Reviews tagging 'Torture'

Godly Heathens by H.E. Edgmon

17 reviews

wormiebrains's review

adventurous dark emotional 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

4.0

Content warning is word for word what was stated in the audio book but it sounds a lot worse than what I felt it was, especially in reference to the graphic warnings excluding the violence and murder as there is a lot of physical fighting 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Child abuse, Gore, Torture, Body horror, and Sexual violence

Minor: Ableism, Suicide, Domestic abuse, Transphobia, and Self harm

tattooedbibliophile's review

adventurous dark emotional 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Transphobia, Injury/Injury detail, and Chronic illness

Minor: Body horror, Child abuse, Self harm, Abandonment, Addiction, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Deadnaming, and Torture

pm_me_book_recs's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

3.0

 

I held off on reviewing this until I read the closing sequel. I do like the sequel better than this first one, mostly because a ton of questions get answered and the character growth is a big deeper.

Godly Heathens showcases a ton of conflict, much of it saturated in teen angst and edgy one-liners. The dialogue was too try-hard for me, it felt like an adult assuming how queer teens talk? And this cast! The whole main cast is Queer, Trans/ Non-Binary, Native, Black, Latine, and some neurodivergence as well, and none of it is the target of harassment or bullying. We get to see Queer joy, Trans empowerment and normalization, all amongst a very stressful gods-coming-to-earth setting.

My biggest issue was remember who everyone is, the cast was so massive. There is a list of characters in the back, but unfortunately with audiobook... that doesn't help much. I wasn't a fan of the narrator at first, the cadence was hard for me to get into, but once I got their style is speaking it was fine and aided a lot in the characters. I did not like the demon's voice though, idk why, it was just so off. I listened to this via Libro.fm, which at the time was an ALC.

Some steamy make out scenes and daydreams, some references to sexual assault, lots of fantasy violence, lots of big emotions and meltdowns, scary moments with mental illness, and suicidal ideation.

 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Toxic relationship, Violence, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Mental illness, Torture, Cursing, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Colonisation, Alcohol, Deadnaming, Dysphoria, and Car accident

ilsevdhout's review

dark emotional funny 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror and Gore

Moderate: Torture, Physical abuse, Animal death, Violence, and Murder

Minor: Domestic abuse, Transphobia, Sexual violence, and Racism

robbin_bobbin's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense 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

5.0

this is by far my favorite book of the year. it feels like a big step up from Edgmon’s first series and they feel more comfortable in here (not that the first one wasn’t good!). i found myself relating to the main character in so many ways and i would root for them and their loved ones no matter what. this book will haunt me with its amazingness and ill gladly let that happen. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Murder, Animal cruelty, Blood, Death, Violence, and Cursing

Moderate: Mental illness and Body horror

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Torture, Sexual content, Sexual assault, and Physical abuse

mel_muses's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Mental illness, Murder, and Violence

Moderate: Gore, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Animal death, and War

Minor: Torture, Kidnapping, Animal cruelty, and Child abuse

the_b00kreader's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective 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? It's complicated

5.0

In this book we follow Gem Echols as they realise their life is not as it seems. Gem is the reincarnated God of magic...this may seem pretty cool until they also find out that the other gods have a few deep-rooted grudges against them.

I was vividly entertained throughout the entirety of this book and found it to be a pretty swift read. 
The plot in itself was really well drawn up and executed with plenty of thought going into it. The characters were really well developed and had dimension. 
The only character that fell a little flat for me at first was Enzo, he was a little predictable.

I loved H.E. Edgmon's depiction of the gods and their home world, the Ether, although I will admit I'd love to know more about it and feel as though, in the next books, I might be able to do just that. 

Being inside Gem's mind was certainly an experience. They had so many conflicting emotions when it came to making some of the greater decisions and I feel everything was portrayed splendidly. I cannot wait to see what comes next for Gem and the others but I can only guess it is not going to be an easy journey.

All in all, I really enjoyed this book!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Gore, Violence, Toxic relationship, Mental illness, Sexual harassment, Self harm, Gun violence, Gaslighting, Death, War, Bullying, Torture, Genocide, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Death of parent

mythian's review

challenging dark emotional funny mysterious tense 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

5.0

This book stands out for its overwhelming queer themes and morally gray characters. Nearly every character is unapologetically queer ("there are no cis gods"), and the lines between right and wrong fade in and out throughout the story.  The main character Gem has a punchy, likable inner monologue, but also deals with very serious family dynamics and mental health problems. I appreciated this book for not attributing Gem's mental health to his divine powers, but as an unalienable part of their humanity. The polyamorous dynamic was also unexpected, but very much appreciated. Edgmon's writing is beautiful in its imagery and captivating; I got through most of the book in one sitting.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Murder, Mental illness, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Sexual content

ladykyuuketsuki's review

dark medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Torture, Death, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Murder, Animal death, Body horror, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Cursing, Emotional abuse, and Abandonment

Minor: Confinement, Domestic abuse, Genocide, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Ableism, Colonisation, Self harm, and Suicidal thoughts

taratearex's review

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

This was great and I can't say enough how much I wish I had H.E. Edgmon's books as a teen. 

A teenage Indigenous trans God who doesn't know they're a God living in a small town, slowly has to remember their past life to unravel the mess they're in and through uncovering lost memories reckon with if they're the hero or the villain in this story. This book is messy and heavy at times, everyone has a past and everyone has secrets and no one really knows what the "right" thing to do is. I really enjoyed Gem and Willa Mae as a morally grey characters, I loved how queer and trans this book is, and I loved how messy and terrible everyone is. 

I had a bit of a hard time keeping up with the many characters with multiple names and flashbacks, but I do think the author did a great job of continuing to remind you who people were, I think I should have done some annotating to help me as this is generally a thing I have a hard time keeping up with. The plot got a bit winding with some leaps in logic, but I don't think I would have thought twice about that as a teen and for the most part just had to shut my adult brain off a few times. 

Overall, I loved this and look forward to book two! Especially after that major cliffhanger of an ending! Can't wait to reread when the next book comes out.

CW: death, mental illness, gore, violence, torture, self harm, animal cruelty (mild) it's hinted at that something may happen to the dog, but the dog doesn't die, child abuse, racism, homophobia, transphobia, sexual content (mild)

Thank you to the publisher and net galley for the advanced reader copy.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Mental illness, Gore, Death, and Torture

Moderate: Homophobia, Transphobia, Self harm, and Racism

Minor: Animal cruelty and Sexual content