Reviews tagging 'Vomit'

A Strange and Stubborn Endurance by Foz Meadows

57 reviews

morebedsidebooks's review

slow-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Rape, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Vomit, Blood, Confinement, Homophobia, Animal death, Murder, Death, Violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Fire/Fire injury, and Sexual content

Minor: Death of parent, Ableism, Infidelity, and Misogyny

From the author: A Strange and Stubborn Endurance contains on-page depictions of rape, suicidal ideation, and self-harm. While the narrative arc is one of healing, readers should nonetheless be aware of this content in order to engage with it on their own terms.

discarded_dust_jacket's review against another edition

challenging emotional mysterious 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

4.5

I was surprised by the language in this book when I first started, and was worried that it would force me to have to re-read over and over to grasp what was being said, but honestly, I grew accustomed to it pretty quickly. Eventually, I stopped noticing it altogether.

This is a beautiful story for a number of reasons. I appreciated the focus on healing from the trauma of sexual assault, and on letting go of learned lies about oneself and one’s worth. The relationship between Vel and Cae was so tender and sweet that it had me grinning so hard my face hurt on more than one occasion.

The politics in general, but especially where it pertained to the question of inheritance, kind of went over my head, but it didn’t cause me to enjoy the book any less. This was a treat to read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Self harm, Rape, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide attempt, Animal death, Blood, Death, Homophobia, and Outing

Minor: Vomit, Fire/Fire injury, Misogyny, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, and Toxic relationship

camiye's review

adventurous dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective sad 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

4.5

Loved the universe created in this story it made the plot and characters the more special and unique

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Murder, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Animal cruelty, Fire/Fire injury, Infidelity, Grief, Blood, Self harm, and Vomit

mjaye's review

adventurous emotional mysterious 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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, and Vomit

sophiesmallhands's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Sexual violence, Death, Rape, Violence, Sexual content, and Death of parent

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gaslighting, Self harm, Animal death, Homophobia, Toxic relationship, and Ableism

Minor: Vomit and Blood

angel_hardy's review

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Vomit, Self harm, Homophobia, Violence, Suicide attempt, Sexual violence, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Death of parent, and Suicide

Moderate: Animal death

hwesta's review against another edition

adventurous emotional

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Death of parent, Death, Suicide attempt, Murder, Rape, Sexual content, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Vomit, Blood, Animal death, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, Self harm, and Grief

Minor: Alcohol

The book opens with one of the main characters being raped, but follows his healing in a supportive environment

mothmans_secretary's review

adventurous emotional mysterious 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Self harm, Rape, Suicide attempt, and Homophobia

Minor: Vomit and Transphobia

thebookbin's review

adventurous challenging emotional 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? Yes

5.0

 TW: this review and the book it's about will contain discussion of sexual assault. 

It took me 6 days to get past the first chapter. Before you even begin the book, the author lets you know what's coming in an author's note which I appreciate with my whole heart. Although you have a warning, the book does open with a sexual assault scene which was so hard to get through. But like the note mentions, the story is about healing and self worth and so I pushed through at my own pace.

The world Meadows builds is one that is fantastical and so rich. Velasin is a young gay noble from a homophonic nation. He ends up betrothed to a gay prince from a very enlightened nation with all sorts of queers. Their love is slow and sweet. Caethari first helps Velasin regain a sense of self worth and their love blooms from there.

What stands out to me is how Meadows treats their non-male characters. It’s my biggest gripe with mlm content, but Meadows enchanted me the whole way through. First off was Merkel, Velasin’s mute valet. His disability is not there for Diversity™ but it’s a huge plot point. Vel and Merkel speak in sign and they use it in multiple scenarios to their advantage. Also their friendship is beautiful. Even though Merkel is a man he is not a love interest (tragically heterosexual) but the deep development of non-romantic relationships was so good.

Then of course there’s the nonbinaries (thei/thir pronouns--I LOVE) there’s a bunch of doctors and Caethari’s own grandkuin is also trans. (Also!!! What a great word “grandkuin”) Caethari’s sisters play a prominent role in the story, and two of Caethari’s closest friends are women, one his commanding officer. SO MANY WOMEN. And they're different and varied and have important roles. 

There’s also a Murder mystery, magic, and a 3/5🌶️ rating. Like it’s not crazy but there is definitely some descriptive papapa.

Anyways, I just love that I’m alive right now in a world that has queer stories that get to be told and get to be published and I get to read them. I have already decided to pledge my sword to Foz Meadows. They have quickly become an Automatic Buy author for me. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Homophobia, Rape, Sexual content, Vomit, Self harm, and Sexual assault

jessiereads98's review

adventurous emotional mysterious 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

2.75

This book has potential it just doesn’t live up to. I really enjoyed the romance between the two main characters as well as the characters themselves. Velasin’s journey of acceptance and healing is also well handled and realistic. However, I went into this book expecting politics to play a much bigger role than they did. This book is more of a mystery than a political fantasy. I was disappointed that magic didn’t play a bigger role throughout the book as well. There were also times where the prose and dialogue felt clunky, awkward, and out of place. The occasional lecture-like dialogue from Velasin just seemed out of place with the style of the rest of the dialogue and came across as the author spoon feeding us her point. I found myself getting bored in parts and think this could’ve been shorter. There was a lot of mentions of the moons and religion which didn’t really go anywhere, along with mentions of Velasin’s siblings which served little to no point. I wish we had heard more about Riya and Laecia or other present side characters which would’ve been more relevant to the story. I personally also found the ending disappointing. Unsure if I will pick up the sequel to continue with the characters and romance and see if the promise of politics develops more. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Murder, Rape, Suicide attempt, Blood, Death, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, and Confinement

Minor: Ableism, Alcoholism, Death of parent, Grief, Misogyny, Sexual content, Transphobia, Abandonment, Alcohol, Cursing, Fire/Fire injury, Medical content, Miscarriage, Sexism, Toxic relationship, and Vomit