Reviews tagging 'Gun violence'

The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzi Lee

63 reviews

blewballoon's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny tense medium-paced

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

4.0

I enjoyed this more than I expected to! I honestly only picked it up because I was interested in listening to the 2nd book in the series on audiobook because it's narrated by one of my favorite narrators Moira Quirk. I actually really enjoyed the narrator of this book as well! I was worried at the start, since the main character who is the POV for the whole book seemed insufferable, but he and his companions (who were much more to my taste) were dragged on quite the adventure with a lot of growth along the way. There were many twists and turns, just when I thought I had figured out how the story was going to go some other mini adventure would pop up and some new characters would come into play.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Blood, Gun violence, and Violence

Minor: Death, Physical abuse, Death of parent, and Child abuse

kaz_brekker1's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Physical abuse, Alcoholism, and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Homophobia, Vomit, Racism, Gun violence, and Biphobia

nonnavlis's review against another edition

adventurous tense medium-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? Yes

4.5

This was such a delightful read! The writing style of the author is so marvellous. It's not at all short on evocative prose, but never the sort that trips you up; it reads so smoothly and is also quite witty. I'm someone who is just branching into more modern writing and often struggle with a dislike of the style of it, but this was great. The completely unrestrained queerness was also very delightful and the characters are engaging. It's unrealistic in the good way--you probably won't see the story beats coming and they're a bit silly when they do, but in a way you want to happen because it's all the more fun.

It was also lovely to see some unexpected disability representation later in the story! (I am not considering this is a spoiler as it's something I would've wanted to know as a disabled person, but sorry if anyone feels a bit cheated in my saying so).

The only problem I had with it was the handling of racial tension within the story. I respect the author's desire for some diversity and their certainly earnest and well-meant attempt at handling it, but it did feel pretty simplistic and glossed over in a way I expect a reader of colour would find even more awkward/uncomfortable than I did as a white reader. It's unfortunately one of those stories that probably would've benefited heavily from some sensitivity readers that it seems it did not have. The fact that the author even has an author's note chapter at the end of the book dedicated to summarizing her historical research and influences (where she refers to slave-owners as masters rather than enslavers which felt to me like a pretty glaring sign of lack of knowledge in this area), but still fumbled this as much as she did is why I've removed half a star from my rating. I did see after finishing that this is part of a series so I'm hoping it will be handled better in future stories, since we all have room to learn.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Alcoholism, Physical abuse, and Child abuse

Moderate: Slavery, Vomit, Kidnapping, Homophobia, Self harm, Sexism, Colonisation, Ableism, Classism, Blood, Cursing, Sexual content, and Racism

Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Forced institutionalization, and Infidelity

kes_'s review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring tense 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Alcohol, Child abuse, Alcoholism, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Violence, and Chronic illness

Minor: Biphobia, Medical content, Self harm, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, and Suicidal thoughts

magibeth's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful mysterious sad fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Alcoholism, Addiction, Alcohol, and Child abuse

Moderate: Gaslighting, Forced institutionalization, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Blood, Death of parent, Infidelity, and Misogyny

psliz's review against another edition

adventurous 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

friends-to-lovers is all i needed. romantic angst is the cherry on top. part of the plot wasn't my favorite but like i said, friends-to-lovers with romantic angst!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness

Moderate: Biphobia, Racism, Physical abuse, Homophobia, Gun violence, Confinement, Blood, Grief, Murder, Child abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Body shaming, Alcoholism, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, and Ableism

Minor: Torture and Death of parent

bellebeaumont95's review against another edition

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Homophobia, and Gun violence

water_violin's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, Police brutality, Racism, Violence, Vomit, Grief, Biphobia, Blood, Body horror, Homophobia, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Child abuse, Medical content, Medical trauma, Ableism, Misogyny, Self harm, Gun violence, Classism, Racial slurs, Xenophobia, Islamophobia, Kidnapping, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Colonisation, Death, Cursing, Confinement, Death of parent, Drug use, Forced institutionalization, and Slavery

taigah's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood, Child abuse, Drug use, Alcohol, Violence, Homophobia, and Racism

Minor: Alcoholism, Gun violence, Misogyny, and Medical content

laurenleigh's review against another edition

adventurous funny lighthearted 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

4.0

The Queer Lit Readathon always gets me to pick up random new reads, and I often only quickly glance at blurbs before diving in. I never quite knew where we were headed with all the twists and turns on this delightful romp of a European adventure, but I had fun along the way! The romance plot line was rather predictable, but the rest of the plot was a fun ride. I really adored our three main characters, and all the folks on the side were voiced quite well, especially considering all the accents! My favorite part of Lee’s writing was how she wove in historical research. The details were peppered in to make the world more real, without feeling like I’m reading a history report. It’s inspiring me to do similar research for my own work!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism

Moderate: Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, and Child abuse

Minor: Violence, Gun violence, Blood, and Medical content