Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

Assistant to the Villain by Hannah Nicole Maehrer

71 reviews

slanderstar's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful lighthearted mysterious sad slow-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Terminal illness, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body horror and Torture

Minor: Child death, Misogyny, Sexual assault, and Death of parent

coldheartedbirch's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Death, Rape, Terminal illness, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

amyydarling's review against another edition

adventurous lighthearted medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death and Violence

Minor: Death of parent

laurenlee_'s review against another edition

adventurous fast-paced

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

3.5

This book was fun, some of the writing was sticky

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Sexual assault, and Violence

Minor: Death of parent

mindsplinters's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny 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

5.0

What a delightful romp!  What lovely, engaging characters!  What a laugh out loud adventure... that then went and broke my heart.  Gee, thanks a lot, Hannah.  Seriously, though, this book reads like the fluffiest kind of cozy fantasy for the most part and even the violence is kind of... cozy which might sound weird but there is a delicate kind of balance to the gore that puts it on the sunnier side of bloody comedy.  The plot is a bit light in places but it deepens as the book goes on, growing it from a grumpy-sunshine rom-com office sitcom to an increasingly complicated mystery.  (Mind you, I did see the traitor a few chapters ahead of time but that is because I read way too many mysteries and also I usually have a very suspicious approach to certain people shirking certain duties.)  The book ends with us still not quite knowing every bit of backstory and the greater Evil (or Not Evil?) Plot.  This is good because, frankly, I'm quite happy to return to Evie and The Villain and Rebecka and Blade and Tati and KINGSLEY for more romping... and beheading and scheduling and such.

Though I do sigh at how much more dreary my own job of being an admin assistant can be.  My boss is not nearly so intriguing.  LOL  Bring on the sequel!

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence and Murder

Minor: Animal cruelty, Sexual assault, and Death of parent

teawiththefates's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny

• Loveable characters? It's complicated

2.0

I’m not sure I can get on board with quite this level of villainy - like, he’s supposed to be both “I enjoy torturing people” evil but also adorable when he starts to smile around Evie. But he only tortures people who “deserve” it so I guess that’s supposed to make it palatable?? Because he’s secretly a softie. A softie who uses the decapitated rotting heads of his enemies as decor.

I get that the King is the real villain, just like another trusted person in Evie’s life turned out to be a villain (and I assume that will be followed up on more in the second book) but I can’t get on board with the level of behaviour Trystan was willing to stoop to. Like, even if he only tortured the guards who came to try and assassinate him, why have “Scatter Day” and needlessly torment the interns who are on his side?? I think it was supposed to be funny??? I think I identified the most with Clare, and her consistent distaste and disapproval of her brother’s choices. And notably all the torture and really awful bits are off screen so we don’t have to dwell too much on how dark Trystan actually gets.

I want to specify, there were things I did really like: all the side characters, especially Kingsley, are so fun. And I know for some people this was an issue, but I actually really enjoy a vaguely anachronistic fantasy world. I think that’s why I was so disappointed, because I couldn’t just enjoy the book whole heartedly.

I don’t know, I just really don’t think this book was for me. The worst part is, while there are many moments in this book I was disturbed that the reader is apparently supposed to be okay with, the main plot is interesting and I still want to know how the story ends. I may end up  hate-reading the sequel just to satisfy my need to find out, but if I do I won’t bother rating it as I don’t see any reason to penalize the author for my choosing to read a second book I know I’m going to have problems with.

I honestly wish I could have enjoyed this more but as it is I feel very conflicted, hence the 2 stars (a rating I use for books I find too problematic to recommend to others).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore and Violence

Moderate: Sexual assault, Torture, Trafficking, Murder, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Chronic illness, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, and Pandemic/Epidemic

culzean's review against another edition

dark emotional funny mysterious tense 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? It's complicated

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Body shaming, Child death, Cursing, Death, Gore, Sexual assault, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, War, and Injury/Injury detail

kittyklaws's review against another edition

adventurous dark medium-paced

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

3.0

It's fine but I can't be bothered to read the next book it started off as a romance which I was surprised by and there was character development I'm more interested in the world building then a lot of the characters. The plot does keep some mystery.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault

Minor: Death of parent

threadpanda's review against another edition

adventurous funny lighthearted mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• 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

Moderate: Sexual assault, Blood, and Murder

Minor: Death, Emotional abuse, Violence, and Death of parent

librarybookfamily's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious 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

5.0

Slow burn, morally gray characters, twists, magic and villain with a heart. 

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Chronic illness and Confinement

Minor: Child death and Death of parent

Attempted sexual assault and ptsd from that attempt