Reviews tagging 'Sexual violence'

When the Reckoning Comes by LaTanya McQueen

53 reviews

rorikae's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad 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

'When the Reckoning Comes' by LaTanya McQueen is a haunting story about the echoes of ghosts of the past. 
When she was young, Mira and her friend Jesse encountered something haunting in the old, rundown plantation in their town. Though they both got out alive, that experience has haunted them both and sent them on different trajectories. Mira has left the town, gone to college, and now has a full time job. She thinks she's fully escaped her past but then she receives a call from her childhood friend Celine. Celine is getting married at the same plantation from Mira's youth, which has now been restored and acts as a tourist attraction. With Celine's insistence, Mira agrees to come home for the wedding, seeking to get to the bottom of what happened that day in her youth and to potentially see Jesse again. 
McQueen does an exceptional job of creating a haunting atmosphere that slowly ramps up throughout the course of the book. These horrors are all based on true events but with an added dash of paranormal. There were moments in this book that were hard, but necessary, to read as McQueen makes the reader confront the true horrors of slavery. One of the most effective aspects of this story is the melding of the past and present day elements. Mira is a great main character who is easy to care for while also being a complex person. I will be interested to see what McQueen writes next as it is clear she is great at creating atmosphere and melding horrors of the past and present to create an engaging narrative. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Hate crime, Misogyny, Racism, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, and Murder

Minor: Rape and Suicide

rae_vinn's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

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

2.0

I didn’t like how the ending played out. I felt like it was unfair that the black woman was the one who was truly subjected to the whores of slavery. Meanwhile, the white people who, needed to do the most learning, got off easy. I don’t like that  most  of the gruesome details were done to the African-American characters, and when it came time for the white characters to experience death, all but one, was relatively quick.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Blood, Kidnapping, Suicide attempt, Murder, Pregnancy, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

mingusss's review

dark emotional mysterious reflective tense fast-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Slavery, and Murder

Moderate: Sexism, Sexual violence, and Police brutality

rigbees's review against another edition

challenging dark medium-paced

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

4.5

A horror novel that mostly takes place during the plantation wedding of the Black main character's white high school friend. In this Southern horror novel, the past literally haunts the town where the characters live. It's well-paced with each reveal happening at a satisfying time. The work also strongly speaks to the way the past affects the current future.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence and Slavery

honeycruller's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Overall, I liked the book. I was looking for something similar to Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward so I gave this a go. My only qualm is that there were several points where there was more tell than there was show. There would be a beautiful (and accessible) metaphor, then two paragraphs later it would be spelled out for the reader. I understood it the first time, I don’t need the metaphor explained thank you. There was some very graphic scenes near the end, violence and gore but it’s not unrealistic … humans are awful. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Slavery, Torture, and Violence

Minor: Child abuse, Child death, Rape, and Sexual violence

The scenes where they talk about things being made of human flesh, the flesh of the enslaved people, literally had me so nauseous I thought I was going to be ill.

quantumponies's review against another edition

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism and Slavery

Moderate: Sexual violence and Torture

lefthandlou's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, and Murder

kaerene's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

5.0

Another TikTok recommendation that lives up to the hype. It has everything thing: horror, ghosts, and multiple deaths at a wedding on an old plantation home. Once you get halfway through, you will be unable to stop reading as you are taken on a wild journey not knowing what is a vision and what is real. This is a really heavy read so be sure to check content warnings as these characters go through a lot in this book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Murder, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail

aisabel's review against another edition

dark sad 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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Racism, Slavery, and Violence

Moderate: Gore, Racial slurs, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Blood, Grief, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

nchipp's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense fast-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Hate crime, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Classism