Reviews tagging 'Torture'

Angels Before Man by rafael nicolás

37 reviews

okays1331's review

dark emotional tense medium-paced

3.75

The author warns of all the graphic triggers in here and it is no joke. The wirld building and characterizations anre really well done and the story is horrific. 

It’s marked as a queer retelling of the fall of Lucifer. I don’t think that is central to the story. The characters are man-shaped but so is everyone. There is no real romance, the tender feelings of the two central characters tip over into obsession immediately. Sexual content is almost all violent and violating. 

Note: Sometimes difficult to read because of the way the author chose to format dialogue. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Toxic relationship, Physical abuse, Gore, Body horror, Violence, Sexual content, Toxic friendship, Sexual violence, Death, Blood, Torture, Sexual assault, Rape, Incest, Self harm, Injury/Injury detail, and Gaslighting

mpbookreviews's review

dark emotional tense medium-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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Self harm, Torture, Violence, Sexual content, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, and Blood

Moderate: Sexual assault

osladek's review

dark emotional tense slow-paced

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

3.0

This was an interesting read. Although much of it was beautifully written, there is no plot for the entire beginning of the book and it took me a month to finish a 360 page book that would normally take me a week. I think the idea and the prose was there for a fantastic Satan retelling, however I was incredibly confused by the choice to make Lucifer the most timid and sweet angel and then end

with him committing horrific violent acts on fellow angels. Although it fit the character progression, it was extremely hard to believe where the character starts to where he ends I believe a better ending would be the character realizing that there are things outside of God’s “rules” that aren’t immoral instead of becoming incredibly violent and disgusting. Or simply starting the character a little less sweet.

Also the grammar of this book needed an editor badly. I kept having to reread sentences because they were missing a conjunction or ending word. This might’ve been a stylistic choice but it made it difficult to read and make sense of. Also the romance was an interesting plot point. I thought it would be more fleshed out but it felt like the entire book built to it and fell off at the end. I did however find a lot of quotes I enjoyed:

“is father good because he is good or is father good because he says he is good?”

“because the angels had only known obedience to be goodness, they did as they were told”

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Violence, Blood, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Self harm, Torture, Gore, and Injury/Injury detail

mxfloral_'s review

adventurous challenging mysterious slow-paced

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

2.5

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Torture, Abandonment, Animal death, Death, Murder, Rape, Religious bigotry, and Sexual assault

nevermoregothic's review

dark emotional sad tense 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

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Gaslighting, Gore, Murder, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Animal death, Body horror, Cursing, Injury/Injury detail, Death, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual content, War, and Alcohol

Minor: Incest, Rape, Cannibalism, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, and Fire/Fire injury

thecatconstellation's review

dark sad slow-paced

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

3.75

There are some beautiful parts of this book. There are some tender moments I found very moving. There is also a deeply unsatisfying ending that is delivered at twice the speed of the rest of the book. I think a follow up book is coming, which I will definitely read. I just had some issues with pacing and clarity behind some of the choices that were made by the characters. Hopefully that gets fleshed out. 

I will say - if you have religious trauma, please do a LOT of research before deciding to read this book. It was pretty triggering for me. 

Also - I would not label this as a romance and only a portion is cozy - the rest is quite intense and at times difficult to read (trauma, gore). 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Blood, Violence, Sexual assault, and Rape

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Injury/Injury detail, Self harm, Animal death, Gore, Grief, Sexual content, Torture, Toxic relationship, and Alcohol

ladieswholunch's review

challenging dark emotional slow-paced

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

4.75

Brilliant, actually! I’ll be thinking about this one for a while. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Blood, Death, Self harm, Sexual content, Animal cruelty, War, Torture, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cursing and Emotional abuse

spaceaviator's review

dark lighthearted tense slow-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

I really liked this book. 
Some of the violence in Part 2 became a bit intense and made me feel uneasy. That said, knowing how the story comes together and ends, makes me more okay with it. 
Nicolás’s writing style is what really made it for me. The way narration changed as Lucifer did, as well as the way he writes thoughts and intertwines separate scenes as one. It feels like there’s so many layers to explore in his writing, but it’s also intuitive to follow. 
This was a very unique book and one I would read again some day. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Gore, and Mental illness

Moderate: Torture and Violence

Minor: Animal cruelty and Animal death

Part 1 and the Interlude are mostly quite nice with some conflict. Part 2 is where it starts to get more tense toward its second half (and exponentially so). You can read just Part 1 and the interlude and it will still feel like a complete story.

loyddl's review against another edition

dark emotional slow-paced

3.75

I enjoyed the story until it neared the end where Lucifer’s character change became prominent. For as much build up as it got it still felt abrupt and completely disconnected from the Lucifer we followed in the rest of the book. I think the problem was that near the end of the book Nicolás stops giving us Lucifer’s perspective on important events that would impact his dramatic character change. For most of the book we get intimate detail from Lucifer’s perspective and thoughts but more and more  writing was put toward other characters point of view. As a result, even though we see the pain Lucifer goes through, his later actions feel like they are too extreme and come out of nowhere. 

I also think the writing fell flat in the story’s resolution. For something so long built up it also felt anticlimactic. And again, we’re taken out of Lucifer’s point of view and only given a finale description of him rather than any though or emotions felt by him as a result of his actions. 

A finale thing I would have loved to see, especially in the finale act, is the development of Micheal. Without giving any spoilers, Micheal is important in Lucifer’s fall yet I don’t understand his actions near the book’s resolution based on the relationship between him and Lucifer that had taken half the book to develop. 

While I enjoyed the story, it’s setting, and it’s characters, the ending makes me hesitant to pick the book up again. The book is all buildup but does not explain some characters most extreme actions. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Violence, Blood, Body horror, Torture, Physical abuse, and Self harm

Moderate: Alcohol, Death, and Sexual content

Minor: Sexual assault and Cursing

lcoffey's review

dark emotional mysterious reflective 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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, War, and Torture

Moderate: Sexual assault