Reviews tagging 'Injury/Injury detail'

Lovely War by Julie Berry

40 reviews

padawan17's review against another edition

emotional sad 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

5.0

I don't like romances. I usually find them boring and infuriating. But this one is an exception. I adore this book. I love every character, I love that is narrated by Greek gods, I love that it is a romance, but Berry grapples with other issues too. Racism in the 1910s, war, death, grief, it's all there, but it's so hopeful. I cried many times. Do yourself a favor and read this. For me, it's better every time I reread it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, War, Racial slurs, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual assault, Mental illness, Death, and Racism

Moderate: Sexual harassment

Minor: Blood, Bullying, and Cursing

caitlinemccann's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Racism, Injury/Injury detail, and War

Moderate: Racial slurs, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, and Sexual harassment

mme_carton's review against another edition

emotional hopeful 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? No

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual assault, Blood, Body horror, Death, Death of parent, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Infidelity, Murder, Xenophobia, Vomit, Medical content, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexual harassment, War, Racism, Racial slurs, Sexism, and Violence

Moderate: Police brutality, Abandonment, and Rape

ididsomereading's review against another edition

dark emotional 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Violence, Sexual assault, Racial slurs, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Death, Classism, Blood, War, Hate crime, and Slavery

tak_everlasting's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful reflective 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Death, War, Mental illness, Murder, Violence, and Racism

Moderate: Gun violence

Minor: Sexual violence

sxrxh_lenx's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense fast-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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and War

nebraskanwriter's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring sad tense slow-paced

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

2.0

I really wanted to like this story more. But this book is SO long and I felt like the gods being a part of the story, in theory sounds really interesting, but the way Berry goes about it by having Aphrodite be on trial made the story convoluted, for me at least. I don’t get why there had to be alternating timelines, one from the first World War wherein we have our four mortal main characters and one timeline from the second World War when Aphrodite is on trial, it just felt disjointed to me. Why have the second timeline at all? Just tell the first timeline from the POV of the gods, no need for Aphrodite to be on trial in a separate time period, it just made no sense to me and I feel like made the book more longwinded then it needed to be.

I did love the build up of the two couple’s relationships, how Berry covers what many people went through during the war in these four main characters. However, the ending felt so rushed. We have almost 500 pages of build up to find out what happened to them in like 5 pages at the end of the book, summarized very briefly by the gods.

I loved the journey, the fleshing out of the characters, peeling back the grim layers of war and not shying away from the army’s racism but rather shining a light on it. I loved the history, the feelings of first love and second chances after one had maybe lost their first love. That I loved, it’s just a shame the ending was so rushed kind of helter-skelter like otherwise I probably would have rated it higher.

Berry definitely did her research for this book, I will say that for sure. There is a historical note in the back where she sites many books and a bibliography as well. So that was not a miss, the care in which she took to tell multiple sides of the war (both without and within) must be acknowledged. 

But pacing was this book’s downfall, too long and convoluted to get to such a lackluster ending… 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Classism, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Gun violence, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, War, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Pregnancy, Violence, Abandonment, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Blood, Bullying, Confinement, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Grief, Death, and Hate crime

kassidyreads's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Death, War, Sexual assault, and Racism

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Grief, and Mental illness

aweightytome's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense slow-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

I enjoyed that the perspectives were told by Greek Gods, a unique interpretation. Lovely War has you on your toes, the writing has you laughing or in tears. And, I thoroughly enjoyed the ending

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Death, Racial slurs, and War

Moderate: Mental illness, Murder, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Grief

luciennecrouch's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful sad medium-paced

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

4.75

I LOVE THIS BOOK I READ IT 3 TIMES I CAN'T EXPLAIN IT

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism and War

Moderate: Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder

Minor: Sexual content