Reviews tagging 'Death'

Among the Beasts & Briars by Ashley Poston

21 reviews

maregred's review

adventurous dark hopeful lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Blood, Death, Death of parent, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, and Body horror

tinkeringcheck's review

adventurous 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

3.75

A fantastic concept with lovely fairy tale-esque descriptions and a very fun main character in Fox. I found his voice delightful and his perspective as - well - a fox very well thought through in how it affected his narration. I also found his internal struggles felt real and oddly relatable. It was nice to see characters in fantasy who struggle with fear and anxiety still feel scared and anxious while trying to do the right thing anyway. Overall, I really enjoyed my time with this book! 

However, it was younger YA than I was expecting and mechanically there were some things that would've lowered my overall opinion if they hadn't been surrounded by such an enjoyable package. The other main character POV - Cerys - felt underdeveloped and one-note next to Fox. The plot twists are walloped over your head well in advance and, personally, I felt they were a bit of a downgrade for plotting and characterization as well. There's also a climax-to-epilogue time skip that will probably leave some feeling like too much denouement was left off the page.

I still feel that the sparkling characters, fairy tale setting, and the lovely but fast-flowing prose made this a fun and worthwhile read. But I wish I'd have known to adjust my expectations to younger YA plotting and character depth going into it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Body horror, Death, and Blood

ash_ton's review

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

4.75

i loved it. super cute and fun.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Body horror, Death, and Violence

Moderate: Animal death and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Genocide and Medical content

mandathebiblio's review

adventurous hopeful fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Blood, Violence, Self harm, and Death of parent

Moderate: Child death

book_siren's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious sad medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Body horror, and Death of parent

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Death of parent, Dementia, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, War, Body horror, Abandonment, Murder, Violence, Confinement, Death, Genocide, and Kidnapping

ellajappinen's review

adventurous lighthearted 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? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent and Death

Moderate: Blood and Gore

studiomikarts's review

I just can't continue reading. The book is in desperate need of a good copy editor and a decent developmental editor. The silly typos and repetitive wording are amateurish (most recent example, on page 78, a knot forms in the protagonist's throat and a couple lines later, she feels anxiety "like a knot in my throat" as if the first knot didn't exist? or it disappeared immediately? or there's a double knot?) and the protagonist's unbelievable obliviousness is unendearing (

in a world where magic is the norm, and in a forest where supposedly no human lives, she doesn't put two and two together when her fox suddenly disappears and a naked man stands before her with the same colored eyes and hair as that fox?

). I'm going to move on; life is too short to read bad books. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood and Body horror

Moderate: Death, Injury/Injury detail, and Gore

Minor: Death of parent and Child death

iamkallia's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful mysterious 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? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Body horror, Death, and Death of parent

Minor: Animal death and Animal cruelty

brookey8888's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious fast-paced

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

4.0

I really enjoyed this. I didn’t guess a plot twist in the first like three pages of the book but that didn’t bother me. I just really liked our characters. I thought they were funny and I really like the chemistry I’m a fucker for romance. I felt the story was interesting and kept me engaged. It kind of reminded me of the bone houses but better. I also love the diversity for sexuality’s in this. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Sexism, Violence, Animal cruelty, Blood, Body horror, Child death, Fire/Fire injury, and Animal death

theespressoedition's review against another edition

adventurous fast-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? It's complicated

3.0

This is one of those books where I had to rethink my rating when I finally pulled up this page to write my review. I sat here staring at the screen, trying to remember what the book was even about. I remember enjoying it primarily for the vibes, but considering the fact that I listened to the entire audiobook in the course of a day, you'd think I would be able to recall much more about the plot and characters.

So I bumped it down from 4 stars to 3. Because I do remember that I liked it. But clearly, I didn't love it enough to rave about it right now. I can't even pull the character names from my memory, for some reason.

I will say that I enjoyed this more than Ashley's contemporary romance. I think fantasy is her sweet spot! It was whimsical, a little dark, with a touch of romance, and fun lore. 

Maybe I'll bring this back to read it again at some point so I can write a better review than this one. Oof. I'm slightly embarrassed.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

Moderate: Cursing and Gore