Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

Arrow's Fall by Mercedes Lackey

6 reviews

rainbowdragonz's review

adventurous dark emotional hopeful tense fast-paced

• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

 I cried so much throughout this book. There's not much I can say without spoilers except its a beautiful and tragic ending to a brilliant series. This book really touches my heart. I also love how it echo's the prophecy given in Arrows Flight. You need to read the this series it's soo good! And once you've read this, if you want to cry all over again listen to the songs Trio and Battle Dawn by Mercedes Lackey.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Torture, Sexual violence, Suicide attempt, War, Physical abuse, Grief, Kidnapping, and Confinement

Moderate: Self harm, Sexual assault, Slavery, and Rape

kay1212's review

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

1.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Sexual assault, Rape, Physical abuse, Torture, and Violence

Minor: Child death

seanml's review

adventurous dark sad medium-paced

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

3.25

Well, I don't know. It's been a strange series. Mercedes really was just doing her thing. She wanted her magical kingdoms, her magic horses that you can talk to, a bizarre love triangle, and a sudden dive into some very dark places with no euphemisms. She presents the events of the book to you in complete earnest - yet the series is still written like a YA series for 12 year olds! Also I'm glad I didn't read the blurb on the back because the stuff that it talks about happens over halfway through the book. It's like if the New Testament had a blurb on the back starting with "The prophet is put to death!" All I can say is that 1980s fantasy - before the appearance of the big series that would become beloved new classics, but after the standard set 50 years earlier by Tolkien - is a wild place to be. 6.5/10.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Sexual assault, Torture, Death, Murder, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, and Violence

Moderate: Confinement, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Mental illness, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and War

Minor: Gore and Vomit

bibliophile1's review

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad 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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death, Blood, Child abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Torture, Violence, and War

I listed a lot of trigger warnings because these themes/scenes do exist in this book. However, the focus is always on how the main character feels emotionally about what’s going on, so the physical descriptions of these events are mentioned but are glossed over; no really in-depth details. The author wants you to know the heroine is suffering, but the overall theme is about overcoming adversity and belief in something greater than oneself.

bookishinsomniac's review against another edition

adventurous dark slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

3.0

            The final book in the Heralds of Valdemar trilogy, Arrow’s Fall was a bit disappointing to me. Talia is now a full-fledged herald and as the Queen’s Own, she steps into a world of responsibility while trying to maintain her friendships with the other heralds. 

            Pros: 

·      Talia- Once again Talia is the highlight of the book, and her abilities and strength are the most likeable things about it. 

·      Enemies- At least in this book there were solid enemies that you could actively root against and a real battle scene. 

Cons: 

·      Pacing- The pacing in this book is just so awkward. The first half is so slow with no action at all. While some build up is needed it’s just extreme, and then suddenly there is more action than can be written in such a short amount of time. Without spoiling anything, horrific things are just dropped into the story so quickly and non-descriptly that I had to read it twice to believe it even happened. 

·      The romance- Beyond being a slow burn, it also moved ridiculously slowly. It was like Talia and Dirk didn’t speak then suddenly they were madly in love. If the life bond was the cause of that, it would’ve been nice to have that explained a little more in depth. 

 

I’m giving Arrow’s Fall 3/5 stars because I did read it in basically one sitting and I will continue on with the Valdemar books, it just didn’t quite live up to my expectations. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape and Sexual assault

inferiorwit's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Alcohol, Blood, Confinement, Death, Violence, Torture, Suicide attempt, Murder, Sexism, Misogyny, Medical content, Grief, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Sexual violence, Sexual assault, and Rape

Minor: Death of parent and Pregnancy