Reviews tagging 'Schizophrenia/Psychosis '

Angels Before Man by rafael nicolás

5 reviews

katbotelho's review against another edition

challenging dark 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

4.5

What i sit back and think about the beginning of the book and i think about how it ended i think to myself how the fuck did we end up here.

author has a really good way of describing things and made me nauseous when i had to read about the self harm and violence. the beginning is kinda slow but i still enjoyed it. at times it was hard to understand bc their was very little indication of a pov switch but u get used it after a while 

left me with a lot of questions at the end like

how did asmodeus go from running from the orgy in fear to running home to rosier and sexually assaulting him  ??

and

were rosier and asmodeus some if the angels that fell with lucifer bc rosier seemed pretty on board to follow him ?

i guess i’d have to read the second book to find out perhaps. overall i enjoyed it

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Self harm, and Violence

Moderate: Sexual content, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Animal death

Minor: Rape and Sexual assault

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.  

---

Content Warnings

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

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

random19379's review

adventurous dark emotional funny reflective sad tense medium-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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: War, Sexual assault, Death, Animal cruelty, Grief, Suicide, Vomit, Animal death, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, Gore, Murder, Violence, and Rape

maximauve's review

challenging dark medium-paced

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

3.0

When the author warns you that part 2 does not need to be read, believe them. Do not read the second half. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Sexual assault, Animal death, Rape, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Toxic relationship, Blood, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Self harm, Mental illness, Physical abuse, and Sexual content

madscanread's review against another edition

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

5.0

The slow corruption of a pure, innocent angel to a hysterical, unstable beast spurred on by a cruel, jealous father. A book to make you hate god viscerally and while not making you love Lucifer, it at the very least makes you understand and mourn for him.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Emotional abuse, Cannibalism, Sexual assault, Body horror, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Mental illness, Torture, Sexual violence, Self harm, Rape, War, Suicidal thoughts, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Minor: Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Panic attacks/disorders, and Incest