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Writing Traumatic Injuries References

So, pretty frequently writers screw up when they write about injuries. People are clonked over the head, pass out for hours, and wake up with just a headache… Eragon breaks his wrist and it’s just fine within days… Wounds heal with nary a scar, ever…

I’m aiming to fix that.

Here are over 100 links covering just about every facet of traumatic injuries (physical, psychological, long-term), focusing mainly on burns, concussions, fractures, and lacerations. Now you can beat up your characters properly!

General resources

WebMD

Mayo Clinic first aid

Mayo Clinic diseases

First Aid

PubMed: The source for biomedical literature

Diagrams: Veins (towards heart), arteries (away from heart) bones, nervous system, brain

Burns

General overview: Includes degrees

Burn severity: Including how to estimate body area affected

Burn treatment: 1st, 2nd, and 3rd degrees

Smoke inhalation

Smoke inhalation treatment

Chemical burns

Hot tar burns

Sunburns

Incisions and Lacerations

Essentials of skin laceration repair (including stitching techniques)

When to stitch (Journal article—Doctors apparently usually go by experience on this)

More about when to stitch (Simple guide for moms)

Basic wound treatment

Incision vs. laceration: Most of the time (including in medical literature) they’re used synonymously, but eh.

Types of lacerations: Page has links to some particularly graphic images—beware!

How to stop bleeding: 1, 2, 3

Puncture wounds: Including a bit about what sort of wounds are most likely to become infected

More about puncture wounds

Wound assessment: A huge amount of information, including what the color of the flesh indicates, different kinds of things that ooze from a wound, and so much more.

Home treatment of gunshot wound, also basics More about gunshot wounds, including medical procedures

Tourniquet use: Controversy around it, latest research

Location pain chart: Originally intended for tattoo pain, but pretty accurate for cuts

General note: Deeper=more serious. Elevate wounded limb so that gravity draws blood towards heart. Scalp wounds also bleed a lot but tend to be superficial. If it’s dirty, risk infection. If it hits the digestive system and you don’t die immediately, infection’ll probably kill you. Don’t forget the possibility of tetanus! If a wound is positioned such that movement would cause the wound to gape open (i.e. horizontally across the knee) it’s harder to keep it closed and may take longer for it to heal.

Broken bones

Types of fractures

Setting a broken bone when no doctor is available

Healing time of common fractures

Broken wrists

Broken ankles/feet

Fractured vertebrae: Neck (1, 2), back

Types of casts

Splints

Fracture complications

Broken noses

Broken digits: Fingers and toes

General notes: If it’s a compound fracture (bone poking through) good luck fixing it on your own. If the bone is in multiple pieces, surgery is necessary to fix it—probably can’t reduce (“set”) it from the outside. Older people heal more slowly. It’s possible for bones to “heal” crooked and cause long-term problems and joint pain. Consider damage to nearby nerves, muscle, and blood vessels.

Concussions

General overview

Types of concussions 1, 2

Concussion complications

Mild Brain Injuries: The next step up from most severe type of concussion, Grade 3

Post-concussion syndrome

Second impact syndrome: When a second blow delivered before recovering from the initial concussion has catastrophic effects. Apparently rare.

Recovering from a concussion

Symptoms: Scroll about halfway down the page for the most severe symptoms

Whiplash

General notes: If you pass out, even for a few seconds, it’s serious. If you have multiple concussions over a lifetime, they will be progressively more serious. Symptoms can linger for a long time.

Character reaction:

Shock (general)

Physical shock: 1, 2

Fight-or-flight response: 1, 2

Long-term emotional trauma: 1 (Includes symptoms), 2

First aid for emotional trauma

Treatment (drugs)

WebMD painkiller guide

Treatment (herbs)

1, 2, 3, 4

Miscellany

Snake bites: No, you don’t suck the venom out or apply tourniquettes

Frostbite

Frostbite treatment

Severe frostbite treatment

When frostbite sets in: A handy chart for how long your characters have outside at various temperatures and wind speeds before they get frostbitten

First aid myths: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 Includes the ones about buttering burns and putting snow on frostbite.

Poisons: Why inducing vomiting is a bad idea

Poisonous plants

Dislocations: Symptoms 1, 2; treatment. General notes: Repeated dislocations of same joint may lead to permanent tissue damage and may cause or be symptomatic of weakened ligaments. Docs recommend against trying to reduce (put back) dislocated joint on your own, though information about how to do it is easily found online.

Muscular strains

Joint sprain

Resuscitation after near-drowning: 1, 2

Current CPR practices: We don’t do mouth-to-mouth anymore.

The DSM IV, for all your mental illness needs.

Electrical shock

Human response to electrical shock: Includes handy-dandy voltage chart

Length of contact needed at different voltages to cause injury

Evaluation protocol for electric shock injury

Neurological complications

Electrical and lightning injury

Cardiac complications

Delayed effects and a good general summary

Acquired savant syndrome: Brain injuries (including a lightning strike) triggering development of amazing artistic and other abilities

Please don’t repost! You can find the original document (also created by me) here.

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Book List of Book Lists

We make a lot of young adult book lists at STACKED, and I know how useful they are for collection development and reader’s advisory purposes. They’re useful enough for me when I write them or read the ones Kimberly’s written. So I thought I’d make a list of some of our book lists, for those who are interested in digging deep into the various genres and themes within YA fiction.

I’ll add to this periodically as we update our book lists so that finding them all in one place is easy, useful, and convenient. You can find a permanent page with updated lists here. 

Get Genrefied Series

All of these lists focus on specific genres or subgenres within YA fiction. They each talk about the defining characteristics of the genre (or format!), followed by a big book list, and other websites and blogs to explore that delve even further into the specified genre.

Steampunk

Dystopia

Romance

Graphic Novels

Historical fiction

Contemporary/Realistic

Verse Novels

Mysteries and Thrillers

High Fantasy

Science Fiction

Horror

Humor

Short Stories

Urban Fiction

Fairy Tale Retellings

Realistic YA Novels Made into Teen Movies

Historical Fantasy

Magical Realism

Alternate History

Climate Fiction (cli-fi)

Mythology

Gothic Fiction

YA in Translation

Christian Fiction

YA Memoirs

Urban Fantasy

Alternate Format Books

Westerns

Other Thematic Book Lists

We’re fans of book lists, period, and we’ve made a number of thematic and trend-style book lists.

Contemporary Realistic Fiction:

Stories featuring dynamic or interesting families

Humor

Mental Illness

Multiple Points of View or Alternative Formats

Diverse and Multicultural Stories

Sports

Memorable Settings

Sex, Drugs, and Rock ‘n Roll: Edgy Stuff

Grief and Loss

Series Books

Beyond the Bestsellers

At Book Riot, I run a series called “Beyond the Bestsellers,” where I offer suggestions of lesser-known titles to read after you’ve read a well-known, bestselling YA book or author.

So you’ve read Divergent

So you’ve read Ellen Hopkins

So you’ve read Sarah Dessen

So you’ve read Marissa Meyer’s “The Lunar Chronicles” (Cinder, Cress, Scarlet)

So you’ve read Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children

So you’ve read Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson

So you’ve read The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie

So you’ve read If I Stay by Gayle Forman

So you’ve read the “His Fair Assassins” trilogy by Robin LaFevers

3 On A YA Theme

Also at Book Riot, I’ve been writing a weekly column called “3 On A YA Theme.” It takes one theme and highlights three books that fit. I’m always happy to take suggestions for this one, so let me know if you have a theme you’re interested in seeing a short book list for.

3 On A YA Theme: Intersectional Feminism (it’s actually 11 books!)

3 On A YA Theme: Diverse Mysteries

3 On A YA Theme: Rock Stars In YA

3 On A YA Theme: Teens In (Love With) Space

3 On A YA Theme: Indie Press Titles

3 On A YA Theme: Ice Cream on the Cover

3 On A YA Theme: First Love

3 On A YA Theme: Gender Fluid, Genderqueer, and Gender Unspecified Teens

3 On A YA Theme: Intersex Teens

3 On A YA Theme: YA Books Featuring Pets

3 On A YA Theme: Diverse Speculative Short Story Collections

3 On A YA Theme: Asexuality

3 On A YA Theme: Realistic Fairy Tale Retellings

3 On A YA Theme: A *Small* Selection of Verse Novels

3 On A YA Theme: Post-It Note Covers

3 On A YA Theme: Teens Who Are Poets

3 On A YA Theme: Bisexuality

3 On A YA Theme: Blind Characters

3 On A YA Theme: Short Books

3 On A YA Theme: Persephone Tales

3 On A YA Theme: Twisting Mythology

3 On A YA Theme: Girls of Color Who Dance

3 On A YA Theme: Tattoos

3 On A YA Theme: Historical Fiction in Verse

3 On A YA Theme: Candy on the Cover

3 On A YA Theme: Trans* Teen Experiences and Lives

3 On A YA Theme: Characters with Disabilities

3 On A YA Theme: Stories Set in Africa

3 On A YA Theme: Beautiful Covers for “Anne of Green Gables”

3 On A YA Theme: YA Takes On “Little Women”

3 On A YA Theme: It’s Basketball Season

3 On A YA Theme: Teens Who Are Writers

3 On A YA Theme: Parents Who Are Writers

3 On A YA Theme: It’s Halloween, Or, Books With A Halloween Scene

3 On A YA Theme: Girls Who Love Horror Movies

3 On A YA Theme: Be Ready To Be Scared

3 On A YA Theme: If You Love Watching Supernatural

3 On A YA Theme: Sylvia Plath

3 On A YA Theme: Aussie YA

3 On A YA Theme: YA-Inspired Art

3 On A YA Theme: Football

3 On A YA Theme: YA Films on Netflix Instant

3 On A YA Theme: More YA Films on Netflix Instant

3 On A YA Theme: Astral Projection

3 On A YA Theme: Dolls On Covers

3 On A YA Theme: Girls Who Run

3 On A YA Theme: Dystopian YA Nail Polish

3 On A YA Theme: Summer Camp

Other YA Book Lists:

Horror (from School Library Journal)

Teens in Witness Protection Programs

Witches in YA

Microtrends in YA Fiction: Reality TV, Missing Mothers, Kleptomaniacs, and More

Ampersand Titles

Set in the Summer Between the End of High School and Start of College

Co-written YA Books

Feminism

Microtrend: Amnesia

Secret Historical Societies of Teen Girls

Complicated/”Unlikable” Female Characters

Sex, Sexual Assault, and Rape: Discussion Guide and Reading List

A Little Heart on the Cover

Titles By Number

Books That Happen in a Single Day — or Less

Teen Girl Sleuths

Juvenile Delinquent Stories

Reality TV and Teens & Reality TV Part Two

Reading Pathways: Blake Nelson (or where to begin if you want to read his work and don’t know the best starting points)

Teenage Criminals

Prom Books

Hacking, Gaming, and Virtual Reality

Hispanic Heritage Month: Books Featuring or Written By Hispanic People

Teens in the Death Business

Teen Suicide and Depression

Adrenaline-fueled, male-centered realistic fiction

Less financially-privileged teens and teens who have part-time jobs

Ancient Historical YA, not set in Greece, Rome, or Egypt

Ballet in YA

Circus Reads

Non-Fiction YA Reads

Prom in YA

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Need an Editor or Beta Reader? Want to edit or beta for someone? Look no further!

The writeblr directory of editors and betas is now up and running!

What is it? A place where creators can ask for critiques, beta readers, editors or any other kind of feedback services. Or, alternatively, a place where people can offer or advertise those services!

Who can join in? Anyone who meets the following criteria. So if you are…

A) a writer who needs some sort of feedback service for some kind of writing.

B) someone who enjoys giving feedback and will offer your services for free

C)  a freelance editor in need of business

…this will be the Tumblr blog for you. Please note that this is a space for indie creators and small service-providers; not for businesses or larger groups/corporations.

Why is this blog a Thing now? Because just today I have witnessed three different blogs turn down requests for editing help because they don’t have the time. Hopefully, the directory will cut down on that stress for everyone involved and make editing services more accessible, as well as giving writeblrs somewhere to send people if they get such requests. 

If you want to submit a request or an advert, here are the guidelines for both forms.

(Some people who may wish to boost this resource: @writeblrconnections @she-who-fights-and-writes @brynwrites @thecaffeinebookwarrior idk I don’t want to overtag)

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ATTENTION WRITERS

Google BetaBooks. Do it now. It’s the best damn thing EVER.

You just upload your manuscript, write out some questions for your beta readers to answer in each chapter, and invite readers to check out your book!

It’s SO easy!

You can even track your readers! It tells you when they last read, and what chapter they read!

Your beta readers can even highlight and react to the text!!!

There’s also this thing where you can search the website for available readers best suited for YOUR book!

Seriously guys, BetaBooks is the most useful website in the whole world when it comes to beta reading, and… IT’S FREE.

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Japanese?

Multiple writing systems for one language.

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Hey guys! WorldAnvil hasn’t been around very long, and we’ve been on tumblr for even less time. We wanna meet some mutual blogs who share our love of worldbuilding writing, RPGs and everything geeky. So if you have a writing, D&D, worldbuilding, OC, etc tumblr, or love being creative please reblog us - we’d love to find you! If you don’t know about us already, WorldAnvil.com is a worldbuilding tool - like a wiki taken to the next level, just for worldbuilders, for all your OCs, D&D characters and fictional worlds. We only launched 7 months ago and we’re excited to meet you all!

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An assignment I actually wrote on the board this week:

In groups, write 2 sentences (in Latin) using only the vocabulary in your textbook. Make sure to include:

1 irregular verb

1 imperfect verb

5 cases

BEES?

I’ll elaborate in a minute, but I need to stop laughing first.

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Hello, Writeblr!

It seems that writers who are new to Tumblr make introductions so… here I am doing that very thing. Mainly, I’ve been reblogging dogs, art, and gaming stuff but I figured I should probably be productive. 

About My Writing

I’ve already written one book (a high fantasy read with a hint of a lesbian love story) and while trying to get that one published, I’m writing a second. My current WIP is a YA science fiction featuring a host of racially diverse teens living with disabilities in a hospital that designs tech to help make their lives easier. There’s a heartless corporate scheme afoot, plenty of sweet sci-fi action, and a robot puppy so I’m pretty pleased with that so far.

About Me

You can call me A.J. or Ash if you prefer. She/Her. Originally from Canada and currently living in California. Take a look at what I reblog and you’ll get a sense of who I am. Dungeons and Dragons, dumb memes, pretty illustrations, video games, cute animals, and writing advice mostly.  

What I Want Out of Writeblr

I’d love to make some writer friends here I can share my work with. If you write sci-fi/fantasy, are queer/write queer characters, have a disability/write characters with disabilities, or just love reading and writing, I want to hear from you! I always want to make sure my work is as accurate and sensitive to these topics as humanly possible. If I can sprinkle in some advice or inspiration of my own that’d be great too. 

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HELL YEAH

It’s here it’s here it’s here!!! The first book of my urban fantasy series with a Korean-American lesbian protagonist is on Amazon as an ebook for $3.99!!

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B07D3T81NX?ref=aw_sitb_digital-text#productDescription_secondary_view_div_1526520278906

Blurb:

Disgraced witch Harrietta Lee has made a lot of mistakes in her life; there’s a reason she’s got a sizable burn scar slapped across the side of her neck and a formal letter of excommunication from the international underground magical community. But who has time to dwell on the past when you’re trying to make rent in New York? Things are mostly clean and simple, until her next odd job is brought to her by a representative of a powerful corporate family—a family she once had close personal ties to. As she unwillingly digs through six years’ worth of personal baggage, she’s also got to contend with an inhuman admirer shadowing her in the street.

But hey, maybe it’ll be worth it for the beautiful women she gets to kiss…

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Browsing antique stores is always the most wild fucking time. I found an insanely cursed Sean Connery Barbie in my favorite antique store which is nothing new there are like 20 super cursed dolls in that store but they sell men’s flannels for $12 so

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Instructions for a walk in the woods

Never turn around to check behind you. You’ll see nothing, but once you start doing it you won’t be able to stop, and an ominous feeling will follow you until you don’t lock your house’s door behind you. 

If you stand very still and listen you will hear the woods calling for you. Don’t answer. Never answer. 

You’ll hear things quietly following you, hidden in the trees by your sides. It’s okay, they’re just checking on you. 

Don’t be scared, but be really, really wary.

If you have a bad feeling about taking a certain path, don’t. You’ll avoid whatever is waiting for you at the end of it. 

You never know what may be buried under the soil you’re walking on. Remember that every time you take a step. Pray that whatever it is, it won’t wake up. 

Be careful not to step on any beetle, or you’ll never get rid of them. 

If you bring a knife with you, name it. Otherwise the blade will turn against you as soon as you try to use it. 

Make sure you remember the way back home. As soon as you get lost, you’re just another piece of fresh meat.

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Writeblr Intro

Hello! I’m not sure how I’m supposed to do this, but I’ll give y’all my best and I hope that it is enough.

My name is Erica, I turned eighteen four days ago and I’m born and raised in Brazil, specifically in São Paulo, SP. My native language, of course, is Portuguese.

I’m here to learn a bit more about writing and to practice my skills in writing in english. I struggle a lot, because I’m always insecure about grammar and all that, even though everything is right. Maybe it’s because I’m insecure since birth, or maybe it’s because I don’t put it into use as much as I’d like. SORRY I GOT OFF THE MATTER.

BACK to what I came here to do: I usually love to write about supernatural beings, fantasy in general and even real life stories. But, as I said, I’m insecure about my writing skills… which means I’ve never written a story of my own ‘till the end, or even a fanfiction, to be honest. I don’t have any wip right now.

I really hope to change that by learning some new stuff in here! :)

I really love Harry Potter, I’m a Ravenclaw.

Twilight is the reason why I’m so in love with reading and writing. Even if it’s full of moral problems and even if I’d have written it all over again very differently, it will always have an special place in my heart for introducing me to books and literature.

Not really a fan of poems, but I love Leaves Of Grass by Walt Whitman.

I don’t know how to conclude this intro. Ohana means family. I love ice cream. Thorsday. Bye.

(Is that how you end texts? I don’t think so… Am I supposed to put any other information here? OH I’M ALSO MAJORING IN JOURNALISM, I’M ON MY WAY TO THE 2ND SEMESTER OUT OF EIGHT).

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Presented without comment.

EXCEPT to say- commonplacecaz.

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Review: The Savior’s Champion by Jenna Moreci

Quick Disclaimer: I was not in any form or shape paid for this review/compensated for it. I bought the book on my own initiative and out of my own pocket. No strings attached whatsoever. However: I am influenced by Jenna Moreci’s TSC-related content such as blog posts and character portraits. I went in knowing a bit about the book and who the characters were. Also Spoiler Warning!

Name of the book: The Savior’s Champion Author: Jenna Moreci Publishing House: Self-Published Pages: 562 Formats available: EBook and Hardcover ISBN: 978-0999735213 Prices: E-Book: 5.99 € (EU) 7.15 $ (US) 4.79 £ (GB) Hardcover: 21.41 € (EU) 23.164 (US) 18.99£ (GB)

Description (Amazon) Tobias Kaya doesn’t care about The Savior. He doesn’t care that She’s the Ruler of the realm or that She purified the land, and he certainly doesn’t care that She’s of age to be married. But when competing for Her hand proves to be his last chance to save his family, he’s forced to make The Savior his priority. Now Tobias is thrown into the Sovereign’s Tournament with nineteen other men, and each of them is fighting — and killing — for the chance to rule at The Savior’s side. Instantly his world is plagued with violence, treachery, and manipulation, revealing the hidden ugliness of his proud realm. And when his circumstances seem especially dire, he stumbles into an unexpected romance, one that opens him up to unimaginable dangers and darkness. 

The Author Jenna Moreci is a Silicon Valley native and Youtube sensation, dominating the authortube community with her straightforward and hilarious writing channel. A lifelong storyteller, Jenna specializes in crafting thrilling adventures with heaping doses of bloodshed and romance.  When she’s not writing or ‘tubing, Jenna enjoys angry music, potent wine, and laughing until her face hurts with her goofball fiancé.

Website

Tumblr: @jennamoreci

Keep reading

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My dash is only about 30% writing-related right now, so if you’re a writeblr can you like/reblog this post please?

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Review: The Savior’s Champion by Jenna Moreci

Quick Disclaimer: I was not in any form or shape paid for this review/compensated for it. I bought the book on my own initiative and out of my own pocket. No strings attached whatsoever. However: I am influenced by Jenna Moreci’s TSC-related content such as blog posts and character portraits. I went in knowing a bit about the book and who the characters were. Also Spoiler Warning!

Name of the book: The Savior’s Champion Author: Jenna Moreci Publishing House: Self-Published Pages: 562 Formats available: EBook and Hardcover ISBN: 978-0999735213 Prices: E-Book: 5.99 € (EU) 7.15 $ (US) 4.79 £ (GB) Hardcover: 21.41 € (EU) 23.164 (US) 18.99£ (GB)

Description (Amazon) Tobias Kaya doesn't care about The Savior. He doesn't care that She's the Ruler of the realm or that She purified the land, and he certainly doesn't care that She's of age to be married. But when competing for Her hand proves to be his last chance to save his family, he's forced to make The Savior his priority. Now Tobias is thrown into the Sovereign's Tournament with nineteen other men, and each of them is fighting — and killing — for the chance to rule at The Savior's side. Instantly his world is plagued with violence, treachery, and manipulation, revealing the hidden ugliness of his proud realm. And when his circumstances seem especially dire, he stumbles into an unexpected romance, one that opens him up to unimaginable dangers and darkness. 

The Author Jenna Moreci is a Silicon Valley native and Youtube sensation, dominating the authortube community with her straightforward and hilarious writing channel. A lifelong storyteller, Jenna specializes in crafting thrilling adventures with heaping doses of bloodshed and romance.  When she's not writing or 'tubing, Jenna enjoys angry music, potent wine, and laughing until her face hurts with her goofball fiancé.

Website

Tumblr: @jennamoreci

The Review:

I’ll try to keep it mostly spoiler free, and otherwise be as vague as possible. But, you might want to read the first three chapters on Jenna’ website here.

Cover art  “Pretty nice cover,” I thought to myself. “Simple, yet fitting… if the shirtless wouldn’t be there.” Honestly, in my opinion, the cover would have been so much better without said dude on it. I have a very simple opinion of shirtless dudes and book covers and if I wouldn’t have known what the book was about I probably wouldn’t have bought it or would have at least been very sceptical of it. On a related note, I cracked up when Tobias asked for a shirt in later chapters which makes my complaints about the shirt even more funny to me somehow.

How did I find the writing? It’s a fantastic writing style, that’s for sure. Also, in many points, it improved so much compared to Eve: The Awakening. The writing itself was pretty awesome, it was written in past tense and in 3rd Person limited, which happened to be my preferred tense and POV. The only point during which it varied was the prologue, in which I was honestly not sure in which POV it was. Was it omniscient or did she switch between two different POVs? It kinda threw me off, but otherwise, the POV was pretty consistent.

Fun Hell yes, it was fun. I read through the entire book (almost) without a break in about eight hours, give or take. I was engrossed in it. I honestly can’t remember the last time bloodshed was so fun to read about. So much fucked-up shit happened in this book and it was fun to read about. To be fair, this says a lot more about me than about the book. Other than the bloodshed I quite obviously enjoyed, a huge part was the romantic subplot. If you followed me for a bit and read the other reviews by any chance, you know I’m not quite fond of romance. But from all that romantic subplots (or plots) I read this year and quite probably last year, this was one of the best, if not the best. Tobias and Leila are both so sweet and caring for each other, especially when you consider that those two are not what one might call nice. But, it kinda got a bit preachy about the dehumanization of the suitors - but again, this becomes sort of a bounding point between Tobias and Leila. I would just have preferred it to be a bit more subtle.

Characters Due to TSC having about 30 characters (and about half of them die), I will only talk about Tobias, Leila, and Kaleo in detail. I will say some stuff about other characters, but those three have to act as representatives. Tobias is a good character, bit cynic and (and I guess starting with the latter half of the book) depressed or has PTSD-like symptoms. And that’s about it when it comes to flaws. He’s sweet, and his only bigger flaw (which went away when pressured) was that he was unwilling to fight and kill. I mean, I liked him a lot - but he’s too much of a Mister Perfect. 

Leila is the main love interest, and she is my opinion better developed than Tobias.She’s very callous in the beginning to Tobias because of a misunderstanding, but softens up eventually. Due to her living in the palace her entire life, she has a very funny (and sweet) scene in which she doesn’t realize that normal people not necessarily have servants. It’s one of my favourite scenes in the entire book! Also, she is without a doubt my favourite characters. I mean, who doesn’t like a girl who can handle a knife? Kaleo is one of the main antagonists. Let’s just say, Jenna Moreci is excellent at creating villains you love to hate. He’s despicable and absolutely sociopathic without any regards to human lives. Also, Tobias’ (and our) dislike is earned in Chapter 3. Let’s just say it involves a wall and blood. Lots of blood.

The other characters are all important, don’t get me wrong, but there are just so many of them. Let’s just say there are a lot of hateable and lovable characters in this book and Jenna makes very good hatable characters. Honestly, most of them would deserve an analysis by themselves.

Predictability I had a few predictions, some turned out to be true, some not and some I completely missed. In any case, one of the big plot twists concerning the murder of the previous Saviour I was correct about the identity of the killer. But one came completely out of left field towards the end, and honestly, if you read it, you will know which one I mean. Also, you will see the hints that Jenna Moreci left throughout the book on the second read through and I had my mind blown by them. Let’s just say I might have said “What”. Loudly. Multiple times.

Another problem, outside of the book and technically my own fault, was the character profiles on Tumblr, so I might suggest that if you want to be surprised you should skip those until after you read the book. I was kinda spoiled because I knew that certain people would survive until a certain point because the scene in their character profiles/introduction did not happen yet. Like I said, my fault, so if you want to go in blind - don’t go to Count Blogula on Tuesdays. And stay away from the TSC-tag. Also… since it’s the first book in a series, I do have two theories about two of the characters in the prologue. It’s a metalsmith and a midwife (?). A man who is a metalsmith also happened to be Tobias’ father who died in an accident - a bit too much of a coincidence. The other, the woman, had a child which she gave him before performing a C-Section on the Saviour’s mother. So, either she is his wife and with that Tobias’ mother, or she is Delphi’s mother who was mentioned to be a midwife. If this happens to be true, you heard it here first. Probably.

Overall impression Loved it. I enjoyed it a lot, I could sink into this world and just shut off my brain and enjoy it. It’s definitely the best book I’ve read this year so far and it’s a strong contender for my personal Book of the Year. I’m looking forward to TSS (The Saviour’s Sister) and I can’t wait for it to come out (or even for teasers to turn up).

Some of my favourite lines: “His skin was smooth, his chest bare - am I ever going to get a shirt? - but his nerves were piqued, stirred by the thought of the looming celebration of which he knew so little. […] You little shit, I just got this shirt.”

“’You seem like a honest man. Wear that with pride. Be true and good, and I have no doubt you’ll gain the exact favor you deserve.’”

You want to read more from Book Bloggers? Here I got a long list for you.

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i made a guide for ppl