Reviews tagging 'Child death'

A Court This Cruel and Lovely by Stacia Stark

6 reviews

knottygeek's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense 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

3.75

The first half with the mercenary group was great and I loved it. The second half of the hook felt like a lot of almost too convenient things were put into place for the FMC. The end got predictable as well as some of the ending plot twists. Overall though wasn't a bad read and I plan on reading the next in the series asap.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Death, Confinement, Cursing, Death of parent, Murder, Religious bigotry, Classism, and Sexual content

Moderate: Confinement, Suicide attempt, Blood, Torture, and Child death

Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Kidnapping, and Medical content

altarbunny's review

adventurous hopeful inspiring tense 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

4.5

Super enticing read. I loved the fact that when the love interest separated the MC actually performed and executed a plan. The romance was definitely in the back burner until about 80% of the way through the book. My biggest peeve was that the clothing descriptions lacked and what I imagined(especially court attire) was impossible to execute some scenes in. I loved the dialogue and the plot and was kept on the edge of my seat for most of the book. People who enjoy series like ACOTAR would likely love this, although I wish a different title would have been chosen. I get that they’re trying to get Maas readers, but the court scenes was less than 50% of the book, and I feel like this book could easily stand on its own against ACOTAR. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death and Sexual content

Moderate: Cursing, Violence, Death, Blood, Murder, Death of parent, Religious bigotry, and Confinement

Minor: Sexual assault

maggies's review

adventurous emotional 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? It's complicated

4.0

Entertaining, steady pace, spice that doesn’t overpower the plot, interesting enough world-building and system of magic without being overwhelming. A bit twisty, with a good setup for book #2. All in all, enjoyable and easy to get through.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Grief, and Violence

Moderate: Sexual content

Minor: Child death, Vomit, Injury/Injury detail, and Death of parent

katvou's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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? It's complicated

4.25

Fantasy romance with forced proximity (one horse trope), found family and enemies to lovers / forbidden romance. Revenge, bargains & betrayal. Interesting and unique magic system.

Mostly I really liked the book and the FMC. The pace was a bit slow to my taste in the middle of the book and it felt like there wasn’t really anything interesting going on but I liked both the beginning and end. End had some nice twist, some I was able to guess beforehand but some were a surprise.

Definitely going to read the rest of the series.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Death, Gaslighting, Sexual content, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Slavery, and Violence

Moderate: Alcohol, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Child death, Death of parent, and Kidnapping

Minor: Toxic friendship, Sexual violence, Vomit, Cannibalism, Sexual harassment, Excrement, Medical content, Rape, Body horror, Bullying, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and Toxic relationship

jaedee09's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful mysterious medium-paced

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

3.75

I enjoyed this book. It's a fun adventure, but reminded me of other stories as well. I found the world and magic structure unique with humans also having magic. The pacing felt weird at times, such as when

three major moments happen in the span of about an hour/a walk down a hallway.

Spice was good, and the slow burn was burning. Heart fluttered several times. Some plot twists were predictable, but others weren't. I'll continue listening/reading!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Religious bigotry

Moderate: Violence, Death of parent, Cursing, Child death, Gaslighting, Confinement, Death, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Vomit

wickedgrumpy's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

So many tropes were checked off in this book.

The world building is interesting and mysterious enough that I will probably eventually continue, if only because it's an easy read with low personal stakes since I didn't really care about the characters.  The banter was amusing and the plotting was fun.  There were some pacing issues, but it was kind of necessary plot-wise so I'm not bothered by it.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Bullying, Child death, Classism, Slavery, Violence, Alcohol, Death of parent, Medical content, Murder, Vomit, Blood, Body shaming, Genocide, Hate crime, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Grief, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Body horror, Confinement, Eating disorder, Gaslighting, Stalking, War, Xenophobia, Torture, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Outing, Police brutality, Sexism, Self harm, Cursing, Death, Dementia, Injury/Injury detail, and Kidnapping