Reviews tagging 'Animal death'

The Storm Crow by Kalyn Josephson

12 reviews

youarethelibrarian's review

adventurous challenging 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? Yes

3.5

This was good for a debut fantasy. I thought the character development for Ericen was well-done, but Caylus’ development wasn’t enough to

warrant the romance with Thia. It felt forced, and unnecessary.

I really liked the first third of the book that let us see and experience Thia’s depression, but it didn’t seem true to the story that she was able to shake it off just because the stakes got high enough. 

I also felt that we needed more information about the crows and Thia’s kingdom in the story, instead of in the back of the book as additional, almost glossary-type information. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Death of parent and Animal death

bratt713's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring sad 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Animal death, Violence, and Death of parent

Minor: Bullying, Abandonment, and Death

indigosparrow's review against another edition

adventurous emotional tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Torture, Emotional abuse, Animal death, Colonisation, Death of parent, Child abuse, and Death

Moderate: Infidelity and Murder

Minor: Panic attacks/disorders, Alcohol, and Misogyny

bura510's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful mysterious 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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Mental illness, Death of parent, Grief, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: War, Blood, and Animal death

robin_reads's review against another edition

adventurous emotional 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? No

4.0

The world building is very well done. It's a very unique setting with the Crows providing magic that helps the country and its people to live and thrive. 
Minus points for the love triangle and little things that bother me in a lot of YA books of this kind. The romance doesn't feel like one. 
The narration of the audiobook by Robin Miles is pretty awesome. Very passionate and easy to listen to. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Death of parent, Grief, and War

Moderate: Blood, Bullying, and Animal death

imaginingly's review

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? It's complicated

5.0

literally my new favorite book. there are bipoc characters, lgbt+ characters, the book deals with depression and anxiety from the main character’s point of view, deals with grief and death of loved ones, and just—so much
there is very mild romance which i loved 
the character development is *chefs kiss* and the entire plot revolving around crows (as i’m a bird lover to start with) is astonishing

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Mental illness, Death, Grief, Physical abuse, and Violence

Moderate: Death of parent, Animal death, Blood, Genocide, Murder, Torture, and War

egurgens's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring 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? It's complicated

4.75

I love the world Kalyn Josephson wove for this story. There are different nations, all with their own gods, their own culture, and characteristics.  Aris is a beautiful city, with different sectors that favor different industries and crows. There are different types of crow, all with their specific kind of magic; wind, shadow, battle, water, earth, storm, fire, and sun. However, 'everything changed when the fire nation attacked." Haha, jk, although Illucia DID use fire to

destroy the crows.

In an attempt to keep the peace, Thia's sister, the new queen, promises her to Illucia as a bride to marry the heir, Ericen. 

Ericen is a masterpiece in my opinion; one part ice and loyalty, one part fire and rebellion, and the rest is a mess, since he doesn't know what he wants from this war. He's just a softie with a tough shell, and I adore him. I also adore Caylus, all PTSD and mismatched sweaters and science and baking. 

There is so much political drama: a mad, blood hungry queen vs the trained Crow rider who has to face the wrath of the mad queen to save her country... or does she? Thia found a storm crow egg in the ruins of the roost, and decides to try and raise it to rally her country and fight back against the Illucian oppressors. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Colonisation, Death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, Slavery, Torture, Violence, War, and Mental illness

Moderate: Abandonment, Body shaming, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, and Kidnapping

mitone_winona's review

adventurous emotional hopeful sad 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

3.25

Two thing's I love about this book, the magical crows and the diversity of kingdom's. The character's of the book aren't necessarily bad or frowned upon, but I will admit the author took the quick approach of "YA lead girl who is traumatized falls in love super quick with a nerdy boy who is genuinely nice but has infatuation for the prince she is engaged to that is from the kingdom that destroyed her own and has talked mess on her people and kingdom but dismisses that more and more" which is pretty annoying because it happens quick due to the pace of the book going fast. I would recommend this as a usual YA read for anyone who wants to pass the time but the weird pseudo-romance triangle isn't anything new or unique, just the usual bleh factor from most YA author's.

I will say however, I do adore Thia and her sister's dynamic in the book and how mental illness and PTSD/Trauma is addressed in the book and how Thia acknowledges her mother, the queen, has created a chain reaction of mistakes but is willing to go forward to fixing them.

Overall, a good book with great lore! Just a bad romance sub plot going on that went too fast.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Violence, Death of parent, Death, and Animal death

Moderate: Grief, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, and Child abuse

thewildmageslibrary's review

adventurous emotional mysterious tense

4.5

I read this with the Wick and Jane book club and really enjoyed it! I love books with human/animal bonds so this was an automatic win. The way depression was handled in this book felt so authentic (and heartbreaking). Thia and Kiva's friendship gave me all the feels, too! And I just want Kiva to have a happy, sapphic love story! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Mental illness, and Violence

Moderate: Death of parent, Animal death, and Murder

melaniereadsbooks's review

adventurous dark 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

4.5

I loved this book! For me, the best part about it was how it dealt with Thia's mental health. She clearly has depression and PTSD from the events of Ronoch, and it is not slid under the rug, or ignored, or mysteriously solved by the appearance of a cute boy.  It keeps coming back, and tripping her up, even though she is trying, and working, and slowly getting better.

I also really loved the side characters in this book! Kiva is great, as well as Caylus, and of course the crows!

The magic system is super interesting. I wish that we had been able to see more of it in this book, but I look forward to reading about it more in the sequel.

Definitely recommend!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Animal death, Death of parent, Death, Violence, Blood, Grief, Torture, Physical abuse, and Murder

Moderate: Xenophobia, Gore, Kidnapping, and Infidelity

Minor: Self harm