Reviews tagging 'Torture'

A Soul of Ash and Blood by Jennifer L. Armentrout

16 reviews

mabs_grace's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny 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? Yes

2.75

I’m going to be honest, I don’t really see the point of this being the 5th instalment of the series. A novella? Sure, but a whole ass that’s just the first book from Cas’s POV seems pointless.  There were only like 7 chapters in the present, the rest was flashback to book 1. It feels like the book didn’t move the plot forward at all. This should have been a .5 book (4.5) not a full book (5). 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Sexual content, and Violence

Moderate: Blood

Minor: Body shaming, Child death, Grief, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, and Torture

potalian's review

slow-paced

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Grief, Kidnapping, War, Murder, Gore, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Body horror, and Torture

jla's review against another edition

sad tense 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

This was 100% the book I wanted after reading The Red Pearl short story.   I couldn't fall for Cas any more, since he's already book boyfriend #1, but it was a nice recap of the first book from his point of view. The narrator had a nice accent. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture and Murder

marinamierel's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful inspiring lighthearted mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

4.75

I guess I just ran out of words for this book. ✨ It is true that it’s not a five star read for me because it wasn’t showing me anything new, but it made me jiggle and kick my feet way too much.🥹 
we needed this. We definitely needed this. Cas ✨ his POV omg✨
 I loved going back to the first time they met… loved to read about all the new characters again for the first time and learning so much about Cas and his thoughts and trauma and story❤️‍🩹 
it is a 4.75⭐️ read for me because this spinoff was way too good for me but I still love them and I still want to read about them and of course this is still my favorite series of all time💛 

can please someone explain this ending?? what do you mean? like does she remember him or not? We waited all this book for not knowing this? I’m gonna shit my pants. And all this Casteel’s transformation? has me completely livinnnnnn! I didn’t expect it. I love it I want to read more about it🫰🏽

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Torture, and Violence

yarisbooksandbevs's review

adventurous dark emotional funny reflective medium-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

4.5

I really enjoyed seeing things from Cas’s perspective. Especially after knowing everything we know. I kind of liked this one better than the first.  It was nice to see what he was going through and a little bit into why he made the decisions he did. The ending really surprised me and I did not see it coming.

I love the bond the three of them have. I wasn’t expecting Cas to shift and I just want to know if she recognized them! I will be heartbroken if she doesn’t

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Cursing, Grief, Torture, Blood, Death, Death of parent, Violence, Mental illness, and Sexual content

Moderate: Alcohol, Self harm, Confinement, Gore, Suicidal thoughts, Classism, Kidnapping, and Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Body shaming, Child death, and Stalking

mlglenn's review against another edition

dark funny reflective tense medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder and Violence

Moderate: Self harm, Sexual assault, Torture, and Kidnapping

katelynndzindzio's review against another edition

adventurous dark lighthearted mysterious reflective 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Violence, Torture, and Blood

kaydie96's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective 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? It's complicated

4.75

From Blood and Ash is my favourite of this series, so getting to relive it through Hawke’s POV was such a delight! I loved getting to see his take on events and the feelings he had while going through it all. Especially my favourite scenes. Each of those felt like a little treat ❤️

I also appreciate how it was a bit of a breather. There’s so much that happens in this series CONSTANTLY so just getting to experience this walk down memory lane was much needed.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Self harm, Sexual content, Cursing, Torture, Blood, Child death, Murder, Death, Injury/Injury detail, and Violence

Moderate: Death of parent, Suicidal thoughts, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Grief, War, and Alcohol

Minor: Rape, Body shaming, Pregnancy, and Sexual violence

stardust_heidi's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

First of all, I am screaming at the last chapter. S C R E A M I N G. Both at the chapter and at JLA, because how DARE, lmao. Whyyyyyyyyyyyyy. I feel even more unsettled now than I did after TWOTQ. Rude. 

Overall, I enjoyed this book. I did find a lot of the repeated scenes quite tedious, even if they were from Casteel's POV. We already know most of those scenes intimately, and while yes, they were all from Poppy's perspective before, I don't know that ALL of them needed to be from Cas's POV. I did enjoy a few of the big ones, like the craven attack/night on the rise and then after Poppy stabs him in New Haven. Those were great. 

The moments I enjoyed the most were the new scenes, especially those with Kieran. I loved experiencing their bond from Casteel's perspective and how Kieran just kind of *knew* things were different about Poppy from the beginning. It also opened up a whole avenue of questions I'd silently pondered to myself before and blew them out in the open -- especially during the explicit scenes with Cas and Kieran. Hot damn. 

But that last chapter. Holy. Fuck. I think Emil said it best: "What in the fuckity fuck?" Lmao. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Body horror, Violence, Death, Grief, Blood, Gore, Murder, Sexual content, Torture, Child death, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Self harm and Sexual assault

krisalexcole's review

adventurous dark 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Violence, Gore, Sexual content, Blood, and Death

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Religious bigotry, Torture, Self harm, and Physical abuse

Minor: Alcohol, Cursing, Death of parent, Drug use, Kidnapping, Medical content, War, Child death, and Confinement