Reviews tagging 'Suicidal thoughts'

A Broken Blade by Melissa Blair

58 reviews

hannahgewickey's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, and Violence

sydemorr's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

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

2.25

Highly marketed as a lgbtqia, sapphic book but where is it lol? Though keara may not be straight found it to be queerbait-y that it was just a past relationship. Great to have that representation but I was excited to read a fantasy book with a main queer relationship. Other than that disappointment it generally just was fairly a predictable and typical fantasy book. The world wasn’t super well built so I was kind of confused at times too.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm and Suicidal thoughts

judassilver's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Self harm, Slavery, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Confinement, Death, Genocide, Sexual violence, Blood, and Colonisation

Minor: Drug abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

careinthelibrary's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious fast-paced

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Sexual content, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Alcoholism, Suicidal thoughts, Alcohol, and Colonisation

dragongirl271's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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

4.25

“Why else make a journey you didn’t expect to survive? But maybe you’ll find more than survival here. Maybe you’ll find redemption.”

This is a series I'm thoroughly excited to finish. I had a great time reading this first book. I really enjoy the worldbuilding by Blair and I love a protagonist that's very complex and not always right, which is found with Keera.

A Broken Blade is the first book in The Halfling Saga. We're introduced to Keera, a half-elf (known as “halflings” in this world) who was forced into the King’s service and became his top spy and assassin. Keera's never been happy with the King's rule, but following his orders is how she stays alive. Until, a mysterious figure working against the monarchy appears. Can this “Shadow” help Keera find a new path toward survival and freedom?

Again, I really enjoyed Blair's world. I think she did a good job adding depth to the side characters. We also get a romance subplot with some great tropes without it feeling too trope-y?? Sign me up for the sequels. (Disclaimer: I could still see some of these tropes coming a mile away the second they were hinted at. No, that did not stop me from kicking my feet in glee when they finally happened.)

I think this is also going to be a really good discussion on how messy revolution is. Not everything goes well. People get hurt. Keera's got her own traumas and trust issues. And it seems not everybody is involved for the right reasons. The synopses of the next two books give me hope that the story will stay complex and nuanced.

1st-person POV. Fast pacing. Bisexual main character!!! Tough topics addressed with MC (see CWs at beginning of book).
Tropes included:
Enemies to lovers 
There was only one bed
Who did this to you?

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Self harm, Torture, and Trafficking

Minor: Racism, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Vomit, and Injury/Injury detail

escaperoom's review against another edition

medium-paced

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

2.5

i think this book had a lot of potential, but it sadly fell through once the love interest was introduced. this is one of those books where romance just does not work. it wasn't written very well at all, it fell flat and felt like insta love. i also feel like the it wasn't needed. keeras character had a lot of potential by herself and was very fleshed out. this book could've been a 5 star masterpiece to me with just the found family. and honestly, i skimmed past the spicy parts because they made me feel icky. like i said, the romantic connection was just NOT THERE and felt so forced. on a positive note, the world building was good and the magic system has great potential. i just cannot get over how well keera was written too. and lastly the sensitive topics in this book were handled extremely well. sadly though, i will not be continuing the rest of this series.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Self harm, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, and Colonisation

bluerobins58's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional inspiring 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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Self harm, and Alcohol

Moderate: Child abuse, Physical abuse, and Suicidal thoughts

kingkiller99's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional inspiring 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

I really enjoyed reading this book. It reminded me of the first three TOG books all in one, but to be honest, I may like Keera a little more? Her addiction was hard to read but there were also parts that I appreciated too. Looking forward to reading more. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction and Alcoholism

Minor: Suicidal thoughts

jocogr's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction and Alcoholism

Moderate: Death, Physical abuse, Racism, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

sasclostchild's review against another edition

dark sad tense

• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.25

So the first third of the book was very depressing, focusing on our protagonist living the American dream: doing a shitty job they don't like to barely live and to drown their sorrows in alcohol, all while harming a lot of people.

She then turns her life around by quitting alcohol (good for her) and siding with a rebellious group to eat the rich.

This is all accompanied by a very icky straight romance which is not icky because it's straight (although that is a sad part because i was hoping for a sapphic romance but that only exists in a short flashback) but because the dude forces himself on her all the time and the only chemistry they have is some weird interaction between their types of magic that acts as an aphrodisiac making them horny for each other.

She still somehow falls in horny because idk if you can call drug addled make outs love

Then the book also fails to close its main arc during the book but fuck I'm not buying the second book. 
Still 2.25, because the unfinished story got kinda interesting in the second half

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Physical abuse, Racism, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Trafficking, Murder, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Hate crime, Suicidal thoughts, and Toxic relationship