Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

Beyond the Black Door by A.M. Strickland

24 reviews

keyka's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Death of parent, and Transphobia

ohmage_resistance's review

adventurous dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.0

This book wasn’t quite for me. It was a bit too angsty. I could see that other people might really like it though. 

I read this book for its asexuality representation, and I think it did a really good job exploring that. I think the author wrote this as a book they wish they could have read when they were younger, and you can really tell (in a really wonderful way). It was brought up a lot, and I could see that Kamai’s struggle to accept her asexuality would resonate with a lot of aces. It also did a very good job explaining the basics of asexuality and introducing the idea of romantic orientations.

(Can I just mentioned how impressed I am that Strickland managed to sneak in a fantasy version of the Split Attraction Model into the book?)

I really liked how queer this book was in general (gay/bi/trans side characters) as well as having multiple ace characters. The only major downside is that the word "asexuality" is never used (because of the fantasy setting), which is completely understandable. Also, Kamai and the other major asexual side character both have very similar orientations/experiences, which means that it does tend to emphasize one particular time of asexual experience, which is another nitpick I have.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts and Death of parent

Minor: Acephobia/Arophobia

There is a bit of internalized aphobia.

carolined314's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

Ace representation! A bit of a gothy, morbid, political twisty fantasy - not quite my cuppa.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Stalking, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Grief, Kidnapping, Confinement, Violence, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Torture and Infidelity

abbyschalupa's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Toxic relationship, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Emotional abuse, Suicide attempt, Gaslighting, and Death

Moderate: Sexual content and Acephobia/Arophobia

cardanrry's review against another edition

slow-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Kidnapping

Minor: Sexism

stacyaj's review

adventurous emotional mysterious medium-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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt

Moderate: Death of parent

Minor: Sexism

dmfisher's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Murder, Gaslighting, Death of parent, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Abandonment and Classism

friendly_neighborhood_grandma's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Gaslighting, Grief, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Abandonment, Classism, and Death

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Bullying, Drug use, Gaslighting, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Medical content, Suicide attempt, Body horror, Murder, Blood, Forced institutionalization, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Gaslighting, Outing, Medical content, Sexual harassment, Sexism, Sexual assault, Acephobia/Arophobia, Alcohol, Dysphoria, Suicidal thoughts, and War

cakeboxing's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-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? Yes

4.25

Holy hells, this book was a rollercoaster of emotion. The pacing was sort of all over the place in the beginning, but after the first big event of the book, the plot just took off running. 

The concept of this book was a little out of left field for me at first, but once I got into it, I loved everything about it. I couldn't flip the pages fast enough. Reading this book was as effortless as breathing, the author's prose and style were easy to breeze through, allowing me to greedily devour this book in only a couple sittings. I would often look up and realize that a couple hours had gone by when I had only meant to read for a few minutes. 

Grief and mourning are huge themes in this book, but they way they were written feels realistic and often cut me to the bone. I cried several times throughout. 

One of the best things about this book is its obvious yet respectful inclusion of LGBTQ+ themes.

Our main character is ace and demi, and likely bi, but nothing is really cemented in place (Sexuality and identity are fluid after all), her best friend is trans,

and there are many nuanced references to gay and lesbian relationships and interactions throughout the story. Not only are these things accepted, but they are even celebrated within the pages of this book. There are even specific terms that are used for such individuals, new soul and soul crossed. 

It was refreshing to read a book with LGBTQ+ content that wasn't focused on homophobia, transphobia, or bigotry of any kind. The closest to that we see is a couple short sentences of internal fear where the main character worries that there is something wrong with her and wonders how others will perceive her, but everyone around her responds with love and respect for her identity. 

As someone who is a member of the LGBTQ+ community, I loved seeing this representation and how it was shown. I hope I can read many more books like this, and I also hope that our real world can take a page from books like these. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Murder, Toxic relationship, Violence, Death, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, and Sexual content

meagangrace's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Blood, Death of parent, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Moderate: Body horror, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Acephobia/Arophobia