Reviews tagging 'Genocide'

A Broken Blade by Melissa Blair

31 reviews

alizardbreath716's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Self harm, Violence, and Colonisation

Moderate: Sexual harassment

clara_h39's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.5

A really solid fantasy novel with just a tad of romance. If you like a predominantly plot based fantasy book with a lighter focus on romance (enemies to lovers), you’ll enjoy this. Honestly I’m not sure the romance was absolutely necessary for the plot but it wasn’t that out of place for the genre. Keera is a really great female protagonist who is fierce and fighting the good fight; a bit cliche at times but overall very well motivated and detailed character. I can’t wait to see her journey through the rest of the saga. The side characters are absolutely amazing too- I ‘love to hate’ Damien and the king, and I love sweet ones like Gwyn too. Overall a great book and looking forward to the next one, but it’s nothing extremely memorable for me personally (that sounds mean but just imo). (Also this book reminds me of the hunger games vaguely with its theme of converting the heroine to overthrowing the government)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Cursing, Death, Genocide, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Rape, Slavery, and Torture

mari1532's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense slow-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? It's complicated

4.0

I first learned about this book series from @fromthemixedupdesk on Instagram. Luckily my library had a copy of this audiobook so I could listen and see if I agreed with the positive reviews. Unsurprisingly, I really enjoyed this book. This story has political intrigue, romance, morally grey characters and eat-the-rich vibes. Blair has created a complex world with layered dynamics between complicated characters. The tension and drama had me devouring this book and excited me for the next three installments. 

Due to Blair's vivid writing, I bonded with Keera throughout the story and the more I learned about her the more endearing she became. I am emotionally invested in her as a character and will greedily read the entire series emotionally invested in the outcome. I also enjoyed the romance subplot that Keera was a part of. The care that Keera's love interest has for her and their emphasis on consent was refreshing. 

I picked up on enough context clues beforehand to see a few of the plot twists coming, so they did not shock me. That being said I am intrigued about how Blair is going to bring all the threads of the plot together. It is clear that Blair has a vision for the world and Keera and I am intrigued to see where this is all going. 

I will say it was a little confusing keeping track of how old each of the characters was. Overall I do not think this distracts from the plot of the story, but it keeps coming up so I think that it might be important. The importance of age concerns the potential revelations about Keera. I hope it's more fleshed out in the next book. 

Overall, this is what I want from a series starter, something that is exciting to read and makes me emotionally invested as a reader. Blair has accomplished that with this book and I look forward to reading more. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Bullying, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Misogyny, Self harm, Slavery, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Sexual content and Sexual harassment

Minor: Sexual violence

pointeshoebookworm's review against another edition

adventurous 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 have mixed feelings about this book. I know it's incredibly popular on social media, but I feel like it had such potential but ultimately fell into tropes or mirrored other popular books. Towards the end of the book I kept on wondering when it would end, as the plot for the first book had wrapped up, but it kept on going. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Islamophobia, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, War, and Injury/Injury detail

lpantoja0295's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective 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 had a fun time reading it! It felt very cliche in the beginning, but you could really watch Keera's character unfold from the alcoholic we meet in the first chapters. She is, of course, a broody, badass, top-notch assassin, but the baggage she carries also obviously takes its toll on her as the story progresses. The ending was one I did see coming, but I was shocked when I finally got to that point! I'm excited to see where this story goes and what's in store for our badass heroine.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Genocide, Physical abuse, Racism, and Alcohol

Moderate: Death, Emotional abuse, Violence, and Forced institutionalization

Minor: Sexual assault

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

corditeq's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful mysterious reflective 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

4.75

It isn’t a perfect book, but it is damn good nonetheless. I had been sold it as a “sapphic romantasy”, so I was really confused when the m/f romance started. The main character is bisexual, an alcoholic, and absolutely tormented and broken. The cast of characters was brilliant, and the undertones of discourse about colonisation were fantastic. I am off to read book two!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Drug use, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexual content, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Colonisation, War, and Classism

Moderate: Genocide and Grief

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

crinkledmochi's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional reflective tense 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

3.75

I enjoyed this book and will definitely read the next one to see what happens but some of the twists and turns were kinda obvious and the characters could’ve been a little more fleshed out 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Drug use, Genocide, Gore, Hate crime, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Vomit, Trafficking, Grief, Suicide attempt, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail

lunaviolet's review

4.5

Initial Thoughts: This author knew the story she wanted to tell and how to tell it. I look forward to seeing more of the stories she has to tell.

Full Review:
Melissa Blair knew what story she wanted to tell and told it well. I could not put this book down.

The world was so immersive and well thought out. I felt like this book hit the perfect balance between fantastical and realistic world building. It was grounded in reality despite being set in an entirely different world. The exploration of social structures and colonialist societies was grounded in reality while the fantastical settings lifted the text out of the real world, allowing for a facade of surface level escapism.

The main character's internal dialogue and struggles with morality and identity is where the book (and Blair's writing) really shine. Her self-hatred and internal conflict felt very realistic and well written.

If you enjoy high-fantasy novels exploring the aftermath of ethnic cleansing and dipping into the politics of a colonized land, you'll love this book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism and Self harm

Moderate: Colonisation

Minor: Death and Genocide

Aftermath of ethnic cleansing and colonialism