Reviews tagging 'Violence'

Wake of Vultures by Lila Bowen

3 reviews

sarah984's review

adventurous dark slow-paced

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

1.0

I did not like this book at all. The "Western" style narration felt fake and annoyed me. Near the end there is a four or five-paragraph section that just lists all of the book’s intended themes like you might not notice them. There are a lot of attempts at diversity but most of them wind up being kind of offensive (eg. The use of skinwalkers, the situation with Nettie’s gender identity, food descriptors for skin colour, the depiction of the Lobos, the absolutely constant low-level misogyny, the way the main character thinks about and describes sex workers - even the one who tried to help her!). I hate sexual assault for shock value in YA and yes that makes an appearance here too.

If you want to read a cool fantasy western save yourself the trouble and read The Good Luck Girls instead.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Death, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Sexual assault, Torture, Transphobia, and Violence

Moderate: Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Dysphoria, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Medical content, Murder, Pregnancy, Racism, Sexual harassment, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Trafficking, Vomit, and Xenophobia

Minor: Abortion, Adult/minor relationship, Cannibalism, Deadnaming, Homophobia, Rape, and Suicide

laurenleigh's review

adventurous emotional funny 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

4.5

I got this paperback as a “blind date with a book” at my local independent bookstore. Lucky me to come across this wild ride of a YA fantasy novel! Bear with me if you’re not a Supernatural fan, but remember when Sam and Dean go back in time to the Wild West? This book, with its western setting and monster hunting plot, reminded me a lot of that episode, in the best way. It was constantly exciting, full of brilliant characters, fantastic monsters, and some epic fight scenes. Also I thoroughly enjoyed the “finally fight the big bad boss monster at the end” plot structure. But the heart of this novel made me love it much more deeply. Watching Nellie Lonesome explore her gender identity, learn about the spectrums of human sexuality, and come into her own power had me cheering her on the whole time. Books like this are so valuable to have in the hands of young readers. I feel like I have a lot of other books in the queue next, but I’m tempted to switch it up and read the sequel immediately!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, Sexual assault, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Pregnancy, Sexism, and Racism

Minor: Suicidal thoughts

raesengele's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Cursing, Deadnaming, Gore, Medical trauma, Sexual assault, and Violence

Moderate: Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Deadnaming, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Rape, and Transphobia