Reviews tagging 'Murder'

Kindred: A Graphic Novel Adaptation by Octavia E. Butler

20 reviews

cartermon4's review

dark emotional tense 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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Sexual violence, Suicide, Self harm, Racism, Torture, Blood, Slavery, Murder, Violence, Racial slurs, and Death

Moderate: Rape, Grief, Sexual assault, Abandonment, and Infertility

Minor: Miscarriage

caitlin_lore's review against another edition

dark informative sad 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? Yes

5.0

A fabulous adaptation of a beloved science-fiction story. This is a hard read, but a must read as it explores the intersection of power, grief, gender, and race issues. It's eye-opening, truthful, and a powerful representation of the past. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, Suicide, Physical abuse, and Murder

gemstonejasper's review

challenging dark emotional reflective 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

4.0

This was a great adaptation of the original book. It's been years since I read the original, so I thought I'd pick this up to scratch that itch without having to read all of Kindred again (I'm in the middle of Octavia Butler's Xenogenesis trilogy, so I didn't want to get her writing confused). At first, the art seemed jarring. But the more I read, the more I realized that the art is a perfect fit for the story. 

It's a heartbreaking story that explores Dana's perspective as she is repeatedly pulled into the past to save the life of Rufus, her distant white ancestor. The first time she is pulled back, he is just a child and she saves his life. Each time she goes, he has aged up anywhere from months to years. To keep her family line going, and ensure her own existence, Dana has to keep Rufus alive long enough for his child to be born. But that's not easy. The story gives you no other choice but to watch as a child, innocent as any other, is corrupted by his family, culture, time, experiences, etc., and becomes a disgusting plantation owner.

Don't expect to read this in one sitting. Some books can be read that fast, and some people may be able to do that here. But the horror of the subject matter makes it very hard to read in one sitting. I had to take frequent breaks to process what had happened. But I really loved the story.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Violence, Body horror, Medical trauma, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, Trafficking, Ableism, Gaslighting, Blood, Confinement, Grief, Gun violence, Hate crime, Racial slurs, Self harm, Suicide, Child abuse, Racism, Rape, Chronic illness, Death, Gore, Suicide attempt, Torture, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Sexual violence, Police brutality, Sexual content, and Slavery

nick_thebucket's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

This book is incredible but the art is so poor that it actually detracts from the story. The way the expressions are drawn is so cheesy and it just doesn't read as authentic at all. Like they drew her looking more emotional eating shrimp than when she returned after time traveling for the first time. It doesn't look like the characters are feeling the emotions, they look like they're acting, if that makes sense. The anatomy was.... there were so many mistakes and they were very beginner level mistakes. The characters didn't even look like themselves half the time because the artists couldn't draw them consistently. Also the layout/composition of panels was so hard to read at times that they literally added in white border to try to make some sense of what's going on and I thought the white linework was distracting and unappealing.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Blood, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Hate crime, Trafficking, Torture, Toxic relationship, Death, Pregnancy, Physical abuse, Violence, Kidnapping, Sexual assault, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Toxic friendship, Misogyny, Racism, Rape, Slavery, Self harm, Sexual violence, Confinement, and Murder

Moderate: Vomit, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Kidnapping, Medical content, Abandonment, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Incest, and Emotional abuse

canascorner's review

challenging dark sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Blood, Classism, Rape, Forced institutionalization, Suicide, Violence, Confinement, Murder, Body horror, Slavery, Death of parent, Gore, and Racism

emrockwell14's review

challenging dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

4.5

I haven’t read the original book, but feel like if I had there would have been just enough more detail to make this a 5 star read. Even seeing what was cut from the prologue (as shown at the end in the “process of making this adaptation” section) due to space constraints made me wonder what was else was missing from the original. Otherwise, this story was gripping and the illustrations made it come to life in ways that haunt me still after reading it. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Sexual assault, Death, Violence, Murder, Sexual violence, Domestic abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, Pregnancy, Torture, Suicide attempt, Self harm, Rape, Physical abuse, Misogyny, Medical trauma, and Blood

Minor: Miscarriage and Death of parent

ashenblood's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.5

Couple panels didn't make complete sense like it skipped one or two but otherwise it was a tense story. Went into this blind so had no knowledge of what I was about to read.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Racial slurs, and Racism

Moderate: Sexual assault, Murder, Self harm, Suicide attempt, Trafficking, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexism, Torture, Suicide, Religious bigotry, Sexual violence, and Misogyny

kelseyr713's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative sad tense fast-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? It's complicated

5.0

Excellent adaptation of the novel. I enjoyed the art style and artistic choices made throughout.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Racial slurs, Slavery, Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Medical content, Gore, Confinement, Medical trauma, Murder, Physical abuse, Racism, and Torture

Moderate: Suicide, Suicide attempt, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Infidelity, Pregnancy, Rape, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Alcohol

mxmarta's review

dark emotional 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

4.5

A very interesting plot mechanism of time travelling to the past to contrast the reality of late 20th century with early 19th century, in a plantation in the south. I'm definitely interested in reading the original novel, but this graphical novel adaptation is very easy to read and conveys the horrors of colonisation and slavery in a visceral way by virtue of being visual. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Racial slurs, Blood, Colonisation, Sexism, Genocide, Racism, Violence, Physical abuse, Self harm, Slavery, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Sexual violence, and Gore

Minor: Miscarriage and Child death

bookishchef's review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-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

That 0,5 star is because I struggled with the art style sometimes. 

This book had me ugly crying. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Blood, Cursing, Death, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Sexism, Medical content, Murder, Slavery, Racism, Self harm, Suicide, Torture, Violence, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Ableism, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Emotional abuse, Drug use, Domestic abuse, and Miscarriage

Minor: Infidelity, Child abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Child death, and Infertility