Reviews tagging 'Violence'

A Court This Cruel and Lovely by Stacia Stark

22 reviews

druzyquartz's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Toxic relationship, Blood, Death, Death of parent, Genocide, Confinement, Forced institutionalization, Kidnapping, Toxic friendship, Violence, and Grief

Moderate: Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Alcohol, and Gaslighting

hapalyn's review

adventurous funny tense slow-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

5.0

Were there some cliche plot points? Yes. BUT-

The way I loved the adventure and build up to a bigger plotline, and I really enjoyed the found family aspect with the "mercenaries". The FMC is intelligent and I love the heart of gold she has! I also really enjoy the magic she possesses, it's really unique compared to other fantasy FMCs I've read lately! 

A couple of reveals lined up to be a little too coincidental for me, but I think the enjoyment I experienced throughout the read made up for the lack of believability in some areas (and, well it's fantasy so it's not necessarily believable anyways). The twist with the MMC had me intrigued because while I somewhat expected it, I think part of me didn't want to at the same time. I'm very interested to see the resolution between FMC AND MMC, but I'm not looking forward to reading 500 pages to get there... lol. 

I will be continuing with this series and enjoying the different characters!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, and Violence

Moderate: Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, and Alcohol

Minor: Rape, Death of parent, and Vomit

For fire injury: there are people executed by being burned alive For rape/sexual assault: there's implications of side characters being rapists, and there is an attempted sexual assault/rape + attempted murder of FMC towards the first half of the book

she is not assaulted and kills the guy

For murder: couple of different deaths by beheading, stabbing, pushed into a river, etc.

elntastic's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny fast-paced

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

3.75

The story was very gripping and entertaining, maintaining quite a fast pace throughout the story. I really liked the FMC. The MC is definitely a dark/grey character with questionable morals, but he didn’t cross any lines for me (yet).  I also loved the dynamic and slow burn between the FMC and the MC. 
However; the story was definitely nothing new. Everything that happened was more or less foreseeable. The world-building wasn’t very detailed.

The seemingly „good“ king who saved his people turns out to be an evil man who uses his folk? Heard that before. The MC is not who she thought he was? Read that before. She has to make a bargain with him after learning the truth about him? Def read that before. She has powers that were somehow hidden from her her entire life? Read that many many times. So all in all, nothing in this book felt new to me.  

It’s definitely a good story but if you’re looking for something new/different, you won’t find it here. This book feels like a lot of other books I have read before. There were so many parts where I saw direct similarities to other stories. If you’re looking for something different and new I’d suggest reading Carissa Broadbents books or Beck Michael’s „Guardians if the Maiden“ series. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Murder, Grief, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, and Violence

Moderate: Cursing, Death of parent, and Kidnapping

Minor: Vomit, Torture, and Suicidal thoughts

dxisymitch's review against another edition

adventurous emotional medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Sexual content, Murder, and Death

Moderate: Death of parent, Blood, Genocide, and Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Grief, Confinement, War, and Injury/Injury detail

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

unboundbooklover's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense 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, Violence, Death, and Murder

Moderate: Torture, Injury/Injury detail, and Sexual content

Minor: Death of parent, Gore, and Grief

foxyfables's review

adventurous emotional funny inspiring lighthearted mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

The story started off strong, but fell flat around 40 percent of the way in. The plot dragged at times and the dirty talk was somewhat cringe. However the world building was interesting and the stakes were high enough to build suspense. It ended on a cliffhanger that left me kind of curious as to what happens next.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence

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

destinied's review

adventurous dark hopeful mysterious tense 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Xenophobia, Violence, Sexual content, and Vomit

Moderate: Trafficking, Torture, War, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Suicide attempt and Suicidal thoughts

audreyxgrace's review against another edition

adventurous emotional inspiring tense medium-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? Yes

5.0

I give my ratings based on how quickly I’m interested in continuing/finishing a book and how it makes me feel overall and this one is a 5 star for me! A few moments were slightly cringe or made me lol in relation to the romance but I loved the plot and pace of the book. The development of the romance was okay but could have been written slightly better, but im still excited to read the next book in the series.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder

Moderate: Violence

Minor: Vomit