Reviews tagging 'Injury/Injury detail'

Axiom's End by Lindsay Ellis

22 reviews

caseythereader's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• 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, Violence, Kidnapping, Medical content, Cursing, Death, Vomit, Blood, Car accident, Confinement, Gore, Gun violence, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Colonisation

bookishchef's review against another edition

adventurous funny mysterious reflective 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? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Xenophobia and Car accident

Moderate: Violence, War, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, and Genocide

Minor: Vomit, Torture, Murder, and Blood

loochysue's review

adventurous emotional hopeful tense 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Car accident, Death, and Blood

Minor: Vomit, Emotional abuse, and Excrement

brnineworms's review against another edition

adventurous tense fast-paced

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

4.0

This is YA. That’s not a positive or negative judgement, just an observation. It wasn’t marketed as YA fiction as far as I recall but that is absolutely how it reads – a college-age protagonist who needs to learn a lesson or two about responsibility, an intermittently-relevant family, awkward romance, drama, angst, queer rep, etc. I enjoyed it but I can see I’m not the target audience.

Also,

I feel like a lot more could have been done with the fact that Ampersand’s knowledge of Earth culture was hundreds of years out of date. He could have spoken Middle English, for example. The point was that he thought humans were violent and backwards, owing to the fervent religious fundamentalism and purges he witnessed in the wake of the Black Death. But then that seems kind of unnecessary, because we’d already seen him horrified by humans eating meat – there was no need to invoke medieval atrocities when there are already aspects of modern life which he finds abhorrent.

This may seem nitpicky but it’s superfluous details like this that end up making the book at least a hundred pages longer than it needed to be. Thankfully, the quick pace prevented the story from feeling like a slog.

I’d recommend Axiom’s End to fans of Stephenie Meyer’s The Host. It has a similar vibe.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical content, Suicide, Confinement, Self harm, Stalking, and Violence

Moderate: Racism, Death, Antisemitism, Cursing, Drug use, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, and Sexual content

Minor: Torture, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Ableism, Car accident, Colonisation, Grief, Gun violence, Islamophobia, Slavery, Vomit, Murder, War, Abandonment, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Excrement, and Fire/Fire injury

mind control, not having control over one's own body

nulliusmomenti's review against another edition

adventurous reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Genocide and Abandonment

Minor: Medical content, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, and Suicidal thoughts

cfell's review against another edition

adventurous challenging reflective tense fast-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Blood, Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Panic attacks/disorders, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Gore, Suicide, Genocide, and Gun violence

Minor: Sexism and Torture

peytonktracy's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny 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? It's complicated

4.0

Okay, so I downloaded this audiobook to have something to listen to while I did chores and I listened to all 16 hours of this book in just over a day. Holy moly, ET, this was a ride.

I have seen critique about how the writing style of this book was off, that the pacing was funky, and it could be tightened and expanded in places. While I kind of agree, I didn't have much of a problem with this because Ellis' writing style had all the je ne sais quoi of fanfiction writing, which is a writing style I am familiar with, comfortable in, and frankly adore.

I have also seen critique that our main protagonist, Cora, was passive and uninteresting. While I agree about passive, I didn't see this as poor writing, I saw this as a part of her character. I, too, in her shoes, would probably freeze up and watch and beg direction much more than act when surrounded by aliens and federal agents. It was endearing to have, I dunno, a normal person who would not be your typical heroine be our main character. And furthermore, I didn't feel the point of the book was to be a big character study of Cora or her family or even Ampersand, but a musing on how American society would react to first contact, through the actions of one particular family. 

All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed this wild ride and how thought-provoking it was about the limits and lengths of empathy, how the world might respond to learning of extraterrestrial life, and spanning a big cultural and language gap. I'm eagerly diving into book two!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail and Violence

Moderate: Torture and Kidnapping

forthesanityof1's review

adventurous emotional mysterious tense 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

5.0

This had me hooked from the first chapter all the way to the end. First contact is always interesting but this concept really had me personally invested in reading as much as I could in each sitting. While there are some flaws I'll talk about, it was so enjoyable and refreshing that it deserved 5 stars without a doubt.

I loved the MC, she was relatable without drifting too far away from the narrative. Additionally, there were times where she was so painfully human and reflected an experience I had also personally experienced that I literally had to set my book down and take a breath. I've never seen those parts of me in a book before and I loved how it was handled. Empathy and understanding in the narrative even if characters didn't understand her actions.

The plot was super interesting if a bit messy at some points (most of my gripes are about the plot) and difficult to follow. The actual family dynamics I felt were supposed to have a lot of impact and did at some points but got lost behind the plot-heavy focus. I have a feeling it will come up in the rest of the series and I'm interested to see how it plays out.

The actual aliens themselves were so freaking cool. I loved the development of them and how we learned their world along with the MC. They were unique and stood out among the few other alien based stories I've read. None can touch this one. I also adored seeing how both the MC and the alien got along with each other and how that relationship evolved into something so intriguing. The soft moments really got to me and I'm borderline desperate for the next book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Blood, Body horror, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, and Violence

stormywolf's review against another edition

adventurous 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

4.0

 Audiobook Read by Abigail Thorn & Stephanie Willis
Unabridged Length: 16 Hours
Listened at 2.25x Speed

Read my full review at The Wolf's Den

Overall, I thought this audio successfully juggled the best of both worlds: utilizing two readers added some uniqueness to things, while the one-reader structure of Cora's story maintained familiarity. As some names and terms were unfamiliar (a common trait in sci-fi), the audio pronunciations were definitely appreciated. Though it took a little time for me to find the cadence, even at more than double speed there's still plenty of Cora's attitude coming through the narration. Seeing that the next book is adding a third reader into the mix, I'm excited to see how things progress and change, and not just in the story! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Kidnapping, Death, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Violence, Abandonment, Car accident, Confinement, Suicide, Cursing, Genocide, and Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Excrement and Vomit

prettyinpunk's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious 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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood and Violence

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail and Death

Minor: Vomit and Genocide