Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

Orphan Monster Spy by Matt Killeen

10 reviews

skylarkblue1's review

challenging dark reflective sad tense medium-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? No

3.75

Representations: https://trello.com/c/7biCmMI9/94-orphan-monster-spy-1-orphan-monster-spy-by-matt-killeen

I think I did overall like this book. Aside from being suddenly thrust into very graphic topics and descriptions to a level I did not expect from a YA novel (the pedophilia and gore mainly). If you're an adult trying to work out if it's suitable for a teen, absolutely read it first.

This book very much goes quite deep into a lot of the horrors of World War 2 that are often not mentioned or overlooked. It goes explicitly into how Jewish people were treated just in towns and within what was their communities alongside talking about the genocide itself. It talks about actual events that happened and all sorts, the level of detail is quite astounding. Most of what's mentioned isn't even on the UK curriculum for WW2 so I think it's quite good this brings up those conversations. Especially as this book also details how disabled people were part of the genocides in quite horrible, but sadly pretty accurate, ways. A suprising amount of people don't realise disabled people where part of the genocides, it's where the diagnosis of "Aspergers" came around, Hans Asperger gave kids that diagnosis if they were not autistic enough to be sent to get killed. This is why so many in the Autistic community are now moving away from the term as everyone with aspergers is part of the autism spectrum anyway. Unfortunatly this fact isn't mentioned in the book as it focuses on Down Syndrome instead, but maybe in book 2.
Another part I liked about this book was that it kinda pulled back the cover of "this big and powerful regime" and showed that it was kinda falling apart behind the scenes. The historical note at the back (highly recommend reading that after the book, it gives so much context) rightly points out that while it's a bit exaggerated in the book, in real life things where not perfect and wealthy as they wanted you to think.

I was quite shocked by the level of gore in this book though. Very detailed descriptions of injuries, the car accident has a *lot* of detail (though you don't read the accident itself, the injuries from it are detailed), and it's all from the very start as well. The pedo stuff as well was just a major suprise to suddenly have. I think it was handled decently well, but boy was I not expecting it and for that long either.

The characters where quite interesting, of course it was quite fictional in terms of their choices, if they where actually spies then they'd be long dead ngl lol. But I was able to suspend my disbelief enough to enjoy the plot, it's a very interesting idea honestly. I liked Sarah, the self-loathing low-confidence girl who slowly breaks more and more with the events of the book - it sort of reminded me of hunger games in a way and how katniss (sort of) deals with her trauma and such. The captain was a tad forgettable, but he's not in the book too much so it wasn't too bad. I really hope book 2 has some kind of conclusion for one of the boarding school girls, I won't say too much but I was quite disappointed with how this book handled her at the end.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Bullying, War, Mental illness, Medical content, Fire/Fire injury, Ableism, Injury/Injury detail, Antisemitism, Genocide, Alcoholism, Car accident, Pedophilia, Gore, and Child abuse

Moderate: Death of parent

Minor: Forced institutionalization

Young Carer, Ableist Slurs, Drugging

dmdeacon's review against another edition

challenging

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Sexual assault, and Child abuse

spacerkip's review against another edition

challenging dark tense fast-paced

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

4.5

 Brutal and disturbing, and delightfully fast-paced. I found Sarah to be ruthless and clever, and her reactions to everything that happened to her wholly human. A teenager forced to adapt to horrible situations, but in heartbreaking moments, still just a kid.

Expected warnings for antisemitism, violence, and fascism, but HUGE tw for child abuse and attempted (but unsuccessful) and referenced CSA. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Sexual harassment, Religious bigotry, Violence, Bullying, Death, Antisemitism, Blood, and Child abuse

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Vomit, Ableism, Cursing, Fire/Fire injury, Alcoholism, Classism, Genocide, and War

Minor: Misogyny and Panic attacks/disorders

klarcher's review against another edition

adventurous dark medium-paced

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

1.5

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Content Warnings

Minor: Sexual assault and Child abuse

houstonwegotaproblem's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Antisemitism, Death of parent, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Bullying, Religious bigotry, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Murder and Emotional abuse

Minor: Child abuse and War

mp_1018's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad 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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Death, Death of parent, Genocide, Grief, Hate crime, Physical abuse, War, Child abuse, Murder, Sexual harassment, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, and Religious bigotry

marlfox24's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful informative mysterious reflective 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse

Moderate: Sexual assault and Child death

godswarriorgirl's review against another edition

dark emotional sad 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

This is one of my favorite historical fiction books that I have read recently. Sarah was an incredible main character, and I loved watching her journey from scared little girl to a competent and crafty spy. All of the characters were utterly believable and I flew through the pages, disappointed when I was done. I would recommend that this book be made into a blockbuster, but no on-screen film can live up to the experience of reading this book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, War, Violence, and Antisemitism

Moderate: Child abuse, Bullying, Racism, and Sexual assault

Minor: Car accident

mayr3adsab00k's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny informative inspiring mysterious sad 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Antisemitism, Bullying, Car accident, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Grief, Gun violence, Hate crime, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Violence, and Vomit

Moderate: Blood, Body horror, Genocide, Murder, Police brutality, Rape, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Abandonment, Drug use, Drug abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Incest, Medical content, Mental illness, and Misogyny

mjwilliamson's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

This is probably the best book I’ve read this year. It is incredibly dark and though I should have expected this from a book set in Nazi Germany, I didn’t. There are horrors mentioned in this book that I don’t want to imagine, but the writing is so good that it is impossible not to. The character of Sarah was interesting and conflicting. I thought her inner turmoil between being what she needed to be vs who she was was very interesting. Action was well written, the characters were interesting and I was wholly invested in Sarah’s story. I look forward to reading the second book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Antisemitism, Blood, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Grief, Gun violence, Hate crime, Misogyny, Murder, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, Vomit, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Confinement, Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

Minor: Forced institutionalization and Mental illness