Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

Angels Before Man by rafael nicolás

21 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

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

mirandyli's review against another edition

adventurous dark sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

Such a beautiful poetically written book about the fall of Lucifer from heaven. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Confinement, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Gore, Self harm, Sexual content, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, War, and Injury/Injury detail

bree343's review

challenging 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Emotional abuse, Self harm, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Gore, Religious bigotry, and Murder

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body shaming, Cursing, Rape, Sexual assault, and Abandonment

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

celestabelle's review

It was a good book, just so hard to read and I could see the sad ending coming. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Self harm, and Toxic relationship

bonriki's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective slow-paced

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

1.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Self harm, Torture, Toxic relationship, Religious bigotry, Murder, and War

Moderate: Animal death, Rape, and Suicide attempt

wolfst4r's review against another edition

challenging dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Cursing, Incest, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Torture, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Animal cruelty and Animal death

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

grandma_beth's review

dark emotional sad 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Sexual assault and Toxic relationship

Minor: Animal death