Reviews tagging 'Pandemic/Epidemic'

The Fireman by Joe Hill

3 reviews

karly_ackley's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Pandemic/Epidemic, Death of parent, Death, Animal death, and Murder

loxeletters's review against another edition

medium-paced

• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

This had surprisingly nice prose, which I enjoyed quite a lot. I found myself regretting that I couldn't annotate some lines in a physical book - I might have to get a copy!

The characters were incredibly likeable and I did not see most of the plot's twists and turns coming. While I felt that the continued presence of Harper's ex was a bit contrived, he did serve as a compelling villain figure - if a bit exaggerated in some aspects.
The discussion of humanity's kindness towards the end was especially interesting to me. 

However I did feel that the last part was quite rushed, compared to the previous sections, and featured surprisingly little detail - though I understand this choice from a storytelling perspective, it felt a bit incoherent with the rest of the book.

One thing I noticed was that John apparently learnt an unspecified sign language from his Irish mother, likely BSL or ISL, which somehow resulted in him being able to sign ASL? That seems like an unfortunate oversight on part of the author.

Nevertheless, the characters, their relationships, and the intricate plot had me devouring this book within a few days, and I even shed a tear towards the end.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Misogyny, Pandemic/Epidemic, Pregnancy, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Grief, Confinement, Mass/school shootings, Medical content, Police brutality, and Child death

Minor: Animal death

smithreads's review

challenging dark emotional funny sad tense slow-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? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Animal death, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Blood, Body horror, Hate crime, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Pandemic/Epidemic, Police brutality, Pregnancy, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Vomit, Toxic relationship, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, and Self harm