Reviews tagging 'Physical abuse'

Angels Before Man by rafael nicolás

35 reviews

kelseydaffodil's review

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

''What am I for, Father? In what way an I perfectly made, for what purpose?' To be something so abstract as beauty - it was as if Lucifer weren't more than an abstraction himself, an idea, a fantasy, the figment of a lonely, longing imagination.'

i feel. empty. this book is 6 stars. everything about the writing was so poetic. how the further Lucifer fell, the less correct punctuation, grammar and proper sentences were used in thoughts. his and michael's relationship. the whole idea of god. this book has broken my heart. the pain throughout it. it's so heavy and i don't have enough words to express this book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Self harm, Torture, Violence, Blood, Religious bigotry, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Gore, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, and Alcohol

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Homophobia, Incest, Infidelity, Rape, Toxic relationship, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, and War

junipersbooksofvices's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-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

Graphic: Body horror, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Violence, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Cursing, Gore, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, and War

Minor: Animal death and Injury/Injury detail

jacksons_books_and_music's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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

Graphic: Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Eating disorder, Gore, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and War

fanboyriot's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

Read For:

✓ Slow Burn

✓ Forbidden Love 

✓ Religious Themes

✓ Hurt/Comfort (mostly hurt)

✓ Amazing Character Development

˗ˏˋ ★ REVIEW ★ ˎˊ˗

A bit of a slow start for me, it took me several chapters to get into the writing style but after that I really enjoyed it, the author did a great job with the descriptions and character development.  Part one of the book was really good.  The storyline, the trust building between Lucifer and Michael was so wholesome.  And while it might have taken me a moment for me to get into the story the characters I loved right away; especially Lucifer.  He was my favorite.

Overall, it was a really beautifully written story; but also VERY emotional and a bit unhinged, in the second part of the book.  It was written really well but damn, was not expecting all of that.

Spice Level: 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️

Angst Level: 💧💧💧💧💧

POV: Third Person

Release Date: 24, September 2023

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Blood, Religious bigotry, Murder, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Hate crime, Homophobia, Incest, Panic attacks/disorders, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Suicide attempt, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and War

Minor: Confinement, Cursing, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, and Toxic friendship

raisinreads's review against another edition

4.25

they struck my man down for being too gay 😔

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual content, Violence, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Torture

Minor: Alcohol

darthulios's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

This book destroyed me

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, and Blood

mermaidadjacent's review against another edition

This book got too dark for me. The sexual assault was off-screen, but the violence used to enact it was not, and the aftermath is also incredibly dark. I don't not recommend this book, but it was just too much for me at this particular time.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Self harm, Torture, Violence, Blood, Religious bigotry, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Rape and Sexual assault

c_alexander's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Dysphoria, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body shaming, Sexual content, and Religious bigotry

Minor: Rape

regisreed1's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad 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

Beautiful prose and storytelling. Such an interesting take on the Morningstar/fall of the angels theology-- you know what's coming at the end, but the road there is so lovely you can't stop, and the fall is horrifying. This book devastated me in the best way.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, and Violence

Moderate: Rape and Sexual violence

Minor: Self harm and Sexual content

The author splits the narration into sections, and readers can choose not to continue into part three where the majority of these warnings come up. The violence tag is present throughout the novel as the angels play games that cause bodily harm that can be mended, but is gruesome.

ina_pages's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

I’d give this 5 stars if not for very minor grammar issues that I believe were addressed in the rewrite. I hope to get my hands on that since I also heard that new scenes were added to it.

This book pulled me out of a reading slump that lasted MONTHS. Rafael’s masterful prose will have you gripped from start to finish and will have you falling in love with characters literally against your own will. It was heartbreaking enough to read about a character you knew was doomed from the start, but this book makes you feel so much for Lucifer that watching his decent from grace was just that much worse.

Highly recommend this book to anyone who’s interested. The author lists down a set of trigger warnings at the start but they are only really applicable in the second half of the book. 

If you want a feel good, slow burn, romance-y book then maybe pick this up and just stop after part one (like skip the interlude even) but if you have the headspace for it part two is an intense rollercoaster ride of emotions.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Religious bigotry

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Gore, Incest, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Suicide attempt, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Homophobia, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, and Sexual harassment