Reviews tagging 'Xenophobia'

All Our Hidden Gifts by Caroline O'Donoghue

10 reviews

cstefko'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? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I really enjoyed this one, and Caroline O'Donoghue is quickly become a must-read author for me. This one was obviously very different from [book:The Rachel Incident|63094957] (adult, literary fiction vs this book's YA fantasy), but there's some crossover in terms of the superb queer rep and strong character development. There were a couple of times I got a little confused about the lore but it all worked out in the end. I'm excited to read the sequels now! 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Hate crime, Gore, Xenophobia, Suicide, Religious bigotry, Lesbophobia, and Bullying

copper_ink's review

adventurous funny hopeful mysterious medium-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia and Blood

Moderate: Self harm and Suicide attempt

Minor: Domestic abuse and Xenophobia

pumpkinbread's review

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Xenophobia

Minor: Bullying and Blood

lunaxlore's review

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Hate crime, Xenophobia, Suicidal thoughts, Self harm, Religious bigotry, Transphobia, Violence, and Homophobia

Moderate: Blood, Death, and Dysphoria

Minor: Domestic abuse

sarahnoffy's review against another edition

adventurous dark sad 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Xenophobia, Self harm, Suicide attempt, and Transphobia

abigailc0x's review

emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

i literally read 250 pages today so be impressed!!!
it was really really good hence why i read most of it in a few days but ended not how i expected it
side note the made up song lyrics made me slightly cringe but maybe that’s a me thing

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Homophobia, Suicide, and Violence

Moderate: Bullying, Outing, Suicide, Blood, Deadnaming, Suicide attempt, Self harm, and Transphobia

Minor: Xenophobia

hann4's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny 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? Yes

5.0

I loved it

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Blood, Xenophobia, Bullying, Deadnaming, Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, Self harm, Sexism, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Toxic friendship, Xenophobia, Adult/minor relationship, and Suicidal thoughts

rinku's review against another edition

emotional funny mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

 All Our Hidden Gifts was a really nice urban fantasy witch story. For what it was, I enjoyed it and especially the diverse cast and modern themes that were thematized. Still, I couldn’t stop myself from comparing the book to the Engelsfors trilogy, an urban fantasy witch story set in a small city as well, and this one just executes this kind of story better.  

But those story elements are some of my favorites, especially the small city setting, so I still loved it. The story centres around Maeve who finds some tarot cards one day and becomes popular quickly at school since she can seemingly tell her schoolmates the future. When she reads her former best friend Lily some cards out of peer pressure, she lays the card of the Mamsell. After this, Lily disappears, and Maeve tries to find where she went while learning about her new magical powers. Thus, the magic system focusses on tarot cards and witches. I generally liked this witchy vibe, but some aspects were not explained properly, like how it was possible for Maeve to be suddenly in Roe’s head and vice versa. 

Besides those fantasy elements, the book also deals with many modern topics with a special focus on LGBTQ+ which I quite enjoyed. There’s a religious cult that is against a progressive society and full of bigotry. I also really liked the setting and there especially the catholic girls’ school. It was depicted so well and reminded me so much of my school life; for example, when there’s one guy that is a bit younger and decent looking, everyone in school freaks out lmao, or how fast fake rumours are spreading. 

Both the writing style and characters were nice as well. The writing style was funny most of the time but also serious and even creepy when it was appropriate. The diverse cast of characters the story had to offer was interesting as well and I liked our main characters. Maeve herself was interesting since she had both good and bad traits. I loved to see how her friendship with Fiona slowly started to bloom. 

Like I mentioned above, I had the feeling that this book was similar to Engelsfors, especially the second book Fire. I believe that those similarities are probably coincidental, but I still noticed them. Both stories take place a small city and a religious cult plays a big role. The character constellations are similar too, with for example an old lady that has an esoteric shop in town but is a witch in reality and becomes the mentor for our main characters. But there are of course differences: Engelsfors also deals with LGBTQ+ topics but All Our Hidden Gifts does it way more extensively and is generally more progressive. The stories also have very different vibes; Engelsfors is more strange and less funny which I personally just like more. 

As a sidenote, a little thing that annoyed me is how the author mixed up grunge and goth music – if you want to mention 80s/90s music in your book so that it sounds cooler, you should at least do your research. I find it a bit weird though that out of all musicians from the 80s, the author chose Morrissey, since he’s known to have controversial political opinions. The author is so careful with progressive topics generally that I think that she could’ve chosen another artist just as well. I also find it weird that it is never critically reflected but rather admired by Maeve that the underage Fiona has relationships with older guys. 

There’s definitely much potential for the sequel of All Our Hidden Gifts since there are many open plot lines, and I’m excited to read it and see in which direction it develops. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Hate crime, Homophobia, Religious bigotry, Transphobia, Blood, Lesbophobia, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Death

bella63096's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood and Xenophobia

Moderate: Racism, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Bullying, Homophobia, Biphobia, and Hate crime

lyxenistired's review against another edition

adventurous emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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: Homophobia and Violence

Moderate: Sexual content

Minor: Racism and Xenophobia