Reviews tagging 'Sexual content'

Todos los pájaros del cielo by Charlie Jane Anders

14 reviews

clairebau's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.25

I expected to think this book was just okay, and then I went and loved it. I love a coming-of-age story. I love light science fiction. I love stuck-up, idiot-smart male characters and genuinely interesting & feminine female ones. Magical realism is always a bit of a hit or miss for me, but in this case, it was a huge hit. I love a weird ass book. God, this book was weird, but in an off-beat, well developed way. The strength of this book was in its characters and writing style. The plot was just-fine, I guess, but I liked the other aspects too much to care.

My critiques are few. There were too many minor characters with too-few contributions to the story at large. Like with most books, I felt the ending was a bit rushed and not as fleshed out as the beginning (which, in the case of this book, was especially carefully done). Slight deus ex machina at the end, but there was enough leading up to it that I'm not mad about it.

I'd love if this author focused less on plot-ambitious stuff and kept at the coming of age, realistic romance sort of thing, as that's what I thought she excelled at. I'll likely be rereading this one.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying

Moderate: Death of parent, Suicidal thoughts, Gun violence, War, and Sexual content

mysterymeenah's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing and Death

Moderate: Sexual content and Death of parent

Minor: War and Violence

walkie_check's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad 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: Animal cruelty, Cursing, Death, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Child abuse, Sexual content, Grief, Murder, and Violence

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Blood, Death of parent, Forced institutionalization, Suicidal thoughts, Panic attacks/disorders, War, Alcohol, Child abuse, and Confinement

Minor: Chronic illness, Pandemic/Epidemic, Terminal illness, Body horror, Ableism, Deadnaming, and Abandonment

bookcaptivated's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious reflective 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: Bullying, Child abuse, Torture, and Death

Moderate: Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Grief, Gore, Sexual content, War, Violence, and Body horror

Minor: Animal cruelty and Death of parent

maddibw's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.75

It was a fun and interesting read. And it certainly felt like a take on Sci-fi and fantasy that I haven’t read before which was cool. I will say that the summary in the flap of the book feels like it describes plot points that aren’t as significant to the book or don’t adequately summarize or encapsulate the book in the way I would have liked it to. Then again, I may not have read it and I enjoy it!

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Bullying, Child abuse, Death, War, Cursing, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Chronic illness, Vomit, Sexual content, Self harm, Injury/Injury detail, Forced institutionalization, and Death of parent

lanid's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious

• 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: Bullying

Moderate: Physical abuse, Animal cruelty, Confinement, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Sexual content, and Violence

mariebrunelm's review against another edition

adventurous challenging 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

What happens when you mix sci-fi and fantasy? You get this book which had kind of similar vibes to Seanan McGuire's Wayward Children and perhaps Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell if you squint a lot, but I haven't actually finished that one so I may be completely wrong. What a great way to start a review, don't you think?

All the Birds in the Sky opens with Patricia and Laurence, two solitary kids who embody two sides of what other people can't fathom: witchcraft for Patricia, sci-fi for Laurence. But just as Patricia's story was getting started as she discovered she might have magic powers, she loses them and her journey is forced to pause. As for Laurence, his path may seem a little more straight-forward, but that's without his parents endeavouring to make sure he goes back to being a "normal" child. And yet the two can't help but meet each other again and again over the years, as their abilities take them in very different directions and shape the world around them.

This was such a peculiar book. I'm not entirely sure I got it because it kept evading me and slipping from my grasp. It *is* quite charming, and I would heartily recommend it, but it's also messy and complicated on a surface level, which to me successfully mirrors how life gets messy and can look complicated when at the core it's sometimes not really. I didn't exactly know what to expect going into this book because I didn't pay a lot of attention to the blurb. I certainly wasn't expecting it to have so many different ingredients - sci-fi, magic, a sprinkle of dark academia, romance, found family, and an apocalypse thrown in for good measure. I'm not entirely sure it works, to be fair. But it is charming and it has a lot of heart.

Rep : bi MC, queer-friendly narrative. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual content and Toxic relationship

antimony's review against another edition

adventurous fast-paced

• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

i LOVED the beginning of this book. the first 2 parts were so fun. the writing style...the characters...the series of events..... like for example the school. which reminded me of the certain brand of middle grade books i used to love. i really enjoyed every time it was mentioned that all the school cared about was memorization bc it felt just like the humor in some kids' book set in an ambiguous time period where adventure runs rampant and school is soul-sucking. i adored page 45, where we first see the pov of theodolphous rose. the line (which im writing from memory, so bear with me when it isn't accurate) "in fact, patricia had been right about the man. his name was theodolphous rose, and he was a member of the nameless order of assassins." was just SO FUN. 

things went downhill from there.

part 3. was not very good. it started strong, though not as strong as the first two parts. and it was ok. nice to see where the characters ended up. or something. but then they started to be a tad annoying, and then the timeskips began. these timeskips drove me mad. it was like we skipped the most convenient times to make things happen without having to be explained. like she wanted laurence and patricia to get together despite not really having chemistry? skip a few weeks and cut to them having sex (speaking of which.....i generally skip sex scenes, so im not really a good source for what's good or bad, but this one was pretty bad). the world is falling apart but you want to skip to the good part where it already has? cool! skip a few months and the collapse is no longer impending and you don't have to write anything actually falling apart. >:\

part 4 was a tad redeemable. things stopped making sense but i liked that

laurence told isobel abt magic and lost his voice. this may seem strange of me but idk it was satisfyinf.

i feel like some of the events were strung together nonsensically, and things happened to happen but they didn't fit together? if that makes any sense.

anyway. very strong start, which descended into something i did not like, which rose up to fizzle out and not quite be good or bad. points for the beginning & the writing bc i do like this style and i also like being nice.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Violence, Animal cruelty, and Death

Moderate: Confinement

Minor: War

anniereads221's review against another edition

adventurous challenging mysterious slow-paced

• Loveable characters? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Alcohol, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Violence, Bullying, Murder, and Vomit

talonsontypewriters's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious tense medium-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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Animal cruelty, Violence, and Death

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Child abuse, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Gun violence, Murder, Stalking, Alcohol, Medical content, Animal death, Grief, Gore, Confinement, Drug use, Body horror, and War

Minor: Vomit, Rape, and Self harm