Reviews tagging 'Murder'

The Bone Shard Daughter by Andrea Stewart

38 reviews

jillyfitz's review

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

This book (and the whole series) is information-dense, so go in with your thinking caps on! There's a really unique magic system, questions of inheritance, mystery, political intrigue and unrest, examinations of class, environmental impacts of human behavior, and more. I'm really glad I was able to read all 3 books back-to-back because I don't know if I could have retained all the important information if I had to wait between books. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Physical abuse, Murder, Emotional abuse, and Violence

Minor: Genocide and Xenophobia

weareinheritors's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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? Yes

4.5

A slow start the quickly picked up about a quarter through. By the halfway mark I was downing the story as it progressed. And by the final quarter, I was burning through pages to figure out where the story was going 

Definitely recommend this book to anybody looking for a darker, non-romance fantasy story with lots of twists and turns.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Body horror, and Murder

Moderate: Kidnapping and Death of parent

srm's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective 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

4.0

Well written with an interesting premise and worldbuilding that I don't want to say too much about, because it was great to discover as I read. Although, I'm seriously worried by ship is dead in the water, darn it. But maybe not. As twisty as this is, it could still happen. *fingers crossed* 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Murder, Violence, and Blood

Minor: Confinement, Child death, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, and Animal cruelty

thoseoldcrows23's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious 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

4.0

 I really enjoyed this! I will say it feels like a first book. I can tell that Stewart has some big ideas for the story, and a lot of this book's time is spent trying to hurriedly get piece into place. As a result, the pacing is a little off, and some of the relationship dynamics between characters feel rushed; however, Stewarts writing is super engaging, the world/magic is cool and unique, and the story is playing with some of my favorite tropes. I think there's room for this series to be something really special, and I'm looking forward to continuing. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Death, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Animal cruelty, Grief, Blood, Confinement, Child death, War, Kidnapping, and Murder

Moderate: Gore and Body horror

I'm not sure how to label it (I went ahead and tagged gore and body horror, but that's not exactly it), but the magic system here is bone magic so there's a lot of death-adjacent stuff going on with that. I didn't find it to be particularly graphic or icky, but you know...it's bone magic.

carolineg's review

dark emotional hopeful mysterious 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? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, and Murder

alexijai98's review

adventurous 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? It's complicated

4.25

Love a story where LGBT characters get to just be part of the world!! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Death, Kidnapping, Murder, Child death, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Gaslighting, and Gore

Moderate: Xenophobia

alexalily's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Terminal illness, Blood, Body horror, Confinement, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, Death, Slavery, Xenophobia, Murder, Physical abuse, Trafficking, and Violence

Minor: Animal death, Child death, Stalking, Gaslighting, Torture, Child abuse, and Medical content

sammyy_3's review

adventurous dark hopeful inspiring mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood and Gore

Moderate: Child death and Murder

gardens_and_dragons's review

adventurous dark mysterious 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Blood, Physical abuse, and Death

Moderate: Murder, Body horror, and Confinement

alphabetseeds's review

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? It's complicated

3.5

 I'm wavering between a 3 and a 4. This is a good debut - juggling so many POVs can be a challenge. It had a slow start, and because my life was pretty busy, it didn't immediately grab my attention. I was around 1/3 of the way in when I started getting into the groove of the story and became more invested in the various characters and their story arcs. However, the climaxes of each story arc felt a little... rushed? Things happened neatly, for lack of a better term (though people who have read know that there's no bloodless rebellion).

I'm intrigued by the "smaller" mysteries of

construct island

and 

what the heck is Mephi

and 

who even is Jovis, anyway

but the larger mystery of the ancient, long-dead race whose ruins are everywhere perhaps reawakening... that has my attention.

I think what brings this down closer to a 3 for me is that 

is everyone a flipping construct

Because that just raises more questions, and currently, it feels a little like 

the Cylon problem in Battlestar Galactica

. But I'm hoping that things will become clearer and stronger as the trilogy continues. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal cruelty and Murder

Minor: Blood