Reviews tagging 'Injury/Injury detail'

Bitterblue by Kristin Cashore

27 reviews

sydapel's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad slow-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? It's complicated

5.0

Kristin Cashore simply never misses. It floors how profoundly deep she is able to weave such complex themes within a young adult fantasy. This time it's memory, guilt, the function of a leader and how a nation moves on from a brutally fascist regime (absolutely no present day parallels come to mind for this). Its exciting, sad and incredibly satisfying. I could read 100 more tales of Bitterblue and her friends trying to create more fair kingdoms. 

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aina26's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Just finished reading the 3rd book in Kristin Cashores Graceling series. Highly highly recommend picking up this series if you haven't (or picking it up again if you have!). The story across the first 3 books has been so interesting and captivating. The writing style is beautiful and all-consuming. I especially like that every character sounds like they are in a period setting (something that I've noticed a lot of newer fantasies set in eurocentric medieval settings struggle to achieve. Everyone sounds like they're from 2024.. )

I really appreciate that this book's fantasy isn't so outrageous or complicated. It still feels grounded, with just a Touch of extraordinary. 

I also really appreciate that the romances in the books are not the Main Plot. The things happening around them and to them are the driving forces of the story, and the romance happens organically on the side.  
It makes the characters (and repeat characters in subsequent books) feel real.

The first book really surprised me with its big twist and the climactic ending. The 2nd book provides an interesting well of knowledge that becomes relevant in this book. Like a secret you, the reader, are in on and you're waiting for Bitterblue to figure it out. 

Bitterblue may be my favorite thus far, for its complexity in the truths uncovered thus far in the story. It's one big messy mystery. Even at the end, when you think you finally have all the answers, it still manages to surprise you. Emotionally charged and beautifully written, this story will stick with me for some time. 

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aleyajo's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious tense
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

Leck is quite possibly the best villain and he isn’t even alive in this book.


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starlightorchestra's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad 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

Very difficult to read as a trauma survivor but it’s an excellent book and I look forward to reading the next soon

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catinaflatcap's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad 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

5.0


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lahars_little_library's review against another edition

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

3.5


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el_wheel's review

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challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious sad 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

Wow this one really gutted me in a way that there other didn't. It's such an important story but also so fricking difficult to read at times. I cried through the whole, like, last 5th. I actually liked the confusion throughout because it helped me to connect more with Butterblue.

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noetical's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad 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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strubbries's review against another edition

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The beginning of this book is painful to read. It’s so slow for me, and i like slow reads! but i think after the first two books, this one was just so different and dragged on. too many questions and the rate at which they were getting answered was not a good balance. once i suspected that
Giddon and her would get together
i asked reddit if it would happen, and once that was confirmed, i honestly decided to stop reading because fuck
with my whole entire heart i hate that man and how he downplayed Katsa ‘having a grudge’
. so i spoiled the ending and discoveries so i didn’t have to read the rest. and honestly, im still a bit confused at it. i get it but i dont? i think a talk about this with someone who also read it would be amazing because there were so many moving parts to Leck’s reign and story that could be picked apart.
Now, i skipped pages to get the info i wanted on my kindle, and i ended up reading like 50 pages toward the very end. and oh my goodness, the ongoing trauma that Bitterblue experiences, wow. she did not catch a break at all. it was like boom boom boom
Theil kills himself, Rood hangs himself, new foreign people come along, etc etc
!!! i was tearing up and crying at many parts there because the amount of emotional weight that that girl is carrying throughout the whole fucking book. So; in the end, i liked the first two books a lot. though i didn’t finish this book, i know what happens and its still a bit of a thinker even when you have the puzzle pieces-ha, get it? I do not plan to read the last two books 🤷‍♀️

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qrschulte's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad 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

AHHHH! I didn’t want to put this down! I just NEEDED to know all the secrets! And there were some very lovable secondary characters added ❤️

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