Reviews with content warning for Gore - Furyborn

Reviews tagging 'Gore'

Furyborn by Claire Legrand

14 reviews

akswhy's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

Solid start to a fantasy trilogy. Lots of lore and texture to keep up with, but the plot of the older timeline makes it easy to get up to speed. Love the dual timeline structure.

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kitkatkatdog's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional tense fast-paced

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

3.5

Meh. I love Rielle, and she might be the only reason I continue. Eliana just doesn’t hit the same. But the last few chapters she started to get me so we’ll see if she grows on me in the next one. Also, holy shit, Angels? Did not expect that.

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volanscore's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-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

4.25

Furyborn was so amazing in nearly every aspect. It was really a unique take on the all-powerful saviour trope and Rielle’s chapters were a delight to read. I can say i did enjoy Eliana’s chapters, but U wasn’t a fan of the character herself which would be alright if U wasn’t subjected to her subtle genocidal mindset. Referring to refugees as the ‘living dead’ and making them seem a waste of time, being responsible for 5he death of a child, and wanted to slap an old woman made me absolutely sick of Eliana, even if she is to undergo development, which she doesn’t in the first book at all really. The whole Simon x Eliana romance spark at the end was so random because it was born from him telling her that he was 8 and helped her escape Corien when she was a newborn???? Not to mention, Eliana thought about stabbing Simon every 5 lines so her very sudden shift in opinion of the man instead of something more coherent and gradual was also not to my taste. Despite this, I had such a fun reading experience!

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meredith_williams_'s review against another edition

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adventurous dark 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

3.75

I’ve had this book on my TBR for awhile and finally decided to give it a try. The beginning was a bit slow and some of the world building was a bit confusing. However, the story eventually picks up and I ended up enjoying it. The dual timeline was especially intriguing. I feel it made the mystery aspect more engaging and allows the reader to sympathize with both main characters even as they becoming increasingly more morally gray.

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modernathos's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious tense 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

2.5

I have to be honest, I almost DNF'd this book multiple times purely because it started out as such a drag. It's a five-hundred-pages-long brick of a book and should have been about three hundred pages shorter, because that's how long it took for the plot to finally pick up properly. I do have to be honest and say that, once the plot did pick up, I was hooked until the end. But on to the actual book now.

I quite liked Eliana as a character. The writing of her perspective at the start of the book showed how indoctrinated into her society she is really well and it was fascinating to read how she justifies some of the things she does, as unacceptable as they may be. It was also a good writer's choice to not have her morality make a 180 when she is literally face to face with the consequences of her actions. However, that is about where the logical character development ended for me. Legrand set up some beautiful storylines and relationships - Navi and Remy's friendship, Eliana and The Wolf's eventual friendship - but those were either thrown away or rushed. Additionally, Eliana's deal with The Wolf felt weird and forced. For someone who was willing to go to horrific lengths and had such faith in her repuation and importance to her society, she was very quick to turn her back on that same society and make a deal with a man who she had absolutely zero reason to trust. To summerize, a lot of the character development in this book felt forced and weird, especially on Eliana's side.

cw/tw: talk of NSFW and non-consent
Every moment that the characters were engaged in sexual activities or anything adjacent to it was, in my opinion, either too graphic or completely unnecessary. I mostly don't have any problem with sex, but it was mostly unnecessary to the plot and a bit too graphic for a book that classifies as Young Adult (12 - 18). Legrand should have especially been more careful with the way she describes certain sections that were either explicitly or assumably non-consensual but were described as fine. Again, Furyborn classifies itself as Young Adult, which means it is aimed primarily at minors, most of which will be just starting to explore their sexuality and comfort/discomfort and so might think that certain sections in the book are okay while they are not. This is just plain dangerous.

Also, except for one, maybe two times, the sex didn't add anything to the plot or characters except to show that 90% percent of the characters are predators, so in YA book it would have been better to just leave those sections out.

Finally,

Rielle and Audric having a relationship in which Audric is so loyal to her and risking everything while he is betrothed to Ludivine, while Rielle is horny for Corien is really fucked up

. In conclusion, the sexual parts of this book generally made me quite uncomfortable.
end of content/trigger warning

Will I read the rest of the series? Yes, I will, because the worldbuilding and main plot is generally quite good, if fairly poorly executed, and Legrand have a pleasant and enjoyable writing style. I really hope the 1100 pages the next to books take up combined will be worth it.

Rep: gay characters (MLM).
February 7th, 2023 - March 9th, 2023.

"Have you always been this unspeakably irritating?"
"Has your face always looked so temptingly carvable?"

"Belief doesn't keep you alive."
"But, given time, it can win wars."

"I have heard rumors of what is done to them, these missing girls, and I hope my daughter is safely dead."

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aoife_taylors_version2413's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful 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

5.0

I LOVED this book so much!! It is so worth it. In my top five greatest books of all time and probably has the 1st place spot.

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oliverreeds's review against another edition

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adventurous tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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eve_reads'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? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Overall Thoughts:
⁕ I usually don't enjoy dual point of views, but Legrand does it so well. The chapters are relatively short and almost every single one ends on a cliff hanger, so I was completely hooked from start to finish. I truly don't think there was one moment I was bored.

⁕ There is zero info dumping in this book, but it did take me almost 300 pages to get a firm grasp on the important historical and religious context of the world. I really hope the next 2 books in the series further grows upon this knowledge.

⁕ Legrand starts each chapter entry with a journal/text/letter excerpt that is dated with months from the Gregorian calendar. I really wish she had devised her own system for time/date keeping because this was a really small and easy detail that detracted from the world-building.

⁕ SPOILER: The magical kingdom(s) that this story take place in exists largely outside of heteronormative, patriarchal society. LGBTQ+ and women characters are in positions of power without being questioned or explained as "outside of the norm." WHY THEN does Legrand make a point to highlight that the "crawlers" (Frankenstein monsters born from the experiments of the Empire) are made of mutilated women and girls that were stolen?! Without any further exploration or discussion?! I'm still trying to find the words as to why this made me feel so icky but it did.

⁕ To whoever labeled this book as a YA on Goodreads and Storygraph: Why?!?! There are brutal beheadings of children, assault, body horror/experimentation, and at least one sex scene. I'm not complaining (especially since the author expertly used these moments to explore themes of morality, loyalty, and survival), but I think a lot of audiences looking for mature reads might accidentally pass this one over because of false advertising.

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lanid's review against another edition

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adventurous dark tense

Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

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fierceandlittle's review against another edition

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adventurous dark 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? Yes

3.0

It was a little difficult to keep everything straight throughout the story and I feel like some things were left unexplained. It’s also important to note that this book switches points of view and time periods every chapter. I felt that it wasn’t the best choice to do so and that it would have been better to have 2 separate books with both POV as their own book. That way it could go into more detail and it might have been easier to keep things straight.

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