Reviews tagging 'Murder'

The Deep by Rivers Solomon

56 reviews

viivacious's review against another edition

challenging dark hopeful sad fast-paced

• Strong character development? Yes

3.0

The narration is good. I don't think I would have gone through with it in print, since I have trouble reading dark stuff. It was good, and the ending was nice. Still, the generational trauma can be a little too hard to deal with if you're not in the right head space.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Slavery, Grief, and Murder

miss_elease's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

4.0

• most compelling intro to a book I've read in a long time
• fucking brilliant afterword that is all the more appreciated after reading Afrofuturism: A History of Black Futures
• the juxtapositions and complications of one's relationship to time(s) is very well handled

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Violence, Grief, Murder, and War

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts and Suicide attempt

alexandryareads's review against another edition

emotional 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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Slavery

Moderate: Animal death and Murder

charrlee's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

"'What is belonging?' we ask.
She says, 'Where loneliness ends.'" (Solomon 49)

"How disorienting it is to go most of your life wondering about a thing, only to happen upon the answer, and it is a horror." (Solomon 57).

River Solomon's novella is profoundly atmospheric. I've never connected to a work so deeply and I will continue to be spellbound by Solomon's beautifully tragic narrative. Listen to "The Deep" by clipping. to see the inspiration and building of the mythos. I am thrilled for my future reread. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Genocide, Hate crime, Racism, Violence, Grief, and Murder

Moderate: Death and Death of parent

savvylit's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious fast-paced

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

3.5

Solomon's writing throughout The Deep is evocative and rhythmic. It's no wonder that this whole story is based on a song of the same name by clipping. The concept at this book's core, that merpeople were born of pregnant women thrown overboard on slave ships, is so haunting and poignant. I loved the lore that Solomon built around the wajinru and their culture: The Remembering, the relationships with land dwelling humans, the connections with whales... The Deep contains such a beautiful and rugged undersea world.

The Deep is a truly stunning novella. My only complaint is that the length of the story left me wanting more. I wanted more info on the Tidal Wars or Oori's family. The Deep was so immersive that I would have gladly stayed in its world for many more hours. Alas!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Genocide, Racism, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Trafficking, Grief, Murder, and Pregnancy

building_a_bookdom's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Eating disorder, Genocide, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Grief, Suicide attempt, Abandonment, and War

Moderate: Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail

pages_and_cacti's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense 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

2.5

The Deep by Rivers Solomon

Yetu, the Historian for the Wajinru, descendants of pregnant African slave women that were thrown into the ocean by slavers, wants to live a life of freedom from the history she holds for her kind.  She must learn that her history is what makes the Wajinru who they are. 

My thoughts: I actually enjoyed the story as a whole and the meaning of the importance of one’s history. I love the line, “We cannot understand a people that would willingly choose to cut itself off from its history, no matter what pain it entails”.  Our history is who we are and should never be lost. The problem I had with the book, other reviews touted this as an LGBTQ+ book and I am not  as convinced. While Yetu and Oora did develop a relationship, Oora was human and Yetu was a “mermaid”. The Wajinru were described as fish, had both sex organs, and also called an “animal” in the writing. This relationship would seem to be more like beastiality than a lesbian relationship. I understand that this is likely not what the writer meant to portray, but it came across that way to me. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Genocide, Self harm, Sexual content, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Vomit, Suicide attempt, Murder, Pregnancy, Cultural appropriation, Abandonment, War, and Injury/Injury detail

marsh_mall0w's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Genocide, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Death of parent, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Animal death, Gore, Self harm, Suicide, Blood, Murder, and Abandonment

Minor: Eating disorder and Fire/Fire injury

directorpurry's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Racism, Slavery, Violence, Trafficking, and Murder

maeverose's review against another edition

5.0

I don’t have the words to properly review this but this book is beautiful and everyone should read it (though check content warnings first, there are some heavy themes in it).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Violence, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal death, Child abuse, Gore, Racism, Sexual content, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Vomit, and Suicide attempt

Death in childbirth, baby is born after mother died