Reviews tagging 'Violence'

Hollow Fires by Samira Ahmed

24 reviews

amberinpieces's review against another edition

challenging emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Hate crime, Classism, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Islamophobia, Murder, Racial slurs, Racism, Religious bigotry, Violence, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Gaslighting, Antisemitism, Bullying, Kidnapping, and Misogyny

Minor: Blood, Car accident, Cursing, and Medical content

greenlivingaudioworm's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad tense 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? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Hate crime, Car accident, Child death, Grief, Islamophobia, Murder, Racism, Violence, Antisemitism, Bullying, Death, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Toxic relationship, and Xenophobia

patricia0227's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense 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

This book blew me away. I got the ARC from a local bookstore and started reading not knowing anything about it. The novel was so well researched and well written, Ahmed expertly tied together current and past events into her story and the message was so powerful. I will say, I found the dates at the start of each section confusing, especially if there was a time jump, but I enjoyed the multiple perspectives and the way Ahmed incorporated texts and social media posts in their storytelling. The book is a heartbreaker, be prepared. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Islamophobia, Hate crime, and Murder

marywahlmeierbracciano's review

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

Hollow Fires has arrived in the wake of the Trump era, in an environment of rampant misinformation and media bias, of white supremacist violence and “affluenza.”  This story follows Safiya, a Desi Muslim scholarship student and journalist-in-training at a private Chicago high school.  As editor-in-chief, she writes a social justice column for the school newspaper, but, as part of the school’s attempts to cover up a series of racist incidents in the community, she is being censored by the administration.  When a neighborhood Muslim boy goes missing, Safiya must race to piece together enough evidence to connect the dots and convince the police to do something, putting her own safety at risk.  Ahmed’s thriller illustrates diversity within Muslim communities, portrays the reality of police incompetence, and explores the nuances of modern white supremacy and hate crimes, for which there is no justice. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Islamophobia, Racism, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Bullying, Death, Gaslighting, Hate crime, Violence, Child death, Grief, and Kidnapping

Minor: Car accident, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Vomit, Murder, and Blood