Reviews tagging 'Gore'

Divine Rivals by Rebecca Ross

85 reviews

myahthebookfiend's review

adventurous dark emotional funny inspiring mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

A good book. Really. I throughly enjoyed the storyline, characters, and romance. In all honesty, I have zero critiques, but that might be the problem. I like a book that's not perfect, and although I wouldn't go so far to say this book was perfect, it maybe fell a little short from my expectations. Everyone, and I mean everyone, talked this book up everywhere, swearing it was the best story ever. While it was great, I can't say it was the most amazing literature to grace my eyes. But yeah, I adored the writing and concept, so there isn't much wrong. I suppose the only thing "wrong" is a feeling I have. Kind of hard to explain that.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Child death, Violence, War, Blood, and Death

Moderate: Emotional abuse

saskiahill's review against another edition

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Abandonment, Blood, Car accident, Gore, Child death, Death of parent, Grief, War, Death, Gun violence, and Medical content

gpfot's review

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Gore, War, Grief, Addiction, Alcoholism, Blood, Alcohol, Death, Death of parent, Cursing, and Abandonment

abicaro17's review

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

Holy shit..... Well Rebecca Ross it's on sight girl! Iris is a reporter competing for a columnist spot against fellow reporter, Roman. As Iris writes letter to her brother who's away at war, she tucks them away inside her closet. These letter end up in the hands of her rival, Roman, who begins to write her back. As war tears across the country and propaganda and misinformation reigns supreme, Iris and Roman create a magical friendship through letters. I adore this story! It's just magical enough to be not realistic but not too crazy as to be hard to understand and follow. Iris is a strong and yet logical and likable character. She makes normal choices and thinks through her issues before jumping into action. Roman is adorable and this conclusion makes me mad af. Like gotta go read Ruthless Vows brb. My only issue with this book is that the start is slow and the world building isn't explained very well until later. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Body horror, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Murder, Toxic relationship, Child abuse, Misogyny, Slavery, Alcoholism, Classism, Child death, Death, Kidnapping, Medical content, Blood, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Genocide, Addiction, Vomit, War, Alcohol, Violence, Gore, and Sexual content

renee_fae's review

adventurous dark emotional lighthearted 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War

Moderate: Violence

Minor: Death of parent, Grief, Gore, and Blood

kermittuesday's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful 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

4.0

Used the word raiment far too much. Just say clothes every once in a while. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War

Moderate: Medical content, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, Blood, and Grief

Minor: Child death, Sexual content, Alcoholism, and Vomit

Despite the amount of triggers I listed, this is not a horror book but it does involve war so it has this stuff. The sexual content is very minimal but because it’s a YA book, you might want to know it’s there.

amy_in_the_city's review

dark emotional sad 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? No

4.75

I loved the epistolary elements of this book, and the writing was absolutely beautiful! The love story felt very Pride & Prejudice-inspired. I liked the setting, but I thought there could have been a bit more worldbuilding. The fantasy elements (other than the magic typewriters and Kitt's magic house) felt too abstract. I don't feel like I got a good sense of the gods and the monsters, but I'm assuming that will be explored more in the sequel. Still, for most of the book, I felt like I was just reading a WWI historical novel instead of a different fantasy world inspired by WWI. I didn't understand the main characters' decision to

stay and defend the town even though they were not soldiers and had no fighting training or equipment. They didn't accomplish anything at all by staying, so the decision felt contrived for plot reasons.

. Another thing that seemed contrived for plot reasons is

Forest not revealing himself sooner and instead deciding that waiting to kidnap Iris during battle was the best course of action.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, War, Grief, Blood, Death of parent, Death, Classism, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Violence

Moderate: Car accident, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Child death, and Medical content

Minor: Sexual content and Stalking

annabananadel's review

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.75

“I think we all wear armor. I think those who don’t are fools, risking the pain of being wounded by the sharp edges of the world, over and over again. But if I’ve learned anything from those fools, it is that to be vulnerable is a strength most of us fear. It takes courage to let down your armor, to welcome people to see you as you are. Sometimes I feel the same as you: I can’t risk having people behold me as I truly am. But there’s also a small voice in the back of my mind, a voice that tells me, “You will miss so much by being so guarded.” 

This is worth the hype for sure. I can see why people kept picking this book up and recommending it because it really is an amazing story. It's been awhile since I read a YA romance fantasy and even though I usually steer clear from YAs, I've been brought in by the book community to try this book. I wasn't disappoint. Although it was slow at first - duh! It's world building so it not unusual, but I would have loved for the world to be built more. I did not really have the backstory of the world and how it came to be. I think that's what made me slow in the beginning but once I've hit a quarter of the story, it was just smooth sailing from there. I was just immediately hooked.

I love the war setting where this couple should conquer war for their love or something in that sense. I love the banters and I really wish there was more of it. I love the typewriter form of communication and how these two just write the loveliest letters to each other. It makes a lot of sense why they wouldn't fall for each other. The side characters and their stories as well was a good addition to the book. I really do love the story and was just devastated for the last quarter of the book where I just need to know what happened to the main characters. I wish the twist at the end had been made a little bit more sense but that's just me, I guess. I was heart broken for that last 50 pages and I'm so glad I bought the next book last weekend.

(Please let it be a fast reunion between Roman and Iris.)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Gore, Gun violence, Violence, and War

Moderate: Death of parent, Grief, Medical trauma, and Blood

Minor: Vomit

knunderb's review against another edition

dark emotional fast-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? No

3.0

The premise was really interesting and I liked the characters. However, I thought the first half and second half felt like two different books. I also felt like the lore wasn't really fleshed out.

also, it made no sense to me why Iris went with Forrest after he choked her and left Roman for dead, especially when he wouldn't explain anything to her.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore and War

Minor: Sexual content

cait's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective 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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Abandonment, Blood, Grief, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Slavery, Violence, War, Alcohol, Classism, Medical content, Gore, Gun violence, Addiction, Alcoholism, Injury/Injury detail, Vomit, Death, and Death of parent