Reviews tagging 'Addiction'

The Free People's Village by Sim Kern

35 reviews

sky130's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense fast-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

4.5

This book starts out kind of slow, but make no mistake: by the end, you will be rapt and horrified, watching it spiral out of control and knowing full well it will end badly. It's like watching a train wreck - it's violent and tragic and you can't look away for a second. For all the painful turns the story takes, it never feels like the violence and misfortune is written in just for the sake of tormenting the characters. Unfortunately, it's pretty true to life despite being speculative fiction. I would still really recommend checking the trigger warnings, as the book is an absolute onslaught of trauma of every variety. If you feel like you can handle that, I would give this book a shot. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Police brutality, Drug use, and Racism

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Sexual assault, Violence, War, Rape, and Addiction

Minor: Colonisation and Deadnaming

miggyfool's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Misogyny, Outing, Panic attacks/disorders, Religious bigotry, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Suicide attempt, Gore, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Drug use, Rape, Emotional abuse, Self harm, Sexism, Slavery, Suicide, Addiction, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Colonisation, Xenophobia, Classism, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Police brutality, Sexual assault, Alcohol, Animal death, Physical abuse, War, Alcoholism, Blood, Confinement, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Grief, Racism, Sexual harassment, Violence, and Vomit

katcool's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional inspiring tense medium-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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Drug use, and Police brutality

Moderate: Colonisation, Sexual assault, War, Suicide attempt, Addiction, Alcoholism, Suicidal thoughts, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Rape

hankatcol's review

challenging informative reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia, Suicide attempt, Racism, Panic attacks/disorders, Hate crime, Violence, Homophobia, Gun violence, Drug abuse, and Addiction

Moderate: Rape, War, Vomit, and Deadnaming

smellie_mooo's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad 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? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Drug use, Alcoholism, and Drug abuse

Moderate: Suicide attempt and Suicidal thoughts

maiaw27's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful reflective medium-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

4.5

I really loved this book & Kern’s alternate timeline future was so detailed and realistic— I’d recommend this to all my lefty buddies, especially those burnt out & feeling shame about it. I felt like all the characters were archetypical, but in a way where many characters function as interlocutors to help us figure out the “what’s next” of it all. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Drug abuse, Rape, Alcoholism, and Sexual assault

kaimekolreads's review against another edition

adventurous dark inspiring reflective tense medium-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

Loved this book! It's definitely for a more left leaning person but it's a great, addictive read! Finished in two days and it would have been less if I started in the weekend 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Rape, and Transphobia

lettuce_read's review against another edition

challenging emotional

• Strong character development? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Grief, Police brutality, Racism, Addiction, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Homophobia, Rape, and Deadnaming

Minor: Transphobia

cnnr876's review against another edition

adventurous sad 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? Yes

Definitely a lot of conflicting feelings about this book. The core alt-history to alt-present concept is thought-provoking - what if Gore had won in 2000? How would the late teens and early 20's been different? Kern's imaginings are satisfactory - earlier adoption of carbon-neutral and climate "friendly" policies, eco-fascism on the rise, continued reliance on fossil fuels, continued state violence toward those running counter to monied interests, continued bipartisan refusal to upend the status quo. I think there is some decent exploration of power (im)balances in activist circles, witty commentary on activist tropes (communist vs. socialist vs. anarchist fights lol, Avakian-stans, hating on drum circles, how important yet challenging consensus is, etc), and pretty believe speculative world-building (particularly regarding carbon credits + tax, extensive greenwashing by public and private entities, and at-home imprisonment).

I think my reading experience suffered from a mismatch in expectations - I was expecting something very different from what I got, and I need to sit with that more.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Police brutality, Alcoholism, Drug use, Mental illness, Rape, Sexual assault, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: War, Death, Suicide attempt, and Racism

aeons_v_atlas's review against another edition

dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring tense slow-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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Drug abuse, Death, Rape, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Classism, Drug use, Grief, Gun violence, Forced institutionalization, Police brutality, Racism, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Slavery, Toxic relationship, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Colonisation, Deadnaming, Dysphoria, Suicidal thoughts, Sexism, Transphobia, and Vomit