Reviews tagging 'Violence'

Mercy by Ian Haramaki

6 reviews

cryscries's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective 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

3.75

I really like the authors writing style from devout an anthology and took a crack of reading Mercy. For a moment I thought the story was connected to the short story in devout but it is not- however I am very excited if there is going to be a sequel to this book as I feel like there was still unanswered questions. 

It definitely feels like a slow burn and everything happens near the very end. The book did a really good job with character building. There were times where I felt a bit confused about the time period and setting of the characters because I imagine it to be both very old timey but it also is very modern but I don’t by how much so I would just like more world building.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content

Moderate: Child abuse, Violence, Physical abuse, and Religious bigotry

There is graphic or moderate descriptions of sex - I personally don’t feel any way about it but if it makes you uncomfortable to read it’s definitely okay to skip them not all of it really is needed for the plot - the last page does end with the characters having a sort of marriage night but the very last page describes mostly the open ended possibility of another book.

rayneelee's review

dark lighthearted medium-paced

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

1.5

Interesting concept- poor execution. The characterizations of the two main lead felt inconsistent and all over the place. The dialogue felt too modern and conflicted with the setting, which was underdeveloped and confusing. The main plot doesn’t really start until around 70% of the way through the book. Way too much telling instead of showing.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content

Moderate: Violence, Homophobia, Bullying, Physical abuse, and Infidelity

Minor: Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Suicidal thoughts

celestepaed's review

emotional lighthearted medium-paced

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

3.25

This book is for people who wanted a version of Priest by Sierra Simone that doesn’t make them feel icky about religion or sex. The love between the two main characters is just so pure even if the things they get up to aren’t. The cyclical, anxiety thoughts of the main narrator are authentic and the undoing of said thoughts by the love interest felt natural and earned.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Alcoholism, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Alcohol, Death of parent, and Violence

Moderate: Outing, Panic attacks/disorders, Vomit, Blood, Homophobia, Grief, and Kidnapping

puttingwingsonwords's review against another edition

dark emotional 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Religious bigotry, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, and Sexual content

Moderate: Child abuse, Death of parent, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Death, and Cursing

Minor: Vomit, Suicidal thoughts, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Body horror, Cannibalism, Blood, and Fire/Fire injury

haileeraye's review

adventurous dark emotional funny 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? It's complicated

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Emotional abuse, Violence, Sexual content, Alcoholism, Blood, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Homophobia and Death of parent

atlastheninth's review

adventurous emotional funny 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

5.0

I read this book because I loved the authors short story in "Devout" and I was not disappointed! 

This was the perfect book for me: A queer angel, pining, a bit of hurt/comfort and great character development. There even was a bit of plot, good plot! The ending was very satisfying, but still set up the story for the next book in this series and I will definitly read that too. 

 

While this is a romance book, the world-building (mostly religion-building I suppose) was nicely weaved into it. 

 

Now most of the book is told from Ilyas POV, but there are a few chapters told from Danyas. And I love both of them so much. Danya who just wants to protect Ilya, take car of him and show him how much he loves him. And Ilya who is hated by the whole village, who's never felt unconditional love, who thinks that he will die alone and unloved and who that he's not even worthy of love, let alone of Danyas. 

The pacing was great too. The slow change of Ilya from this to allowing himself to be loved was *chefs kiss*. 

Also splitting the books into two parts (a "before" and "after") and calling the first one "Night" and the second one "Day"? Genius, I love it. 

 

I have no notes. 

 

"They were both impossible men who had been hurt by so many things, trying to heal the other and find comfort in them. [...] They would come out of this together, stronger together, happier together." 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Alcoholism, Sexual harassment, and Homophobia

Minor: Emotional abuse, Child abuse, and Death of parent

abusive parent, abusive church dynamics