Reviews tagging 'Torture'

First, Become Ashes by K.M. Szpara

18 reviews

tabbiecat's review

dark hopeful fast-paced

• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

1.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Toxic relationship, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, Emotional abuse, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Slavery, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Drug use, and Torture

marstarr's review against another edition

challenging dark funny mysterious sad 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

2.5

Hmm. I think this book almost does something, but it just fell short. There was such tonal whiplash in parts and it felt like it was handling really heavy and intense topics without sufficient care and without having it *mean* something. I just think if you’re going to do that much on-page rape and torture there has to be some sort of proper catharsis or narrative satisfaction at the end.  I have to wonder who the intended audience is for this book, because I have to admit that it was not me 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Violence, Rape, Torture, and Physical abuse

blacksphinx's review

adventurous dark emotional 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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Self harm, Blood, Emotional abuse, Sexual violence, Fire/Fire injury, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, and Sexual content

Moderate: Gun violence, Confinement, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Medical content and Police brutality

bethmalena's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective 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

3.5

This book constantly challenged my expectations, especially around the theme of magic. I loved how queer it was, and that it honoured the different ways people heal from [religious] trauma. I felt uncomfortable with the level of detail around some of that trauma, particularly the sexual trauma - it felt like torture porn in places, and distracted from the overall message. Honestly I could have used more dialogue and less sex in general. But I think it’s still a book that will stick with me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Violence, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Gun violence, and Physical abuse

alsoapples's review

adventurous challenging emotional tense fast-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Child abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, and Trafficking

Moderate: Gaslighting, Incest, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Violence, Torture, and Toxic relationship

cfell's review

adventurous challenging dark 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Child abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Self harm, Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual content

spacebetweenpages's review

dark emotional sad slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Self harm, Sexual content, Torture, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Rape, and Sexual assault

phyllis_lam's review

adventurous dark 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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Torture, and Physical abuse

surefinewhatever_'s review

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

3.5

Magic (or maybe not?), cults, fandom culture, queer folks who get to exist and go on quests, this book hit so many marks for me. The themes of friendship and support and trust were really compelling. Though the darker parts of this book were incredibly hard for me to stomach (so please refer to the Trigger Warnings). I also felt that the author didn’t even need to include Deryn’s perspective to the split narrative. It wasn’t as present or fleshed out as the others, nor did it have much to offer to the story or plot. Overall, Deryn felt further neglected (which whether that irony because of Deryn’s story was intentional or not, tough to say). I think the text would have been stronger had that been scrapped. The rest of the then/now split worked for me, and it made sense to see Lark, Kane, & Calvin on this journey. This is a really heavy read about navigating trauma, life outside of a cult, and the possibility of magic. Moving, but tough tough tough.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Fire/Fire injury, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, and Violence

kelseyland's review

dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

3.75

I think that readers who have extensive familiarity with or participation in fandom culture are the ideal audience for this book, which deals extensively in tropes/topics that are popular in fanfiction but might be jarring for other readers. It's an intense book and deals extensively with trauma, so I would definitely recommend reading and heeding the content warning printed in the book.

Content warning, per book flap: First, Become Ashes contains explicit sadomasochism and sexual content, as well as abuse and consent violations, including rape. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Torture, and Self harm