Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

La Misericordia del Cuervo (The Merciful Crow) by Margaret Owen

11 reviews

aseel_reads's review against another edition

adventurous 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

1.0

One of the few fantasy books where I can safely say that the world building was super poor and boring? I didn't really care for the characters, nor did I find the plot that interesting or surprising at all 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, Gun violence, Hate crime, Murder, Violence, and Vomit

shadowspinner's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark 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: Violence, Death, and Hate crime

Moderate: Vomit

Minor: Death of parent

sometimescjreads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective 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? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Classism, Racism, and Violence

Moderate: Death of parent

Minor: Sexual assault and Sexual content

lanid's review against another edition

adventurous dark

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Bullying, Classism, Hate crime, and Violence

Minor: Grief, Murder, Police brutality, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, and Sexual content

amylynnknitsreads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Classism, Death, Blood, Death of parent, Infidelity, and Murder

egurgens's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional funny informative mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

5.0

A wonderful mix of magic, political plots, a persecuted community, LGBTQ+ characters, a runaway prince, and so much more. This story definitely follows the 'enemies-to-lovers' trope, but less severe. More of a 'dislike-to-lovers'. We follow Fie, a Crow chief-in-training, as her troupe of crows collect and dispose of dead plague victims. However, Fie gets the scare of a lifetime when the corpses sit up, the royal prince and his body-double having faked their deaths to escape from the queen who wants them dead. The crows agree to make sure they reach their allies safely, as long as the prince agrees to make sure future crows are protected from persecution in the future. 

When thinking of the crows and how they are treated, I think of pre-Civil Rights America. The crows are openly disliked and mistreated by villagers, the Hawks (think police) attack and treat them roughly for existing, and there is a band of citizens that attack Crow troupes at night, similar to how I imagine the KKK did. Disclaimer:  I'm just using it as an analogy to describe the conditions the Crows faced, not comparing the two situations in any way. 

When the Crows and the two lordlings are betrayed, only Fie and the two lordlings manage to escape capture by the Queen's people. Fie takes up responsibility to get Prince Jasimer to the Commander of their army, his Aunt. What follows is a journey across the continent, chased by magical trackers and mystery monsters. The lordlings get to know the trials that the Crow people face, and Fie gets to know the boys and how they bear their responsibilities. There's a little romancing, some feelings, very nice. 

All in all, I loved this book, and I'm excited to read the sequel. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Hate crime, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Racism, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Blood, Death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Grief, Infidelity, Murder, Violence, and Torture

rosejoy's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism and Violence

Minor: Death of parent and Fire/Fire injury

arcaadepunk's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny tense medium-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

4.25

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Blood, Death of parent, and Sexual content

yvonne_cl's review against another edition

adventurous challenging mysterious 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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Death, Death of parent, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Torture, Violence, Vomit, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Kidnapping, Murder, Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual content

tallismarlowe's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful tense fast-paced

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

5.0

I fell a little in love with the main character a few pages in, and stayed that way until the end of the book. The character dynamics are the highlight of this book, at least for me, and they're not always easy ones. The worldbuilding is good in this one; it never sacrificed plot pacing to infodump, but wove it into the narrative instead. I could see the landscapes and characters in front of me as I read. Pretty sure I finished this in two sittings.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Hate crime, Medical content, Violence, and Xenophobia