Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Godkiller by Hannah Kaner

86 reviews

reddeddy's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious sad tense fast-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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Cursing, Genocide, Gore, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Blood, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Abandonment, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Ableism, Body shaming, Chronic illness, Death, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Forced institutionalization, Police brutality, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Classism

Minor: Child abuse, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Torture, and Pregnancy

xcelxdx's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious 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

Been meaning to pick this book up for ages but was slightly apprehensive I would be disappointed due to the (quiet-ish) hype for this book. Wow I am so glad I picked it up. It was surprisingly easy for a fantasy book to enter the world. The characters were exciting (once I figured out how many POVs there were). The plot twist at the end was both predictable and not which is always great. I loved getting to know the characters and watching them learn to trust and love each other over the course of the book. I think every page was justified in furthering the characters or plot of the book and I was not able to put it down once I got to the last 30-50 pages. The multi POVs became a good storytelling took especially here. I’m looking forward to seeing what happens next and unravelling more of the secrets/plotting.

I was wondering why kissen still had a gods boon from presumably osidisen as I thought she was saved by his promise. What an unexpected and convenient surprise that she’d saved it up. I wonder if Hseth was truly killed by the sea god, Kissen seems to think so but is it so easy to kill wild fire? At least if she comes back it should be a reduced form. Strange how after so much destruction it was not so complicated an end

Seeing each of the four characters’ different perspectives on the complicated relationships between gods and humans; worshippers, non-believers, and god killers was thought provoking. Where would I fall if I lived in this workd, is it so easy to resist temptation of a gods promise. How far would each of us go for it

people in this book went horrifically far

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Blood, Death of parent, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Sexual content, Trafficking, and Grief

avacadosocks's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Body horror, Grief, and Death of parent

Minor: Child abuse, Sexual content, and Trafficking

callistag1's review against another edition

adventurous medium-paced

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

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Grief and Religious bigotry

Minor: Child abuse and Trafficking

cday13's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Blood, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Death of parent

naddles's review against another edition

adventurous inspiring mysterious medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Body horror, Chronic illness, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

kaylaswhitmore's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.5

This was a fun read with lots of rich world-building. The system of gods and humans felt both wondrous and intuitive, often making me curious about just what other gods there are out there and how much their power stretches (which I suppose I should simply read the next book sooner rather than later, then). I also enjoyed the characters in the story, from the lovable side characters to our main cast of heroes. Their voices all felt starkly unique to each other and I appreciated how their bonds grew over time. 

That being said, I did have some critiques of the narrative and style.

First, I felt that Skediceth’s point of view—while it shed light on a god’s perspective—did take away from the pain of his betrayal to Inara. Instead of feeling surprised by his takeover of her mind and body, I saw it coming a mile away and therefore didn’t feel as stunned or hurt by it as I think I could have, had his POV chapters not foreshadowed it so heavily.

In that regard, I do wish she had perhaps limited her use of POVs to just Inara, Elo, and Kissen to maintain more suspense. Secondly, the big reveal of

Arren’s betrayal also felt a bit lacking due to how intensely evil he was upon Elo sacrificing himself. I would have liked to see him struggle a little more when faced with the reality of his selfish power grab in front of someone who I do believe he must have loved at some point.

That came across a bit superficial or disingenuous if only because it leaned more towards a place of “aha! the mask is off, muahahah!” as opposed to a hard hitting betrayal. 

I do feel that Kaner really brought the story together for a very engaging end, however, and it certainly kept me wanting to see what happens next! Despite the few things I was a bit dissatisfied with, I felt that there were many more things to be excited about. Kissen, for one, is a breath of fresh air. I’ve read quite a few “angry women” protagonists now at this point, but I really loved Kissen’s flavor of it. She’s both down to earth and wildly spontaneous, and that combination made her an extremely fun character to follow. I also adored Inara, and think that she was a cool spin on the “naive girl discovering the world” trope. Her power and individuality made it easy to root for her and exciting to imagine what she will become. 

I’m looking forward to reading Sunbringer, even if I’m nervous about the fates of our favorite found family!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Violence, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Sexual content, Grief, Death of parent, Alcohol, and War

mazomazli's review against another edition

adventurous 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Death, Sexual content, Grief, Death of parent, and War

little_miss_book_'s review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny 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? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, and War

blewballoon's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

I wasn't sure what to expect from this book. I was worried that it would be a more grim fantasy story with a lot of violence and pain, maybe like Ashes of the Sun by Django Wexler. There are definitely dark elements and high stakes, but the characters are really charming and easy to invest in. There is always a running theme that finding and caring for people is good, even though sometimes there are betrayals and mistakes. There were a couple turns the plot took that were refreshing compared to where I expected the story to go. A lot of plot was crammed in here. It felt much longer than it was, in the best way. The audiobook narration was pretty good as well. I'm definitely looking forward to more from this series.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Grief and War

Minor: Sexual content