Reviews tagging 'Lesbophobia'

The First Bright Thing by J.R. Dawson

7 reviews

littlelizzieborden's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Loveable characters? No

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Lesbophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Alcoholism, Cursing, and Homophobia

starlitpage's review

dark hopeful medium-paced

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

3.5

This book suffers a bit from a case of modern sensibilities in a period novel. But if you can get through the first few chapters, it justifies itself with meaning and hope grounded in the book's present. In the end, it does have a modern queer hopefulness that reminds me of Becky Chambers or TJ Klune, and the period of it--sandwiched between the first and second world wars, with what that entails for a time-hopper--serves that message. I'm still not entirely sure how much to trust the historical accuracy,  but at least there's an in-text acknowledgement of the most glaring anachronism (to me, with my circus experience) and a list of sources on circus history in.the acknowledgements pages.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, and War

Moderate: Alcoholism, Death, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Police brutality, Antisemitism, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Genocide, Misogyny, and Lesbophobia

The narrative is on the right side against homophobia and antisemitism

bobbi's review

dark hopeful slow-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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Death, Homophobia, Death of parent, Murder, Lesbophobia, Alcohol, and War

Minor: Eating disorder, Gun violence, Suicidal thoughts, and Forced institutionalization

blacksphinx's review against another edition

adventurous 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

4.0

There's just one character where every part of her, from her personality, to her actions, to the way her storyline ends, that I found extremely annoying. I also don't feel that the two major plotlines really ever came together in a way that was satisfying. Those criticisms aside, it was wonderful to read a fantasy story that was deeply steeped in Judaism, and a "found family" story that actually sells you on how the characters are a family.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Toxic relationship, Grief, Death of parent, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Genocide, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Misogyny, Antisemitism, Lesbophobia, and Classism

Minor: Eating disorder, Sexual violence, Forced institutionalization, Vomit, and Pandemic/Epidemic

TW: Eye trauma, references to the Holocaust, graphic descriptions of the effect of atomic bombs on the human body.

rhi_'s review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious 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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Death, Violence, and War

Minor: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Homophobia, Antisemitism, Lesbophobia, and Alcohol

trogers71's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense medium-paced

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Lesbophobia, and War

bittennailbooks's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

• 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

3.75

I was provided the ARC for The First Bright Thing by J.R Dawson for free in exchange for an honest review.

The First Bright Thing is JR Dawson's debut novel that promises to be for fans of the Night Circus and Addie La Rue.  Ambitious claims! I was very excited to get into it.

First off, there are a lot of storylines in this book.  You have the ring master Rin trying to stop World War II while dealing with the injustice of the treatment of her people as both a Spark (magical individual) and being Jewish, and a cat and mouse game with the rival circus owner who used to control her, and a parallel storyline at the same time.  The parallel and eventual converging storyline is Edward who finds out that he is a Spark and uses his power of suggestion to go the evil route.  Like I said, a lot going on!

What I liked: There was a lot of diversity in this book, just a heads up that this is not a "no homophobia" world and it is a CW for the book. I thought Dawson did an incredible job writing Edward's emotional manipulator personality and drive, a high note on how delightfully frustrating this character was for me. It was an easier read and I managed to read through it in a day and a half on my Kindle.

What I think could use improvement on: there is a lot going on with this book, almost too much.  There is way too many storylines and plot driving that don't seem to mesh well together. If you are a fan of the Night Circus and Addie La Rue for the lyrical prose of the book, I don't think this is on par with that. The world building and descriptions are not described thoroughly. It gives more Umbrella Academy or X-Men vibes mixed with the circus. 

I think this will be a good book for magical realism fans but some of the plots need to either be reduced or tightened up a bit.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Gun violence, Sexism, and War

Moderate: Alcoholism, Death, Hate crime, Homophobia, Antisemitism, Grief, Death of parent, Lesbophobia, Alcohol, and Colonisation

Minor: Sexual violence and Suicidal thoughts