Reviews tagging 'Animal death'

The Half Life of Valery K by Natasha Pulley

8 reviews

cleot's review

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Death, Gaslighting, Confinement, Animal cruelty, and Police brutality

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, War, Antisemitism, Homophobia, Terminal illness, Violence, and Animal death

Minor: Sexual violence, Ableism, Genocide, and Misogyny

gulag, soviet repression, femicide, human experimentation, nazism, Josef mengele, radiation, surveillance state, child experimentation, willful exposure of civilian population to lethal circumstances

zigzagzmak's review

adventurous emotional funny informative mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

Possibly my favorite book I've read this year so far and a contender for an all time favorite. I'm a big fan of Pulley's writing style and the way she just sucks you into the story. I read this book in just a few short days, staying up late each night because I couldn't set it down to go to sleep. 

The people in this story just feel real, supported by such a real and well researched world inspired by very real events and places. It is so clear how Pulley spent ages reading and understanding the science of radiation and the politics and the history of what it was like in the Soviet union. 

Additionally, stories where characters are queer but it's not the point and romance isn't the main storyline are so lovely, and this is no exception. There's a slow burning love story that happens alongside everything else, but in addition to the romantic love we also get to see the way that Valery's platonic love for humanity and his comradeship for those around him inspires rebellion and whistleblowing for the greater good of fellow humans living in danger. A++ work all aroundn with incredibly satisfying payoff that is irrefutable and inevitable without changing the tone or genre of the book when it happens.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Miscarriage, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Emotional abuse, Medical trauma, Forced institutionalization, Confinement, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Animal death, Terminal illness, Child abuse, and Cancer

shmandy's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense slow-paced

4.25

Did I sign up for a lesson in various science facets I’ll never understand no matter how artfully they’re worded? Absolutely not. 

Did I sign up for Natasha Pulley to slowly strong arm me into removing my heart piece by piece? Apparently. 

Terribly sad and all at once warm , it really is all about love and octopi and friendship , isn’t it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War and Cancer

Moderate: Animal death

breadwitchery's review

adventurous mysterious 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Violence, Animal death, and Death

Moderate: Medical trauma, Confinement, Murder, Gun violence, Homophobia, Forced institutionalization, Sexism, Terminal illness, Torture, and Police brutality

Minor: Cursing, Racism, Ableism, War, Racial slurs, Antisemitism, Alcohol, Panic attacks/disorders, and Vomit

bel017's review

adventurous challenging dark sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

Too horrifying for me (though I finished it), should have checked the content warnings first.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Violence, and Animal cruelty

Moderate: Death, Torture, Grief, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, War, Police brutality, Murder, Medical trauma, Terminal illness, Physical abuse, Homophobia, and Genocide

spacebornfew's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious 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? Yes

4.0

On one hand, this book gave me exactly what I wanted, it follows a formula that just makes something in my heart clench. It was, as always with Natahsa Pulley novels, hauntingly beautiful, tragic and tender. With bonus octopus.  

However it is becoming increasingly difficult to ignore how poorly her female characters are treated. You can't help but feel that they are plot devices purely there to move things along for the leading men. Considering the book explores sexism and gender, at some points in quite a heavy handed manner, it feels incredibly jarring to still not have women exist to have some purpose beyond window dressing. 

It's also very dark, at points a lot darker than her other novels which I had not entirely expected. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Cancer, Child death, and Death

Moderate: Animal death, Confinement, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Torture, Animal cruelty, Genocide, Homophobia, Police brutality, Rape, Terminal illness, Miscarriage, and Physical abuse

Minor: Antisemitism, Panic attacks/disorders, War, and Xenophobia

tamamorii's review

challenging dark mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia and Cancer

Moderate: Antisemitism and Genocide

Minor: Animal death

btrz7's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcohol, Antisemitism, Animal death, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Blood, Cancer, Chronic illness, Death, Forced institutionalization, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Pregnancy, Rape, Religious bigotry, and Terminal illness