Reviews tagging 'Blood'

Die sieben Monde des Maali Almeida by Shehan Karunatilaka

62 reviews

clovetra's review against another edition

i am so sorry god i wish i liked this more!
sorry its such a minor pet peeve when books use overly-flowerly language. like yes some description is needed but.,.. this book was too much.
i told myself in 2024 to dnf any book that does not spark joy, and this book did not spark joy at all.
yeah i know im not really giving this book a chance but honestly i dont want to.
that sounds mean
idk i just didn't like it & where it was going!
mayhaps a future pick-up (i highly doubt it sadly)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Death, War, and Blood

Minor: Child death

rosalind's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark funny reflective 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Infidelity, Car accident, Injury/Injury detail, Police brutality, Murder, and War

Moderate: Blood, Classism, Child death, Colonisation, Grief, Sexual content, and Homophobia

Minor: Lesbophobia, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Biphobia, Blood, and Genocide

mattiaforc's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Kidnapping, Violence, Torture, War, Murder, Blood, Death, Police brutality, Sexual content, Injury/Injury detail, Racial slurs, Homophobia, and Racism

ketreads's review against another edition

slow-paced

4.0

The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida was such a surprisingly fantastic book.

I was drawn to the book, let's be real, by the gorgeous cover art initially. After reading the blurb and learning, it had both mystery and fantastical elements, it sounded like a perfect choice for my 'Storygraph Reads the World' for the country of Sri Lanka. 
Shehan Karunatilaka does such an impressive job of making you care about Maali and his plight throughout the story, even when it quickly becomes apparent that Almeida isn't the most kindhearted of main characters. The rich descriptions, fantastical weaving of both mythological, after life, and real world political corruption, come together into this singularly impressive book. 

While I wouldn't say I had immense joy in reading this, the topic and details the book gets into is both dark and upsetting realities of Shri Lanka's political climate at the time, I did find the book impressive. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Religious bigotry, and Murder

Moderate: Death and Blood

dr_acula's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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: Gun violence, Kidnapping, Racism, Homophobia, Blood, Forced institutionalization, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Religious bigotry, Death, Emotional abuse, Sexism, Genocide, and Violence

Moderate: Infidelity, Drug use, and Alcohol

sydneyrose18's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious reflective 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Suicide, Homophobia, Infidelity, Drug use, Genocide, Murder, Grief, Police brutality, Self harm, Sexual content, Drug abuse, Gore, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Alcohol, Animal death, Blood, and Colonisation

bluedijon's review against another edition

challenging dark inspiring reflective sad 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? It's complicated

4.75

Goodness, I loved this book. Maali is such a compelling, complex character, and it was bittersweet joy to follow him through his journey. This book is explicit in its descriptions of the Sri Lankan civil war, and uses the long tradition of magical realism to make sense of the horrors inflicted by people on their neighbors and themselves.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Hate crime, Gun violence, War, Blood, Homophobia, Grief, Police brutality, Racism, Suicide, Violence, Kidnapping, Colonisation, Classism, Murder, Death, and Genocide

clare072's review against another edition

challenging mysterious reflective slow-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Sexual content, Child death, Death, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Homophobia, Violence, Classism, Genocide, Car accident, Police brutality, Racism, Suicide, Torture, and War

Moderate: Alcohol, Drug use, Blood, Death of parent, Kidnapping, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Colonisation and Animal death

heatherjchin's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Trafficking, War, Death of parent, Grief, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Abandonment, Sexual content, Suicide, Torture, Toxic friendship, Violence, Death, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Self harm, Sexism, Blood, Genocide, Suicide attempt, Body horror, Bullying, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Police brutality, Sexual violence, Kidnapping, Murder, Pedophilia, and Toxic relationship

alisonvh's review against another edition

adventurous challenging 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

5.0

The more I think about this book, the higher my rating. It’s so good and thought provoking and well written. I’ll probably need to come back to it for a reread sometime because I’m sure there’s a lot that I missed.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Drug use, War, Racism, Gun violence, Homophobia, Torture, Police brutality, Grief, Alcohol, Abandonment, Murder, Kidnapping, Colonisation, Death, Death of parent, Suicide, Blood, Violence, and Child death