Reviews tagging 'Sexual violence'

Arrow's Fall by Mercedes Lackey

6 reviews

ourladyofsocks's review

adventurous dark emotional inspiring sad tense fast-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? No

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, War, Sexual violence, and Torture

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

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

graff_fuller's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

This was a fitting conclusion to this first trilogy. 

I would consider book one: Arrows of the Queen as a YA novel. The protagonist is young (around 13 years old) and the story is a coming of age story.

In the second book: Arrow's Flight...we see a transition, but still it is relatively a YA book with slight more adult themes (which I actually liked).

This third book is truly an adult book, with VERY adult themes. Some might not like that I've said it this way, but I really believe that the arc of Talia has been VERY well done, indeed.

The YA and Adult attributions are different in each person, publisher, author...so take what I say with a grain of salt. I am NOT the intended audience of this book, being a male, 57 years old...and reading this book 35 years after it was published.

There are scenes in this book that were truly hard to read. There are some triggers in this book (which will be noted at the bottom). BUT, with that said...it was incredibly well done.

I had a hard time getting "into" the story at the beginning,  but by the end...I couldn't put it down.

I hope others have enjoyed this story as much as I have. I don't know when, but I'd like to futher read in this world.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Torture, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Murder, Animal death, Violence, Death, and Suicide attempt

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.

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