Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

Nightbirds by Kate J. Armstrong

11 reviews

emsunflower's review

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adventurous emotional inspiring 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? Yes

4.5

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nikki_flowers's review against another edition

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adventurous funny hopeful lighthearted mysterious medium-paced
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
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sadiesaurus's review

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adventurous emotional hopeful 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

4.75

I really enjoyed this book. The writing was good, the world felt built out and real, the characters (for the most part) felt multidimensional and believable. There were a couple points where it felt like a side character turned on a dime without enough buildup to why they'd feel that way or change their mind in such a manner, but not enough to make me not love the book. 
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kendrapotter99's review against another edition

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adventurous hopeful 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? It's complicated

4.5

This book was so good! I love the perspective shifts allowing us to get to know all three girls and see how they developed throughout the story! There was also a perfect amount of world-building and relationship building!
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jules6469's review against another edition

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

2.5

I wanted to enjoy this but I just didn’t. The pros are the setting and the concept of magical girls and a magical underground, fighting against the injustice of the church and such. The cons were everything else. I didn’t love the characters. The pacing made it feel like a chore to read. My interest level in the story was like a roller coaster but ultimately flatlined.
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tomoonarmy's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional hopeful inspiring 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? N/A

3.5

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pellkat's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious 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? No

4.0

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wrensreadingroom's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

5.0

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betweentheshelves's review against another edition

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adventurous 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? Yes

3.5

I guess I'm just hitting some middle of the road fantasy with these last two books! This is a debut historical fantasy about secretive magic, about power, and about sexism. The magic system was interesting and gave off a very 1920s vibe throughout most of the story. The overall world building was well done, and there's a strong cast of characters throughout.

Some of the pacing in the book was off, however. There were some moments where the writing really shined, so there's potential! Especially since this is going to be a series; lots of time to flesh out some of the aspects of this book that had a lot of potential.
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ninascozydayreads's review

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

4.0

 Disclaimer: this eARC was sent to me in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Thank you Random House International for making this available to me! 

It had been a hot minute since I’d read fantasy, and boy, had I missed it. Luckily, this book absolutely delivered for my fantasy aching heart. 

A story with unlikely friends, Nightbirds by Kate J. Armstrong starts of strong with the mystery that seems to surround the entire story: that of the Nightbirds, girls who exchange kisses for special gifts, and their magic. It can only be given with consent, and they can never use it for their own. Until strange things start happening… 

There were a lot of things that I liked about this book. What I liked most were the main characters. They were fun, interesting, well-written, and honestly badass, and so different from each other yet complimented each other really well. The multiple POV was done really well. With a multiple POV, there’s always the chance that one of the POVs isn’t as interesting as the others, or drags, but not in this case: because the girls all had such wildly different stories in terms of where they came from, it was kept interesting. The only POVs I didn’t like were the weirdly placed ones that sometimes came in-between chapters. I always like it when there’s something, like a quote or a passage from a book that exists in the world, between chapters. Those were also used in Nightbirds, but at certain times it was used to write a few pages POV of someone else, which took me out of the story cause it’s not quite a chapter, but also not something you read quickly (and if I’m honest, not that interesting either, I fully believe the book could have done without it). 

However, that doesn’t take away from the absolute joy I had reading this book. I loved the plot and the excitement of it and all its twists and turns, all its secrets (cause there were a lot). I also loved how the story developed, and for a first book in a series it really struck that balance between exploring and introducing, while still keeping a good pace and keeping up the action. There were some things that I really did not foresee, and others that I did expect, and I loved them both equally. I also really enjoyed the world, or at least the way the different quarters of the city worked, and how it was both set in high society and the city slums. Lastly, I think the magic system, though a bit cliché (powers based around the elements isn’t the newest thing in fiction), was cool and I liked how the special powers the girls had were based around those elements. 

In short, I really did enjoy this book and would absolutely recommend it. Once again, thank you PRH for sending this over for review, very excited for book 2! 

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