Reviews tagging 'Slavery'

De hombres a monstruos by Patrick Ness

10 reviews

abigailhaagen's review against another edition

slow-paced

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

2.0

This one wasn't great. The first book in the series was so good, and the next was ok, but this one was hard to finish. It was super slow, had little or no characterization, had bland writing, and didn't have a satisfying ending. The characters claimed to have morals but were just selfish brats. I didn't care for anyone, and the stakes, despite technically being high, didn't feel high at all. A lot of out-of-character choices were made too. It was a struggle, and I didn't enjoy reading it or the outcome of the trilogy.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Torture, Racism, Misogyny, Body horror, Blood, Colonisation, Death, Suicide, Emotional abuse, Murder, Physical abuse, War, Violence, Genocide, Grief, Sexism, Gaslighting, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Slavery, and Police brutality

eloise__'s review against another edition

adventurous challenging hopeful reflective tense

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

Quite infuriating at times although overall a pretty satisfying ending for the series.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Grief, Blood, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, War, Colonisation, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, and Violence

Moderate: Murder and Suicide

Minor: Slavery and Misogyny

leonormsousa's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional inspiring tense medium-paced

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

4.0

REPRESENTATION 

gay SC

QUOTES 

“Worst is the one who knows better and does nothing.” 

“You're never more alive than in battle. Never more dead after.” 

“Usually when a man calls a woman a bitch (…) it's because she's doing something right.” 

“What a sad thing men are. Can’t do nothing good without being so weak we have to mess it up. Can’t build something up without tearing it down.” 

THINGS I ENJOYED 

• The exploration of the concepts of good and evil and everything in between and how they’re perceptions that can vary according to your perspective. Also the way Patrick Ness makes you have such contradictory feelings towards the “bad” characters.
• The approach to war that covers both sides of the fight through multiple POVs. I usually don’t really like books about war, but this one was a clear exception!
• The different writing styles for different POVs, that make us feel more “inside the skin” of the characters. I especially love the Spackle POV, which in this book, we see added to Todd’s and Viola’s.
• The formatting on this book/series really adds on to the experience (different POVs have different fonts, as does the “noise” from different people).
• The final resolution of the book and the series was so satisfactory.

THINGS I DIDN'T ENJOY

• The book is a bit slow at points, and, in my opinion, didn’t need to be this long.

MY OPINION ON THE WHOLE SERIES

• Great escalation throughout the series - from a personal adventure to a war between species.
• The second book was definitely my least favourite, but the first and third definitely compensate for it!
• Overall, an amazing YA dystopian series!
• Be sure not to miss the novellas as well.
• FINAL RATING: 4⭐

READ THE SERIES IF YOU ENJOY

• Stories set on a different planet with new sapient species
• Young protagonists in unfamiliar circumstances that are forced to grow and that fight to the end of the world to be together
• Manipulative, intelligent and unscrupulous villains
• Exploring different sides of the same conflict
• Delving into the concept of evilness
• Books without romance
• Crying (:

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Genocide, Grief, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Suicide, War, Violence, Animal death, Blood, Colonisation, and Slavery

leileikarma1's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Minor: Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Slavery, Suicide, War, and Violence

annieslibrary's review against another edition

adventurous emotional tense fast-paced

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

5.0

 Hands down, best trilogy ending ever. I cried and I'm glad I did. "War makes monster of men and women." 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Chronic illness, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Genocide, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexism, Slavery, Torture, Violence, and War

hobasapient's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional reflective fast-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Death, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Gun violence, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, Slavery, Torture, and Violence

durrareadsstuff's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

4.25

A monster, I think, remembering what Ben told me once. War makes monsters of men.
"Wrong," says the Mayor. "It's war that makes us men in the first place. Until there's war, we are only children."

Damn, this book wrecked me! I mean, it had me gasping and mad and also made me shed a tear or two, which I thought was impossible lol. I loved this one the most out of the whole trilogy, I think. Firstly, the way war itself was described by the author was incredible. There was no good or bad, no right or bad side, just a few sides with their own interests and being selfish even though the right thing would be to come together. I loved seeing how Todd and Viola grew so much and I loved Bradley's character. I wished I got to see some more of him and Simone, but oh well. Also, we got a third POV!

Welcome to the club, 1017! I was so happy for Wilf, Bradley and Lee when they sort of got promoted. Ben is also here! aka the only sensible person in this story.

One of my favourite things is how the author writes action scenes and how he develops suspense. It was so good!! And every time Todd tells himself to shut up, I honestly felt that lol. 

Moving on to why I think this was not a 5 star book. There are a few things that annoyed the heck out of me, for instance, Todd being so stupid and gullible and thinking that the Mayor was redeemable?!?

Dude, he killed his own son??

, the unnecessary love triangle (I mean, just give someone to Lee already), Mistress Coyle being herself

and going out with a bang haha

and Ivan.

who finally died.

But fine, at least Lee knows when to back off. Besides that, I get how Todd and Viola are supposed to be each other's weapons, but I just can't help but cringe every time they do that. What else? 
 

Oh, yes, just please explain to me why did everyone had to die?? I mean, even Acorn had to die! It's a miracle there are still people alive at the end of the book.

Also, don't get me wrong, I love how Patrick Ness writes action scenes, but you know, there comes a time when the suspense just gets in the way cause I just want to know if he made it out alive and I want to skip it but I don't want to miss out on any important details, so yeah. I rarely get this worked up over a book so I guess that's a good thing. I think the way the horrors of war was depicted in this book was quite accurate, although not exactly cause this is, after all, a children's book. Like how Todd just wanted to forget all about it, and how it just completely changed Angharrad.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Grief, Murder, Slavery, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Minor: Animal death and Suicide

btrz7's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Genocide, Grief, Slavery, and Torture

apersonfromflorida's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense slow-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Violence, and Slavery

Moderate: Gun violence and Torture

pamshenanigans's review against another edition

adventurous emotional tense fast-paced

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

4.0

I flied through 300 pages of this book today and I am finally done. My thoughts are all over the place. I'll let them steep overnight and will write a decent review tomorrow.

But damn. Can't believe it's finally over.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Slavery