Reviews tagging 'Torture'

Song of Silver, Flame Like Night by Amélie Wen Zhao

39 reviews

fairynanook's review against another edition

adventurous sad 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? Yes

3.0

I really wanted to love this book. It had the promise of everything I've been enjoying reading lately. But I really struggled with it.  If I had to explain what didn't work for me, I think it was just that the book never took any time to let you breath. It dropped you into the middle of a war zone and made you stay there until the unresolved end, since the story has more than one book.  I needed things to slow down so I could fall in love with the characters, but instead, I just sat and expected them all to die because they were put into one impossible situation followed by another with literally no down time.  It felt like PTSD in fictional book form.  I don't know that I am going to be able to continue the series because it just feels too intense to keep going.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Genocide, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Sexual harassment, War, and Injury/Injury detail

kays_reading_journal's review

5.0

Content warnings: full warnings listed in the section below but there are multiple instances of on page sexual assault. 

I can't believe I let this book sit on my shelf for over a year before I picked it up, it's incredible!! 

The romance, the plot, the world building, the aesthetics oh my god. All incredible. 

It was a bit slow at the beginning as the story was setting itself up, but once our two main characters started fully interacting I was hooked. 

I also think some of the side characters could have had a bit more development, but it's looking like we'll see that in the sequel!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Death of parent, and Colonisation

Moderate: Child death, Genocide, Gore, Grief, and War

Minor: Torture

joygarcialim's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark tense slow-paced

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

2.0

I think the book has potential. That’s the disappointing part.

The characters fell very flat, the author spent most of the book info dumping that she didn’t pay much attention to the characters’ development. The romance didn’t even seem like a romance, it was more like how a kid might take two dolls and make them kiss but the backstory isn’t much except for the kid wanting to do it. The lack of emotions, chemistry or affections for the characters falling in love was very jarring.

Overall, it was very dry to read and at points I couldn’t distinguish when the author was being metaphorical or actually describing events in the plot. I’ll say that’s not necessarily the author’s fault, but there were definitely metaphors and descriptions that were just awful.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Hate crime, Racism, Torture, Violence, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail

naa_'s review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Racism, and Colonisation

Moderate: Grief and Death of parent

Minor: Genocide, Rape, Sexual assault, and Torture

madamenovelist's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Misogyny, Sexism, Xenophobia, Sexual harassment, and Classism

Minor: Alcohol

sophiesmallhands's review against another edition

adventurous emotional 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? Yes

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Torture, Violence, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Racial slurs, Blood, Death of parent, and Murder

Minor: Sexual violence, Kidnapping, and War

manaledi's review against another edition

adventurous slow-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? No

4.0

I quite liked this, but it didn't have the full immersive draw you in and you never want to leave feeling of some high fantasy. It's a very clear reimagining of Chinese history/geography/mythology and that made it easier to track aspects of the story without necessarily having strong world building. I liked our two main characters and their dynamics. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation

Moderate: Death, Genocide, Homophobia, Racism, Torture, Xenophobia, Grief, Death of parent, Cultural appropriation, War, and Injury/Injury detail

kaneebli's review against another edition

emotional sad medium-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Xenophobia, Death of parent, Colonisation, and War

Moderate: Rape, Torture, and Sexual harassment

cassielaj's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful tense medium-paced

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

4.5

I am not a fantasy reader, but this story is captivating! I love the mythological feel to it, with magic and adventure and honor and sacrifice. It’s pretty easy to follow, which is about the highest compliment I can pay a fantasy book, and the characters are beautifully rendered. Can’t wait to read book 2!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Genocide, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Grief, Murder, Colonisation, and War

lisashelves's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Grief, and War

Moderate: Physical abuse, Torture, and Death of parent