Reviews tagging 'Colonisation'

Godly Heathens by H.E. Edgmon

8 reviews

mirandyli's review

adventurous 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? It's complicated

3.0

This was a fantasy YA novel with a nonbinary, trans, Indigenous, polyamorous main character. I was really excited about the diversity. But somehow the book still missed the mark a bit and it took me a while to finish.

How are most of the reincarnated gods all located within the same tiny town in the middle of nowhere Georgia? 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Gaslighting, Grief, Mental illness, Blood, Murder, Racism, Sexism, Alcohol, Colonisation, Death, Misogyny, Cursing, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, and Transphobia

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

princegene95's review

adventurous dark emotional 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: War, Colonisation, Violence, Physical abuse, Mental illness, Murder, Grief, and Death

Minor: Child abuse, Pedophilia, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Medical content, and Transphobia

caseythereader's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious sad 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

4.0

Thanks to Wednesday Books for the free copy of this book.

 - Wow, this book. GODLY HEATHENS is H.E. Edgmon leaning into his full talent as a writer of angry, messy, queer af kids desperate to find their place in the world.
- The mythology here is so cool, and so detailed and tangled I could believe it was real. And the "real world" people and plot threads felt messily real, too.
- This book mashes together queerness and small towns and mental illness and thousand year old gods and it works beautifully. I can't wait to see what happens next. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Colonisation, Confinement, Cursing, Mental illness, Murder, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Sexual content, Abandonment, Blood, Child death, Gore, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, and Grief

Minor: Suicidal thoughts

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

readingwithkaitlyn's review

dark mysterious 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Murder, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Violence, Body horror, Gun violence, Mental illness, and Blood

Moderate: Self harm, Grief, Toxic relationship, Colonisation, Animal death, Ableism, Vomit, Suicidal thoughts, War, and Transphobia

Minor: Slavery, Racism, Genocide, Drug abuse, Sexual content, Animal cruelty, Infertility, and Child abuse

krisalexcole's review against another edition

dark emotional 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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Blood, Mental illness, Death, Gore, Violence, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Vomit, Child abuse, Colonisation, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Torture, Animal death, and Body horror

Minor: Infertility, Pregnancy, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Animal cruelty, Self harm, Fire/Fire injury, Medical content, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, War, Alcohol, Child death, Death of parent, Racism, Transphobia, and Cursing

ezwolf's review

challenging dark emotional 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

3.75

Gem Echols is a trans high school student just trying to make it out of their small town to be with their maybe love interest in college. That all changes when they meet Willa Mae who reveals that the dreams Gem has had are actually memories of a previous life and they are the reincarnation of a god. 

I thought that Gem was pretty funny at the start of the book and I was on my way to being endeared to them. But somewhere along the way I realized that I didn’t really like them. Or Willa Mae. Or Enzo. I love morally grey characters and they don’t have to do good things but I do need to like them on some level. 

But there are a lot of good things about this book and I think a lot of other people will like it. It's got good trans representation, Native representation, discussions of colonization as well as mental illness. 

I still look forward to reading the author’s other books and would recommend this to people, it was just missing ~something~ for me. 

Thank you to NetGalley for making this available in exchange for an honest review!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Colonisation, Death, Murder, Violence, Blood, Body horror, Chronic illness, Dysphoria, Grief, Gun violence, and Mental illness

Moderate: Sexual content, Self harm, and Vomit

Minor: Sexual assault, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Animal cruelty, Bullying, and Transphobia