Reviews tagging 'Suicide attempt'

Angels Before Man by rafael nicolás

11 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

kangaroo1990's review

dark emotional reflective slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Gore, and Violence

Moderate: Sexual assault and Suicide attempt

pika_berry's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

A powerful work. 
Quite unlike other LGBT fantasy, and warning:

bad ending

and gore. 

Though it has it in the tag, technically, this book is not a genre romance.

There is no HEA — a HEA is the prerequisite for a genre romance.

The first 30% or so was quite rough with POV issues. 
Words like “ground level shrub” or “mahogany” would be used when it’s the POV of somebody who was literally just created and does not even know what a plant or a tree is. 
Is was sometimes hard to tell who’s perspective we have shifted to, and had me wondering who did what. But these issues went away in the middle of the book. I think the writer got better at writing as they went along. 

Another major drawback is the portrayal of god. The god is written as a petty, moody, middle aged man. He doesn’t seem very wise nor compassionate. He demands the angels to worship him, and makes dumb decisions.
Like creating an Angel that is supposed to be the most beautiful, and giving him special treatment … this doesn’t seem like a very wise thing to do, even from my limited mortal perspective…

And while I know this is in the original story, I don’t think this book depicted this very well. He feels more like an abusive cult leader than a holy being to me. But perhaps this is because the writer is a modern person, and at the end of rhe day, most modern people snicker at religion and the idea of god. They think it’s superstitious or foolish. It is natural for this broader sentiment to show in their work. 
The entirety of the plot is based on poor decision making by this dumb god character, and that could pull you out of the book. I didn’t mind though. I don’t think anybody reads a retelling for plot, tbh. 

The drama, the beautiful imagery and the motives make this a compelling read. 
The book feels like a fanfic. It’s a retelling, but feels more like fanfic. It’s probably the generic characters. I like it though lol. 
I can imagine the story doing well in the Japanese market, perhaps made into a manga.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Mental illness, and Violence

Moderate: Body horror, Blood, Suicide attempt, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

a_crow_in_the_sky's review

challenging 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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcohol, Body horror, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Sexual assault, Blood, Murder, and Suicide attempt

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

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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

readingemm's review

dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Body horror, Gore, Self harm, Emotional abuse, Grief, Blood, and Abandonment

Moderate: Incest, Rape, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide attempt, Fire/Fire injury, and Blood

corin_134340's review

dark emotional 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Sexual content, Violence, and Torture

Moderate: Emotional abuse and Body horror

Minor: Rape

ashlislibrary's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful sad medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Suicidal thoughts, Body shaming, Death, Violence, Grief, Sexual content, and Suicide attempt