Reviews tagging 'Kidnapping'

What the River Knows by Isabel Ibañez

67 reviews

idonttcareeeee's review

adventurous informative slow-paced

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

1.75

first half of the book was absolute ass. second half...was barely tolerable. do not recommend. had some fun times toward the end, but still not fun enough to even think about without cringing

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Violence, Gore, Blood, Gun violence, Murder, and Death

Moderate: Abandonment, Alcoholism, and Alcohol

simplykatherina's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious 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

4.75

I loved reading this book! It was the perfect blend of fantasy and historical fiction without being overwhelming. The characters felt real and fleshed out, and the author did such a great job of showing the complexity of grief and learning to trust again. This book felt like an adventure and I was captivated the whole time, but I can’t believe I have to wait until November to find out how it ends!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Colonisation, Death, Death of parent, Alcohol, Blood, Confinement, Gun violence, Violence, and Kidnapping

aklovekorn's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Grief, Gun violence, Infidelity, Alcoholism, Kidnapping, Violence, Blood, Child death, Colonisation, Misogyny, and Injury/Injury detail

zarhara's review against another edition

adventurous medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Alcoholism, Grief, Colonisation, Death of parent, Classism, Alcohol, and Abandonment

Moderate: Blood, Confinement, Kidnapping, Gaslighting, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, and Misogyny

thewickermage's review

adventurous emotional mysterious 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder and Gun violence

Minor: Kidnapping

sustainably_lucia's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

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

5.0

I have nothing bad to say about this book except that I need the sequel immediately! I don’t want to wait till November to find out what happens. (I have issues with the dubious morality of some of the characters but that’s a me thing, the characters are excellently written.) The setting and writing are beautiful. The characters are diverse and complex. The plot is twisty and surprising. The beginning is a bit slow but it picks up. The ending is intense.

I liked the soft magic and thought it added a nice layer to the world and the story. I loved the historical aspects as well. I’m not familiar with Egyptian history but I appreciated the respect that Ibanez shows to their people and culture.

If you like Egypt, magical objects, intrigue, adventure, dangerous secrets, and witty banter, you’ll enjoy this book. The audiobook is excellent and the physical copy includes some beautiful illustrations. I haven’t stopped thinking about this book since I finished it a few days ago. I’m still recovering from that ending and going back over every detail trying to piece it together. I have some theories and I’m praying for a happy ending.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Death of parent, and Gun violence

Minor: Murder, Infidelity, Alcoholism, and Kidnapping

laur_astor's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

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

2.0

I was so excited about this book because it had a promising premise! But it just wasn’t for me.

It felt very slow for the first half and then too many random crazy twists happened in the second half. The part about

her mom being alive and then deceiving her felt so random

and her romance (if you can even call it that) with Whit just didn’t feel authentic enough for me.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Trafficking, Gun violence, Alcoholism, Death of parent, Kidnapping, and Murder

molliford's review

adventurous emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Death, and Alcoholism

Moderate: Kidnapping

Minor: Sexual content

picaresquedreamer's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Toxic relationship, Abandonment, Classism, Death, Alcoholism, Gaslighting, Gun violence, Violence, Murder, and Child death

Moderate: Kidnapping, Grief, Sexism, Colonisation, War, and Blood

kermittuesday's review against another edition

slow-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

I was so interested in this. It’s historical fiction with a little bit of magic thrown in, seemed perfect for me. But it’s so flat. The pace was so slow when I expected to have been flying through it. 

The MC is like every stereotype of a YA female protagonist you can think of. She’s “strong-willed” but here that just means she finds every possible reason to argue with every other character on literally every other page. Her and the guy her age just argue for no reason most of the time. And she argues with everyone else too. The plot moves forward only through argument.

She’s “clever” but only when it serves the plot. Otherwise she’s an idiot about things so her character is all over the place.

She’s  hypocritical  because when her cousin comes to Egypt she gets mad at her for doing the exact same things the MC is always doing, without a trace of irony. And there was no reason the cousin needed to die. That was extreme and if it meant that of course the MC couldn’t go home because she wouldn’t be welcome at her aunt’s house, that would be one thing but there was no mention of that despite the letter saying the other cousin would never forgive the MC if something happened to the cousin. So there are things thrown in that just make no sense.

The thing is, if it was middle grade, I’d forgive some of this. But it’s YA, it doesn’t need to be so formulaic.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation

Moderate: Kidnapping and Murder