Reviews tagging 'Death'

An Unkindness of Ghosts by Rivers Solomon

128 reviews

emmagiverny's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Racism, Police brutality, and Death of parent

Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Abortion, Sexual harassment, and Colonisation

booksjessreads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This is my first ever sci-fi read, and I must say that this is an incredible book. I felt so immersed into this story and genuinely, it was phenomenal. The world-building, the dialogue, the complexity of characters, the natural flow of writing. It was just... amazing!

I will admit that it took me about 2-3 chapters to fully get going. I listened to the audiobook and I also felt like whilst I was listening in the first couple of chapters, I did miss key details about the world-building, but just continued listening. I felt like as I went through the story, this didn't matter too much and I thought I had a good grip of the world by the middle of the book. I have bought a physical copy so that next time I read, I read the print copy to annotate those extra details.

Genuinely, the conjunction between structural racism and generational ships in Matilda was my favourite part about the whole thing and thought the crafting of this world was done extremely well. I saw some 'critics reviews' that said the 'many layers of metaphor' and 'worldbuilding by poetry' disappointed readers that wanted hard science fiction, but this is what I loved most. The poetic language only heightened the worldbuilding and reading between the lines made it all the more real for the reader. Although, I understand this is not to everyone's taste. 

I am of the opinion of other reviews where the ending does feel slightly rushed and there were some things that could have been explored in some more depth for me, but I still really enjoyed the story anyway! I felt the pace really picks up about half way through, and that it was a very packed ending in the last few chapters.

I did also feel as though the death of the Sovereign and Lune's death could have been explored more. I felt like in the middle of the story, we were looking towards a mystery of what the fluid-like metal was and how it got there, but we were abruptly given the answer to that and I felt like it could have been dragged out more mysteriously before we came to that conclusion.

It is very rare I want a book to be longer, but I wish it was so that there could be so many more things added. I thought the book was excellent as it was anyway, not just because of the worldbuilding, but the ending, for me, was unexpected. I just wish that themes could have been explored more. I just never really wanted the book to end. 

I would recommend this book 100%! I think it was an amazing experience, especially listening to the audio as it just brought everything to life. Before reading though, please read the trigger warnings, as there are a lot of graphic triggers in this book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Violence, Medical content, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Infertility, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicide, Fire/Fire injury, and Sexual harassment

terrestrial_river's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional reflective 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Police brutality, Medical content, Grief, Suicide attempt, Colonisation, and Classism

Moderate: Gun violence, Blood, and Abortion

thesapphiccelticbookworm's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark 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? No

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Racism, Police brutality, Medical content, Murder, and Classism

Moderate: Suicide and Death of parent

necromandy's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad 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? Yes

5.0

best book I have ever read. changed my life in three hours. I will remember this book like no other book I have ever read, that is a promise. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Child death, Death, Homophobia, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Police brutality, Medical content, Grief, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Confinement, Cursing, Gun violence, Infertility, Blood, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Dysphoria, and Classism

orion's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Bullying, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Suicide attempt, Murder, Lesbophobia, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Death, Torture, Transphobia, Medical content, Grief, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Toxic friendship, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Cursing and Death of parent

booksthatburn's review against another edition

I love so much about this book, I just couldn't handle a particular topic that's triggering for me when I was already stressed (mostly in good ways) by the story so far. The worldbuilding is very cool, paying attention to language and tiny cultural differences existing between the decks. The audiobook performance is good. I like Aster as a main character.

I really wish I could handle finishing this, but I just can't.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Medical content, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Ableism, Cancer, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Homophobia, Infertility, Mental illness, Racism, Slavery, Terminal illness, Blood, Vomit, Police brutality, Abortion, Pregnancy, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Transphobia, Dementia, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury

nagev's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Homophobia, Racism, Violence, Abortion, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Classism

Moderate: Bullying, Chronic illness, Death, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Transphobia, Blood, Vomit, Police brutality, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Ableism, Child abuse, and Alcohol

rosalind's review against another edition

adventurous 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? No

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Homophobia, Racism, Sexual assault, Medical content, and Murder

Moderate: Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Drug use, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Blood, Religious bigotry, Abortion, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Rape

peachmoni's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Death, Genocide, Physical abuse, Transphobia, Violence, Police brutality, Lesbophobia, and Classism

Moderate: Chronic illness, Confinement, Genocide, Homophobia, Misogyny, Torture, Medical content, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Ableism, Child abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Infertility, Rape, Sexual content, Slavery, Terminal illness, Torture, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Dysphoria, and War