Reviews tagging 'War'

The Haunting of Alejandra by V. Castro

16 reviews

kier__'s review

adventurous dark emotional reflective tense fast-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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Slavery, Death of parent, Self harm, Death, Genocide, Suicide attempt, Emotional abuse, Child death, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Violence, Abandonment, Abortion, Body horror, Colonisation, Miscarriage, Blood, Grief, and Suicide

Moderate: War, Alcohol, Infertility, Sexual content, Terminal illness, and Drug use

thetruthatallhazards's review

challenging dark emotional reflective fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: War, Self harm, and Suicide

Minor: Sexual assault

twitchywitchy314's review

dark emotional inspiring mysterious medium-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

Graphic: Colonisation, Suicidal thoughts, and Self harm

Moderate: Sexual assault, War, and Violence

zombiezami's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious sad tense slow-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Sexism, Torture, Body horror, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Suicide attempt, Blood, Gore, Child death, Death, Grief, Gaslighting, Pregnancy, Death of parent, Medical content, Alcohol, Sexual content, Violence, Stalking, Medical trauma, Suicidal thoughts, and Self harm

Moderate: War, Colonisation, Sexual violence, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Miscarriage, Cursing, Infidelity, Biphobia, Mental illness, Abandonment, Genocide, Religious bigotry, and Racism

Minor: Gun violence, Drug use, and Infertility

shaun_dh's review

dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

I found this to be slow and boring. The husband is insufferable. I kept reading for Alejandra’s arc (which I was very happy with) and I was hoping it’d get scarier (which it never really did)

As a mom who battled postpartum rage myself, some parts of this were hard to read. The gorgeous cover hooked me and the writing was beautiful and descriptive, but it just never took off for me

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Body horror, Child death, Miscarriage, Death, Death of parent, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Gaslighting and Mental illness

Minor: Colonisation, War, Suicide attempt, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Self harm, and Abandonment

iseefirede's review

dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No

3.25

If you want a quick read, I got through this in less than 24 hours. I was curious about the generational trauma and how it would be addressed. Reading Alejandra's ancestors' POVs was probably one of my favorite parts. 

I feel this book was too explicit in its themes. There was no subtlety to it. The therapist she sees is used to explain what we could've inferred was going on. There's not much, if any, character development. 

If you are looking for a quick horror read, this is for you. If you're looking to explore themes of generational trauma, you probably should look elsewhere.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Misogyny, Blood, Body horror, Gaslighting, Pregnancy, Suicide attempt, Animal death, Child death, Death, Gore, Miscarriage, and Self harm

Moderate: Abandonment and Body shaming

Minor: War and Dementia

readingwithcoffee's review against another edition

emotional hopeful medium-paced

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

1.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual harassment, Suicidal thoughts, War, Abandonment, Suicide attempt, Suicide, and Toxic relationship

ecn's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative mysterious reflective sad fast-paced

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

5.0

Generational trauma, healing, La Llorna, queer rep. This book is AMAZING and feels made for me. I was apprehensive at first since motherhood was a main theme but I am sooo glad I stuck with it

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Violence, Religious bigotry, Racism, Emotional abuse, Suicide, Abandonment, Toxic relationship, Sexism, Death of parent, Death, Blood, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Injury/Injury detail, Pregnancy, Misogyny, Miscarriage, Mental illness, Grief, Colonisation, Child death, Sexual violence, Body horror, Infidelity, Gore, and Genocide

paulineerika's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful medium-paced

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

3.5

I struggled a little with how to rate this book. There were some really excellent parts, some parts that made me want to scream, and some parts that just felt a little lacking.

THE GOOD:
- I loved the interspersing of Alejandra's family and their history with La Llorona. Much of the family history and background was so interesting.
- Alejandra's finding her own voice and strength made me want to cheer. 
- I really liked Melanie and her role the story.
- The writing overall was really good.

THE NOT-SO-GOOD:
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Everything involving Matthew made me want to scream. He was completely one-note and one-dimensional, which I guess was part of Alejandra's depression and story, but man, I hated him a lot and I didn't think he needed to be that bad to make the point.

- I can say the same about Alejandra's upbringing and adopted family.
- The pacing was a little off throughout the book.

THE LACKING:
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I didn't understand Flor's chapter. It was interesting, for sure, but didn't seem to fit at all with the rest of the family's story. It felt like a way to throw in a well-known figure in Mexican history without properly integrating him into the story.

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Alejandra's sudden decision that she had to kill herself (or try to) in order to kill the creature and magically knowing what she had to do. That kinda came out of nowhere. See also the pacing issue above.

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Similarly, as much as I loved Alejandra's own journey to finding her voice and her strength, it was definitely a little rushed, given how deeply buried she was.

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The ghosts of her ancestors coming to help her kill the creature was underdeveloped and underwhelming.

- The hints of Alejandra's sexuality could have been better developed, I think.

The book as a whole was definitely uneven, but well-written and I think the strength of Castro's message overcomes a lot. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Sexism, Racism, and Misogyny

Minor: War

poisoned_icecream's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy, Death of parent, Misogyny, Racism, Body horror, Child death, and Colonisation

Moderate: Miscarriage and War