking and brutal, so be prepared. It was so intense how

she shoots the “wrong” guy

. Besides this, I liked the feminist undertones the story has, like Nena rejecting the term “female” for women, and the thematization of colonialism.

My biggest issue with this novel was how predictable the plot became towards the end. It was so obvious that

Paul is the father of Elin’s boyfriend. I didn’t really understand why Nena didn’t just kill him right there when she’s so ruthless. It was also kinda predictable that the bad guys would kidnap Georgia.

. What shocked me though was the reveal that

that Oliver is her brother. Cort’s and Nena’s breakup was sad but also understandable

. I also loved how emotional the final chapter was.

Nena is a really interesting character and also kinda likable. The struggle of her different identities is quite intense: On the one hand, she talks about killing like it’s nothing but on the other hand, she’s focussed on protecting the weak people. I also think that Nena’s trauma was depicted quite well. Besides this, the cast is all Black which was great. Georgia is such a great addition to the cast and Cort is so likable as well.

All in all, Her Name is Knight is a thriller that deals with topics not every thriller does, and has some interesting characters that I can’t wait to read more about.

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tylovesbooks's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful reflective sad tense 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? It's complicated

4.5

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n2lexualmynd's review against another edition

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The graphic descriptions of traumatic events was too much.

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wellreadsinger's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional inspiring mysterious 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? It's complicated

4.75

Our past experiences and the pain that may come from them undoubtedly impacts us. The obstacles in Nena Knight’s life tried to break her, but instead it gave her a solid foundation in becoming the woman she’s meant to be.

Yasmin Angoe successfully crafts an action-packed, intense, and emotional story with a black female assassin who is in a battle with demons from her past. Taking a cinematic type of approach similar to authors like SA Cosby, I found myself almost instantly becoming invested in how Nena’s story unfolded. This medium paced thriller novel will have you turning the pages faster than our MC can take out a target. In addition to being a story of redemption, family, love, and sisterhood, it is also a celebration of the vast African diaspora.

The alternating POV between Nena’s past and present do an excellent job of keeping the reader invested while also providing background on our MC. However, it was a small setback when it came to a major plot twist in the book. If the author used an omniscient POV in a flashback for a certain character, it would have made the buildup of their identity reveal more impactful. Now did this ruin my reading experience? Absolutely not, but I almost thought this aspect was a major plot hole before I realized how it does indeed coincide with the storyline we were presented with.

The author has won me over with her vivid storytelling and detailed fight sequences so much to the point that I’ve already downloaded the sequel to my library so I can continue with Nena on this journey. Highly recommended for fans of Salt starring Angelina Jolie or The Woman King starring Lashana Lynch!

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qjonesstl's review against another edition

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dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.5

There are triggers!!!!

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metchap's review against another edition

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adventurous dark tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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