Reviews tagging 'Murder'

Heartless Hunter by Kristen Ciccarelli

61 reviews

morethanmylupus's review

adventurous medium-paced

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

2.0

I picked this one up for on one of my book clubs. I wanted to love it, but it just wasn't for me. I started out excited because I haven't read much witch/witch hunter fantasy and I liked the feminist themes. However, I found the characters mostly frustrating. Gideon, our MMC, was a caricature level of stubborn and Rune was absurdly naive given what she's involved in. The romance was lukewarm at best and unconvincing. We get all the usual YA fantasy tropes here so it was predictable, but I was expecting that. I struggled with the way a character reflected on their sexual abuse too. And then, at the end, my favorite character (largely because it's the only one that really had any depth at all)

was killed off! Ugh.

I don't think I'll be picking up the rest of this series.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Violence, and Murder

belala's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious sad tense 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Hate crime, Murder, Violence, Death, and War

doahdancer's review

dark emotional mysterious sad 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

This is going to be my dark horse of 2024. I was expecting only 25% of the amazing story that was delivered. This has epic enemies to lovers, amazing plot twists, yearning, spice, a well designed magic system... when a reviewer I trust DNF'd this book I seriously questioned if I should bother, but as usual, letting myself make up my own mind was the best choice.

Hard disagree with this being labeled YA. This is solidly NA as the themes are intense. Mind the TWs, but barring those, run, don't walk, to read this book.

Sequel coming Feb 2025.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Violence, Torture, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Rape, Toxic relationship, Death, Confinement, Gaslighting, Grief, Sexual assault, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, and Child death

caitlinspeachyreads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.5

I struggled to put this book down, I wanted to read it at every free second! I will be thinking of the characters a lot, ugh hurry up February 2025….

I cannot think properly after that ending….what, why, how? I guessed the big twist, but there are clues throughout the book. Now I have to wait 7-8 months to find out what happens…

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Blood, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Violence, Grief, Gun violence, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Police brutality, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Physical abuse, Slavery, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Death of parent, Drug use, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Sexual content, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Torture, and Rape

madison_mls's review

adventurous mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder and Blood

pkm48's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense 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? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Blood

Moderate: Hate crime, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Bullying, Murder, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Death of parent, Death, Emotional abuse, Addiction, Blood, Child death, and Gun violence

Minor: Cursing, Suicide, and Torture

bibliodiaries's review against another edition

adventurous emotional sad 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

There was a lot to this book that was easy to guess which made it a little less fun to read. The magic was interesting but I still feel like there is more too it than was explained. I like the characters, the relationships made sense as well as their motivations. The world felt both familiar and Victorian as well as completely new. I wish there had been more from Gedions POV. I felt like his experiences added a ton to the story. If only we could have had an Alex POV too. The storytelling was so good I couldn't put the book down and finished it in a day.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, War, and Murder

Moderate: Addiction

ewatt33's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious fast-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Murder, and Blood

Moderate: Alcoholism, Sexual assault, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Death of parent

mr05e's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.75

This book had a great set up to be an amazing story, but it ended up falling short for me. 

The world-building didn’t seem very well thought out. Some of the details made it sound like it was a Victorian-inspired fantasy story, but then the author uses words like “leggings,” “bralette,” “sundress,” and “hooded sweater” (what’s wrong with just a cloak 🥹). Those parts would take me right out of the story. 

I also wish Rune was given more time to shine as a vigilante-witch! It’s just explained that she has saved a bunch of witches from prison and helped them escape. I wanted  part of the plot to be her saving people and being a badass. It’s a lot of talking about what her plan is and her internal struggle as a witch in hiding. Just wish there was more of her taking action/vigilantism to supplement her internal conflict. 

The plot twist with

Verity actually being Cressida in disguise

was a bit predictable so I found myself wanting the characters to hurry up and get with the program.

And sadly, I think we all knew Alex wasn’t going to be long for this world, the enemies to lovers plot is obviously going to favor the enemies lmao

 

The  enemies to lovers aspect of this romantasy was solid, probably the best part of the book. A little more “cat and mouse” action would’ve made it even better (aka more scenes where Gideon and Rune interact as blood guard vs crimson moth,

like when he sets up the trap in the mines

). I feel like it would’ve added more interest to their enemies dynamic. And once we get to the actual “lovers” part of the trope

it was well written: good balance of angst, consent, communication, intimacy, and spice that definitely made the way they parted ways at the end more emotional as opposed to just being fanservice-y

 

📚TLDR: Good enemies to lovers plot, just wished the characters and the world they are in were fleshed out better—more “show” and less “tell”.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Violence, Sexual violence, and Murder

Moderate: Drug abuse, Alcoholism, Death, Blood, Gun violence, and Sexual assault

Minor: War

Male victim of sexual/emotional/physical abuse

saretta02's review against another edition

adventurous emotional tense medium-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: Blood, Death, Emotional abuse, and Murder

Moderate: Child death, Sexual content, Torture, Grief, Physical abuse, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury