Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Angels Before Man by rafael nicolás

15 reviews

ina_pages's review

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

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

ash_trys's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Cursing, Suicide attempt, Rape, Gore, Sexual assault, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Mental illness, and Grief

brdiaz1123's review

dark emotional mysterious reflective 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Torture, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, War, Suicide attempt, Sexual violence, Religious bigotry, Gore, and Grief

Minor: Toxic friendship and Cannibalism

axel_p's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

I am so torn between loving this book and hating it.
Lucifer had some great ideas but some of his other ideas were less ideal.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Classism, War, Child abuse, Blood, Dysphoria, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Rape, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, Medical content, Mental illness, Animal death, Abandonment, Alcohol, Religious bigotry, Sexual violence, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Torture, and Violence

theminnesotawitch's review

dark emotional mysterious 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

A book that blew me away. The prose is beautiful, and the style changes as the protagonist becomes more obsessed with himself. A queer retelling of the fall of angels.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Torture, Death, Self harm, Toxic friendship, Sexual violence, Grief, Toxic relationship, Murder, Emotional abuse, Sexual content, Violence, and War

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. 

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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

cemeterygay's review

challenging dark emotional sad tense 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Religious bigotry, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Emotional abuse, Violence, Abandonment, Animal death, and Self harm

Moderate: Sexual violence, Sexual content, Rape, and Sexual assault

CW: Major (Christian religious trauma)

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). 

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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

purrson's review

I couldn’t finish this, at least for now. As Lucifer

recovers from being assaulted in Eden, and shields Michael (again) from how God harmed him, he encourages the angels to harm a bird he’s taken from Eden, to see how far they’ll go for his approval, Something about that scene, even though I read past it, stuck with me, and became too much. It’s how visceral Lucifer’s pain is, how he’s spiraling out of control, but still so intelligent and sensitive. It was too painful to read somehow. I wanted someone to tell Michael so that Lucifer would have someone truly on his side, all the way, I wanted Justice for him, but we know how this story ends.

It was all too sad for me, maybe a little too triggering. It’s a beautifully written book. Maybe I’ll come back to it at some point in the future. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Grief, Blood, Body horror, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Physical abuse, Bullying, Self harm, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Animal death and Animal cruelty

erosugar's review

adventurous dark emotional inspiring reflective 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Genocide, War, Body horror, Blood, Physical abuse, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Torture, Grief, and Animal death