Reviews tagging 'Medical content'

The Ballad of Never After by Stephanie Garber

6 reviews

tourmaline1703's review

adventurous mysterious sad medium-paced

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

4.25

I very much enjoyed revisiting this world as it has been a while since I read Once Upon a Broken Heart. I loved the setting of the book and getting to explore more of the North and delving deeper into the magic system and noble houses. The worldbuilding felt very intricate and it was nice to explore more corners of it.
The writing is simple yet elegant and it's so easy to get lost in I find. I loved the descriptions of the various settings and outfits which make you wish you could be a part of the glamorous balls. I also loved the structure of the chapters towards the end of the novel, I feel it really accentuated the plot and helped underline certain characters' choices.
I felt the book was well paced and very interesting to read. I love a classic 'go on a quest' in fantasy and this book did it very well, whilst adding some twists and turns. There were a few twists I did not see coming and I certainly did not see the ending coming. The ending has confused me slightly and I think once I've read the sequel, I will understand it better but for now, the confusion is what has stopped this being a 5 star read. Whilst the story was brilliant, I don't know why parts of the ending happened as they did and exactly how it's all going to work.
I loved meeting new characters and spending more time with Evangeline, who I like a lot more than I did at first. Jacks I think I will forever have mixed feelings on. I think he is an amazingly written character and I love reading about him but I don't think I feel as much sympathy for him as others do. I think that's probably the best way I can explain it. 
All this said, I absolutely adored reading this book and I have devoured about 60% in the past two days so it is a definite page-turner.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Infidelity, Blood, Murder, and Medical content

zoeelora's review

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Sexual harassment, Abandonment, Blood, Confinement, Gaslighting, Grief, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Stalking, Torture, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Moderate: Death, Drug use, Toxic friendship, Vomit, Alcohol, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Medical content, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, and Sexual violence

midnacine's review against another edition

adventurous lighthearted mysterious slow-paced

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

3.0

While I loved the tension between the two main characters, a lot of this book felt slow and anti-climatic. It's almost as if the author forgot to develop the plot until she wrote the last 100 pages and just squeeze everything important into that part. Overall, still enjoyable, but I wouldn't go out of my way to recommend it. I'll still probably read the third one when it comes out if not only for my insatiable curiosity and near inability to DNF trilogies.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Blood, Medical content, and Stalking

Moderate: Murder, Death, Injury/Injury detail, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Death of parent

anton13's review

adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Like always Stephanie manages to deliver a magical, gut wrenching, heartbreaking, heart warming and plot twist full story that keeps you hooked from start to finish. I absolutely love how she writes and this is another stunning example of how amazing her writing is. I love that you get to know more about Jacks in this book and that you see the relationship between him and Evangeline evolve. The ending had me on the edge of my seat. I did not see any of it coming and I was shook. Idk how I’ll survive not knowing what happens till the third book comes out…

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Grief, and Death

Moderate: Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Blood

Minor: Dementia, Kidnapping, Self harm, Stalking, Death of parent, Medical content, and Alcohol

meeklovestoread's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious sad 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? It's complicated

3.75

I didn't like it as much as the first one, but that doesn't negate the fact that it was still interesting. I don't know if it's just her books, but for some reason for me it's when I read her books I don't fully get into it until the later parts. But it might be on me because I've only read two and I'm just now getting back into fantasy. It was interesting enough to keep me going but nothing really immersing to me. I kept wanting to hit Evangeline for being too trusting, too quickly. It's cool how consistent Stephanie keeps Jacks character. The ending was crazy. Glad there's gonna be a third book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Blood, Death, and Grief

Moderate: Murder

Minor: Gaslighting and Medical content

katvou's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Murder, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Grief and Violence

Minor: Toxic friendship, Kidnapping, Medical content, Toxic relationship, Child death, Torture, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Sexual content, Body horror, and Fire/Fire injury