Reviews tagging 'Medical content'

Śliczni by Scott Westerfeld

10 reviews

jasmineslibraryy's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

extremely confused about the development of background characters like shay...but i'm intrigued to finish the series. tally is MESSYYYYY but ngl i'll always defend her

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Grief, Self harm, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Eating disorder, Violence, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Death of parent and Drug use

Minor: Animal death

a_wren_that_reads's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Self harm, Body horror, Classism, Fatphobia, Toxic friendship, Body shaming, Eating disorder, Medical content, and Dysphoria

cow_inthe_closet's review against another edition

emotional medium-paced

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

3.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Eating disorder, and Confinement

Moderate: Alcohol and Body shaming

Minor: Medical content

froggydanny's review against another edition

adventurous inspiring fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Confinement, and Self harm

Minor: Body shaming, Cancer, and Medical content

supersol375's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content and Self harm

Moderate: Colonisation, Alcohol, Confinement, Chronic illness, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Antisemitism, Fatphobia, and Eating disorder

larvapuppy's review against another edition

adventurous emotional reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.0

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Self harm

Minor: Injury/Injury detail, Sexism, Murder, Medical content, Kidnapping, and Infidelity

optimisms's review against another edition

adventurous lighthearted mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.0

It's a shame, really. During the first half, I was enjoying this book a good deal more than Book 1. As long as the characters stayed in the same place, Pretties was basically a better version of Uglies; the characters know more, the stakes are higher, and the tricks are much bigger. Once again, the strengths are in plot, not character, but the plot is quite enjoyable.

The quest to find Valentino 317

,

the destruction of the ice rink

, and

the breathless escape in the hot air balloons

were all such fun to read, and I was hopeful that this would continue. I was strongly considering giving it higher marks than Book 1.

But then everything fell to pieces, which was probably inevitable when the logic of the very world itself is held together with spit and glue. As soon as the gang

leaves New Pretty Town and heads off to find the New Smoke

, the book suffers an immediate dip in quality. Honestly, even before that, there's the bizarre and unnecessary inclusion of

Cutters

, which felt completely out of place for the story. I was a bit revolted to see self-harm portrayed as a potential "cure," even if it was frowned upon by the protagonist. Next, there's the tired and cliche

run-in with the "savages" who believe Tally is a god. As a student of International Development, I found this section deeply problematic, as it was simply riddled with thought patterns adjacent to white supremacy, white saviorism, etc. She called them "uncivilized" and "savage" and "monstrous," wanted to educate them and show them "the right way" to live, got angry that they weren't willing to change their whole entire culture overnight just for her, scoffed at their inability to immediately understand and accept scientific explanations, assumed they would rather live like her if they had the choice, etc etc etc. And all of this is written in a way that makes me concerned that Westerfeld believes much of this himself about "undeveloped" nations around the world

. And it sucks that this part left such an unpleasant taste in my mouth, because the rest of the book would barely change without it. It should've just been left out. Then there's all the completely BS "science."

Apparently, in this world, hot-air balloons, starving yourself, and falling from great heights can temporarily cure brain damage. Permanently, if you're as special as Tally. And if you literally get pseudo-cancer that completely destroys sections of your brain so you lose motor and cognition skills, no worries, because if you get stem cells in your brain you can just...relearn that

. Just like Book 1, we're hit with a predictable "twist" that

the two pills did different things and needed to be taken together to work

, which was so incredibly obvious I didn't even think it was a secret until it was revealed like it was new information. Lastly, the ending is literally just a redo of Book 1's ending.

They all escaped to the Ruins only to realize they've been tricked and caught by the Specials, the Smoke is on the run because of Tally, someone she loves is hurt (also because of Tally), and now she has to go back to the Pretty Town alone to undergo forced surgery and try to help her loved one get better before they both somehow escape to find the Smoke again

. It was so tiring, it's literally the exact same ending. And it's even worse than Book 1 because this time there's a boring love triangle. Deliver me, please.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Body shaming, and Eating disorder

Moderate: Body horror, Alcohol, and Confinement

Minor: Fatphobia and Medical content

goldsbuc's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-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? Yes

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm

Moderate: Xenophobia, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Injury/Injury detail, Eating disorder, Drug use, Alcohol, Medical trauma, Medical content, Classism, Body shaming, and Confinement

madmantha's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious tense medium-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

4.25

Again, re-reading this series in 2022 is fascinating. 
For being released in 2005, it feels so relevant to the uneasy feelings people are feeling years into a pandemic with the climate crisis already at our door. 

The pretty slang was much harder to bare than I remembered; but it was only truly cringey in the very beginning in my opinion. 

I will say, the two times that the r-slur was dropped dated this book tremendously more than anything else that was put to page. 
Those two instances were the only time that made me think, “wow, this really WAS written a while ago. I hope THOSE bits don’t make it to screen…”; but besides those two large asterix, I was constantly floored at how relevant the story feels to modern day. 

Maybe it’s just because it’s Pride Month… but I will also loop back and insist the screen adaption’s quality will sky rocket if they take these love triangle dynamics and make them queer. 

A queer undertone would also make Shay’s behavior and jealously make much more sense narratively. Her internalized homophobia could result in her outburst with Tally and could also explain why Shay so often resorts to slut shaming Tally.

Overall, I still love this book. It’s very interesting getting an inside view of the culture of New Pretty Town. 
The cliques also feels very natural; enough fraternal/sorority energy to grasp the want for a sense of community, without falling into too much of the more toxic hazing or initiation sort of rituals. <(At least in the beginning… *cough cough* Shay).>

You really empathize with Tally and her journey. She’s quite literally just a child, trying to live her life the way she wants, but keeps getting tangled in nets of coercion and gaslighting. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Confinement, Eating disorder, Gaslighting, Self harm, Dysphoria, and Fatphobia

Moderate: Medical trauma, Mental illness, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Police brutality, Self harm, Terminal illness, Toxic friendship, Acephobia/Arophobia, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Blood, Confinement, Dementia, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Genocide, and Medical content

Minor: Medical content, Mental illness, Racism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, War, Xenophobia, Cancer, Cursing, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Excrement, Gore, Grief, Infidelity, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Sexual content, Slavery, Trafficking, Violence, and Vomit

kp_writ's review against another edition

mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated

3.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm

Moderate: Body shaming

Minor: Alcoholism, Medical trauma, Medical content, and Murder