Reviews tagging 'Animal cruelty'

Empire of the Damned by Jay Kristoff

4 reviews

booksalacarte's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense fast-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

4.75

Empire of the damned- 4.75⭐️ 3🌶️

Dark Epic Fantasy

Second book

Vampires

Dual POV

Storytelling narration

Catholic inspired religion

War

🏳️‍🌈 representation

Character recap!!!

My confusion is why the first 2 sections of this book weren’t included in the first book. It would have been a full arc of a story. The break in storytelling would have been very natural due to where “book 3” starts/picks up. But I understand the shift in narration necessary to go onto section 3… interesting.

But putting that aside, I loved this book!! It was a great second book that didn’t suffer the sophomore slump. I was engaged and invested and excited for what was revealed through this part of the story. I really enjoy Jay Kristoff’s writing style. I was worried about the addition of a second storyteller, but it worked out!

Messy characters make me love it even more. Give me all the drama and messy relationships/friendships. Make me gasp. And this author delivers. I enjoyed side characters becoming main players.

The things that I didn’t enjoy include misogyny  standard to European medieval feudalism centered around religious orthodoxy. If you thought a book that was inspired by medieval Catholic Europe was going to be without it being present, I don’t know what to tell you. But it’s there, it’s never fun to have to read in excess. But it’s an adult fantasy, with cursing and I get.

Thank you NetGalley and St Martin’s Press for the eARC of sections 1 & 2 of this book. All opinions are my own.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Alcohol, Cursing, Gaslighting, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Misogyny, Cannibalism, Classism, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Grief, Torture, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Miscarriage, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Trafficking, and War

charles237's review

challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Animal death, Slavery, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Adult/minor relationship, Cursing, War, Sexism, Body horror, Trafficking, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Grief, Physical abuse, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Sexual violence, Religious bigotry, Sexual harassment, Addiction, and Abandonment

itisnatal's review

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Slavery, Torture, Grief, War, Animal cruelty, Confinement, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, and Sexual violence

magyklyxdelish's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

5.0

This book left me shattered and reeling from a cliffhanger and now I have to wait for the final one?? Ughhhhh 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, and War