Reviews tagging 'Fire/Fire injury'

Valiant Ladies by Melissa Grey

11 reviews

amberinpieces's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious 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? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cursing, Sexism, Murder, Grief, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Classism, Alcohol, and Gun violence

Minor: Colonisation, Confinement, Fire/Fire injury, and Suicide

mirireads's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcohol, Blood, Physical abuse, Murder, Torture, Kidnapping, Confinement, Death, Injury/Injury detail, and Violence

Minor: Classism, Gun violence, Vomit, Cursing, Religious bigotry, Colonisation, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, and Forced institutionalization

3frenchtoast's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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? It's complicated

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Death, Kidnapping, and Violence

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury and Torture

Minor: Colonisation, Classism, and Alcohol

blewballoon's review

adventurous lighthearted tense fast-paced

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

3.0

I liked the story well enough, but I wasn't a big fan of the writing. I would probably rate this a 4 if the writing didn't take me out of the story so often. There were a lot of repeated lines used for descriptions of what people were doing, to the point that it stood out, and the dialogue was often clunky. The humor didn't land for me, it didn't fit with the setting and was oddly placed sometimes. I would say that I recommend this to young teen/pre-teen girls who think boys are icky, but there a fair amount of violence and murder.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence, Death, and Murder

Minor: Confinement, Suicide, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Sexual content, and Torture

radler's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Classism, Confinement, Cursing, Gore, Gun violence, Death, Kidnapping, Lesbophobia, Violence, Blood, Physical abuse, Body horror, Murder, Grief, Homophobia, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Pregnancy and Fire/Fire injury

betweentheshelves's review

adventurous mysterious 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

4.0

If you want a sapphic historical adventure, you've definitely got it in this book! I mistakenly thought this was a pirate book from the cover, but it's 100% not. It's about two girls who maybe (probably) love each other, and who want to get justice for those that might not otherwise have a voice.

There's a bit of murder mystery here, in addition to vigilantism. Kikki and Ana's voices were distinct enough, not to mention they had great chemistry. I loved them. I would definitely read more books about their adventures. And the fact that they're based on real historical figures? Even better.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Grief, and Violence

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Chronic illness, and Suicide

Minor: Abandonment, Sexual content, and Sexism

krysley's review against another edition

adventurous emotional medium-paced

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

4.0

Thank you to NetGalley and RB Media for allowing me to listen to this audiobook in exchange for an honest, unbiased opinion.

This is a fun romp of two teenage girls fighting back against the classism and sexism of 17th-century Potosí, Peru. Kiki and Ana are both strong characters in their own rights, but I thought Ana was the more interesting of the two. She faced a lot of hardship and seemed more layered than Kiki, who was young and rich though very sweet. 

While I really enjoyed the setting, sometimes the author would go a little overboard with various details. For example, it was reiterated over and over again how the girls' corsets dug into their ribs within a single scene. The same could be said about the beginning of the book when we're first introduced to Kiki and Ana. The young women's feelings for each other were written in a heavy-handed way to get the point across, rather than allowing it to unfurl throughout the story. While that heavy-handedness lightens up as the story moves along, it just made the beginning of the book seem unbalanced with the rest. 

As for the narration, Frankie Corzo and Almarie Guerra both perform beautifully throughout, nailing their character to perfection. My only complaint would be that when those performances are paired together, sometimes their voices were hard to distinguish between each other since they were similar in pitch. 

Overall, I really enjoyed listening to Valiant Ladies and my issues were minor when compared to the story as a whole. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Kidnapping, Murder, Suicide, Violence, Child abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, and Death

Minor: Sexism

frantically's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

3.75

I know, I know, books are about more than just the romance BUT this romance — damn. While the story felt so big and monumental, the romance was so precious. It felt exactly like all my sapphic romances have been, just two best friends slowly falling for each other. It's the rec string through the book, that keeps this characters going: their love for each other. To be honest, I wasn't even the biggest fan of the plot but this romance means so much to me <3

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Violence, Death, and Alcohol

Moderate: Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Fire/Fire injury, Classism, and Suicide

Minor: Death, Sexual content, and Abandonment

vaniavela's review against another edition

adventurous emotional 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? No

5.0

By day, young and correct ladies of the 17th century. By night, elegant vigilantes.

Positive aspects:

1. Being inspired by the real life Ladies Courageous of Potosi, I loved reading this story of two heroic girls falling in love and fighting the forces of evil.
2. The characters were so brave and determined in their own way, even though they come from different backgrounds.  I loved getting to know their unique ways of looking at the world.
3. The relationship between Kiki and Ana was powerful. To each other, their relationship was everything, and together they fought for what was right.

Negative Aspects:

1. I would have liked to have seen the romance develop on the page, instead of pushing all these feelings from the beginning. 
2. The dialogue felt more appropriate to current times. I'm not asking for really accurate words, as it would be tedious, but having dialogue resembling that century wouldn't have hurt anyone.
3. The setting did not feel like a 17th century Peruvian story. The details did not give us an authentic feel of the period.

rep: spanish-peruvian sapphic female mc, biracial dutch-peruvian (indigenous) lesbian female mc, spanish cishet male sc with gout who uses a walking aid, spanish and peruvian cast, mute peruvian female side character who uses sign language. 

 tw: alcohol consumption, blood, body horror, colonisation, cursing, death, grief, injury detail, kidnapping, lesbophobia/lesbomisia, misogyny,murder, sexism, suicide, violence, past death of parents, chronic illness, fire/explosion, forced institutionalization, gun violence, pregnancy mention, religious bigotry, sexual content. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Sexism, and Misogyny

Moderate: Gun violence, Fire/Fire injury, Chronic illness, Suicide, and Forced institutionalization

Minor: Sexual content, Pregnancy, and Death of parent

qraveline's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark hopeful mysterious fast-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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Emotional abuse, and Torture

Minor: Abandonment, Death, and Suicide