Reviews with content warning for Injury/Injury detail - Nightbane

Reviews tagging 'Injury/Injury detail'

Nightbane by Alex Aster

9 reviews

elskede's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional 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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natashareadsbooks's review against another edition

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adventurous 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

The curses have been broken. But the trials have only just begun. Now Ilsa is faced with having to train, and rule not just one but two realms, and prepare for not only a possible war, but a impossible choice- hurtling between two fates, what would Ilsa do- not just to save her people, but everyone, again?

"When you’ve seen something truly beautiful, everything else starts to look painfully ordinary."

Nightbane picks up where Lightlark left off, and must be read in order.

Ilsa started off, locking herself away from everyone after the curses ended. She was not ready to face what she had done, not was she rest to face her memories that were stolen away and slowly trickling back. But as the book continued on, she came into her own. She trained, learned to weild her power. And she stepped up to become ruler of not just one but two realms. And she faced of against death, again and again, only to come back stronger each time which I absolutely loved about her.

And of course I loved Grim - even though most of what we seen from him in this book was flashbacks and memories- I fell more in love with Grim that I was in book 1. He was still my favorite character through it all. I was impatient to see him in the present.

And Oro was... Very much still Oro. He was patient and kind most of the time. He put his love for Ilsa ahead of even his own kingdom.

But was was coming - not only was a battle destined to break out on Lightlark, but a war raged on in Ilsa's mind as well. Her love for Oro now, and her love she once has for Grim as her memories slowly came back. Her memories holding the key on how she may survive the war, and saving her people.

So, I enjoyed this book. I loved watching Ilsa grow into her powers. And even though this book started a bit slow, it built up to the conclusion nicely. I would have loved to see more of present day Grim, but I loved the memories & falling more in love with him.

And I liked Oro well enough. He was there for Ilsa, & was loving and kind.

I loved the world, and the build up too.

I cannot wait for the next book to see where the story takes us next.

4⭐ out of 5⭐.

1🌶️ out of 5🌶️. - tame YA with tension & a couple scenes with little details.

Tropes:

→ ya fantasy

→ romantasy

→ Enemies to lovers

→ shadow daddy

→ forced proximity

→ "who did this to you?"

→ he falls first

→ love triangle
→ amnesia

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spatterson7's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious 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

4.25

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selestre's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious slow-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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amethyst15's review against another edition

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adventurous dark medium-paced

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

3.0

Should not be labeled as a YA book!

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mj_86's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional 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? Yes

4.25

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tacochelle's review against another edition

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challenging dark slow-paced

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

1.0

If there is one good thing about this book, it's that I felt compelled to take frequent breaks to read stuff that I knew I'd enjoy. Just because this book gives me a fucking headache. It's all the same problems I had with the first book but amplified. We bounce from scene to scene, always one big disaster after another with little to really connect it all together. Magic rulebreaking items like the starstick and the super duper healing potion are overused and abused. It makes the stakes so low despite the fucking war prepping and monster attacks. I don't care about the intricacies of aging between the different realms, Isla is barely an adult in a horny love triangle with two guys that are centuries older than her. It feels so gross. And what the fuck was that ending? That's not an ending to a book, that's a cliffhanger ending for chapters. I feel like I've wasted my time here.

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taryn_g's review against another edition

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adventurous tense medium-paced

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

2.0

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rosesofthespring's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

2.0

This book kind of broke my heart. I, stupidly, let myself get my hopes up. The majority of this novel is good. I mean - actually good. Way better than I ever thought it would be. I let myself pretend that Lightlark 1 was all a dream, and I was having myself a good, self-indulgent time.

Isla's back and she's all grown up. Or, at least, she's aware of the severity of her arrested development and she's grappling with some real unchecked PTSD. She's unraveling the ways she's been used and abused by the people who were supposed to be protecting her, but she doesn't have much time to hide away and heal her own trauma. Her people are starving, an entire second realm is suddenly depending on her, and war is coming to Lightlark.

For most of the book, the writing is compelling, the pacing is immaculate, and the characters are given time to develop and shine. There are many new and returning women who get the opportunity to be complex and interesting. Even Cleo gets a chance to be sympathetic, something that was staunchly denied her in the first novel.

Everything was going so well that for a single, shining moment, I even let myself believe that maybe the guy who is a walking red flag would turn out to be less than amazing. Maybe, I thought in my foolish mind, maybe Alex Aster will be bold enough to say that the man who is nice to Isla but cruel to everyone else is not nice. Maybe the man whose first resort is always violence, who brags about the thousands of people he's killed, who is willing to kill thousands more without bothering to attempt diplomacy... will end up being slightly less than desirable.

Like I said. I was stupid.

90% of this book threatens to be incredible. The last 10% returns the story to perfect, complacent YA predictability. Then there's the cliffhanger. Remember that pacing I complimented? Yeah, that's destroyed as well.

I don't know if I'll read the third one. Reading a bad book is one thing. Reading a book that gets my hopes up and then feeds them into a trash compactor while I'm forced to watch is quite another.

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