Reviews tagging 'Blood'

Surrender Your Sons by Adam Sass

11 reviews

lh_reads's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Deadnaming, Death, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Blood, Child abuse, Homophobia, Kidnapping, Lesbophobia, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide

sssssoup's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective tense fast-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

This is a very important book, but it’s definitely not for everyone. It handles some very heavy subject matter, and I would highly recommend you know what you’re getting into before you start reading (the author did include content warnings at the front of the book though).

That said, I really did love reading this book. I was on the edge of my seat from beginning to end, I couldn’t put it down. The way it’s written is very engaging, and I was dying to find out what happened next. The characters also feel very realistic and I thought the author struck a good balance with how they all reacted to the incredibly stressful and traumatizing situations. 

While this is definitely a very dark story with some very chilling elements, it’s hopeful as well. It’s ultimately about breaking the cycle of abuse and trauma and making sure that bad things don’t happen to more people in the future. As a queer person myself, I found it really interesting how the author managed to balance queer joy and queer pain. This book will stick with me, and I’ll be thinking about it for a long time.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Domestic abuse, Gore, Hate crime, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Murder, Physical abuse, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, and Grief

Moderate: Alcoholism, Confinement, Cursing, Panic attacks/disorders, Alcohol, Outing, Sexism, Sexual content, and Misogyny

Minor: Death of parent, Lesbophobia, Medical content, Transphobia, Biphobia, Gun violence, Infidelity, Body shaming, Deadnaming, Suicide attempt, and Vomit

thegreenperson's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful relaxing 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Homophobia, Murder, Death, and Child death

Moderate: Abandonment, Deadnaming, and Emotional abuse

bloodyvalentine's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Violence, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Hate crime, Kidnapping, Murder, Lesbophobia, and Homophobia

Moderate: Suicide and Child abuse

Minor: Transphobia

venuscollective's review against another edition

dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Forced institutionalization, Hate crime, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Terminal illness, Pedophilia, Outing, and Grief

Minor: Biphobia, Dysphoria, and Racism

booksthatburn's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-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
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

As a queer person this was hard to read at times, and I appreciate that this a thriller set at a conversion therapy camp over a few days rather than being a longer saga set at the camp. I like the narrative balance between events at the camp and the summer leading up to it. As a thriller it’s pretty effective, I was genuinely surprised by some of the reveals at the end. When everyone running the camp is terrible by virtue of being someone who would run a conversion therapy camp… that makes for a believably large suspect pool and a compelling mystery for the protagonist to solve.

One thing which bothers me about the plot is that the central mystery is what happened years before to a character who is disabled in the present and dies shortly after the story begins. It's a mystery that could have been solved by the disabled person communicating at all with Connor earlier than when he did... instead of the actual method which relied on him dying in order for the information to be passed. It used the disabled character, Ricky, as a catalyst for how the reader enters Connor's story, and as part of the motivation for Connor's actions, and once it does begin focusing on him it's by necessity through other people's perspectives, or through things he left behind. On the other hand, part of the point is that Ricky's autonomy was impeded and his disability was caused by something related to the camp that Connor is now trying to escape, so it's just as possible that this dismissal of Ricky is on purpose, as part of the evil stuff that's happening. I'm not sure what to think about it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Emotional abuse, Blood, Violence, Child abuse, Homophobia, Murder, Suicide, and Death

Moderate: Sexual content and Gun violence

Minor: Ableism

alyshkalia's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Murder, Physical abuse, Suicide, Violence, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Blood, Child abuse, Confinement, Gaslighting, Grief, Infidelity, Lesbophobia, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, and Transphobia

Minor: Medical content, Pregnancy, Sexism, Suicide attempt, and Islamophobia

mrkdk's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Blood, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Kidnapping, Murder, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Cursing, Lesbophobia, Misogyny, Religious bigotry, Suicidal thoughts, Transphobia, and Deadnaming

Minor: Self harm, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

elissareadsbooks's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense fast-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Homophobia, Suicide, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Misogyny, and Racism

Moderate: Blood, Confinement, Panic attacks/disorders, Grief, and Gun violence

Minor: Biphobia and Islamophobia

This is a book about a conversion therapy camp. Be aware of the triggers but know that ultimately, queer people win in the end.

itsocchiolism's review

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense fast-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

The main character, Connor, is a breath of fresh air. His way of thinking and speaking feels real. All the intrusive thoughts, doubts, the sass, the wit, spectacular!! 

This book was heartbreaking and freeing. 
It wrapped up in a way that was realistic for a group of queer teens in this day and age, full of pain and hope at once. 

There are more lessons in this book than i can type with blurry eyes but the one that stuck out the most to me is that for every person who wants to hurt you, there is a person who wants to save you.

The characters grasped my heart and i know they won’t ever let go. 

“It was so kind of you to visit me in my loneliness.”

beautiful, painful, truthful, hopeful. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Homophobia, Murder, and Blood

Moderate: Child abuse, Chronic illness, and Violence

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Biphobia, Adult/minor relationship, and Transphobia