Reviews with content warning for Slavery - Her Name Is Knight

This was a decent read with a good premise, a great narrator (read at 2x speed) and a refreshing storytelling format. Unfortunately, I did not enjoy it as much as I expected. While reading Her Name is Knight I was also reading Who Fears Death (which was very slow and I didn’t like much) which features the same heavy topics and themes, so unfortunately I feel like I didn’t enjoy this book as much as I would have otherwise.

The Pros

The characters:
I really liked the cast of characters (minus the villains obviously). I loved reading about Nena being accepted into her new family during the “before” chapters, and then Nina taking Georgia under her wing during the “after” chapters.

The storytelling format:
I really enjoyed how the book consistently went back and forth between her backstory and present time, and it created a stark contrast between her life “before” and “after”. Although I love a good backstory reveal, sometimes it’s nice to know from the beginning. This was also a downfall for the book as well. The “before” chapters are brutal and very descriptive, and after all the emotions and despair of those chapters, sometimes the “after” chapters feel boring and don’t bring any emotional impact.

The narrator!
She did a wonderful job, and I especially enjoyed the subtle distinction between when she is voicing a male or female character. Sometimes narrators tend to do too much when voicing the opposite sex, but I thought she did great.

The Cons

Overdramatic writing:
It felt like there was some type of analogy or simile every sentence. Obviously that is a major part of writing as a whole, but for some reason they stood out every time and took me out of the story quite a lot.

Insta-love:
I am usually 50/50 on insta-love, it really depends on how it’s done. Nena deciding she felt an ease with the MMC (can’t remember his name) that she’d never felt before with a man was VERY sudden. I don’t think she even had a full conversation with him before she felt comfortable with him, and for her backstory and her own thoughts stating she’s never felt this way with a man before, it was extremely abrupt.

Overall, if you are considering reading this book I would say give it a shot if you can stomach the contents. It has really heartbreaking themes, which at some points go into pretty graphic detail.

Content Warnings

sweetdee27's review against another edition

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dark 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

3.5

This is a dual timeline book. Half is told when Aninyeh was a child. Half is told as Nena is an adult and an assassin. When she was a child, her family was murdered and she was trafficked. The story when she was a child is brutal and a bit disturbing but the author seemed to make pains to handle it with sensitivity. It is important because it made her the strong woman she became. But when her past comes back to haunt her and all she is trying to make for herself, Nena must decide who is worth saving and how far she will go to save those she loves.

Content Warnings