Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

An Unkindness of Ghosts by Rivers Solomon

96 reviews

sofipitch's review against another edition

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

4.75

Nothing I say could do this book justice, it's endlessly creative and complex. Truly in awe, the only reason this isn't 5 stars is one small bit that triggered my phobia but that's it, literally my only complaint.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Slavery, Mental illness, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Trafficking, Police brutality, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Child death, Homophobia, Abortion, Classism, Death of parent, Racism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Ableism, and Suicide

solenodon's review against another edition

challenging emotional tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Torture, Injury/Injury detail, Police brutality, Sexism, Sexual assault, Abortion, Child death, Death, Murder, Physical abuse, Medical trauma, Child abuse, Colonisation, Medical content, Racism, Religious bigotry, Misogyny, Ableism, Classism, Confinement, Death of parent, Grief, Rape, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Slavery, Violence, Body shaming, Mental illness, Self harm, Transphobia, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Excrement, Fire/Fire injury, Racial slurs, Gore, Homophobia, Pedophilia, Suicidal thoughts, and Lesbophobia

Minor: Alcohol

haylzno's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

4.25

This was an  adventurous, compelling, dark, and overall loaded scifi novel. 

Taking place on a multilevel spaceship, traveling through space attempting to find a habitable planet, it's passengers are quite literally divided by levels of "class". 

We follow Aster who lives in the lower deck "Tarlands" of the Matilda, apart of a community made up of POC, that is abused and oppressed by the "upper deckers". 
In the wake of the ship leaders death, Matilda struggles to uncover the truth about her own mothers death and the seemingly inconspicuous connections between the two. 

This novel gave me very much Octavia Butler vibes. The characters were very unlovable but in a tangible, realistic way. I found myself only being able to consume a few chapters at a time to be able to soak it all in. 
The ending left me SO unsatisfied, but again, in a way that I just can't stop thinking about. Was it a neat and tidy ending? Absolutely not. But there's something...fitting about that. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Death of parent, Classism, Confinement, Drug abuse, Forced institutionalization, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Rape, Mental illness, Police brutality, Religious bigotry, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, and Racism

Moderate: Medical content, Abortion, and Toxic friendship

vulcanzaddy's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Self harm, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Sexual assault, Slavery, Toxic friendship, Mental illness, Racism, Suicide attempt, and Torture

Moderate: Abortion, Child abuse, Bullying, Domestic abuse, Medical content, Confinement, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, and Death of parent

Minor: Cursing and Lesbophobia

tenten's review against another edition

i'm in a bad state of mind right now given how crappy our current society is. reading a book where slavery has been reinstated even though it's set 300 yrs in the future is not helping my mental state!!

aside from that, i just can't connect with it like i feel myself not caring. i read some reviews that point out how wild it is that Aster and other lowdeckers insult, physically attack, and disrespect upperdeckers and guards without much real consequence, which makes the stakes seem lower than they're presented to be.

i might pick it up again because Rivers Solomon won me over with their story, "Whose Heart I Long to Stop with the Click of a Revolver," but i'm dropping it for now

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Sexual assault, and Racism

Moderate: Mental illness, Violence, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Death of parent, Homophobia, Self harm, Infertility, and Suicide

silver_lining_in_a_book's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense fast-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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Racism, Rape, and Sexism

Moderate: Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide attempt, Confinement, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Torture, and Misogyny

Minor: Medical content, Infertility, and Abortion

bash5617's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Rape, Slavery, Suicide attempt, Religious bigotry, Transphobia, Child abuse, Cursing, Forced institutionalization, Injury/Injury detail, Body horror, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Murder, Pregnancy, Sexual violence, Torture, Sexual assault, Death of parent, Death, Hate crime, Violence, Racism, Abortion, Suicidal thoughts, Adult/minor relationship, Fire/Fire injury, and Gun violence

paperbrownies's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful 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

4.0

- lgbtqiap+, adult, sci-fi, dystopian, space gays, horror, makes you go ✨science ✨, ghosts, drifting through space, DIVERSE, 
- f|f
-rep: black intersex neurodivergent nonbinary woman mc, nonbinary woman sc (see author’s twitter thread), aroace sc and a casting of racially diverse and queer characters 

if i had to say anything about this book, then it would be: 
’talented. brilliant. incredible. amazing. showstopping. spectacular. never the same. TOTALLY UNIQUE. completely not ever been done before.’ 
this. this is my review!!! 

-cw: surgery, medical content, needles, transphobia, misgendering, alcohol, death of parent, systematic violence, illness, off-page and on-page suicide, brief mention of cancer, implied child sexual abuse, body horror, injury/injury detail, self harm, abortion, physical abuse, intake of bodily fluids, child death, fire, suicide, torture, confinement, police brutality, minor sexual content 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Suicide, Transphobia, Body horror, Self harm, Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Police brutality, and Violence

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Abortion

Minor: Cancer, Murder, and Sexual content

tahsintries's review against another edition

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood, Body shaming, Child death, Classism, Colonisation, Confinement, Grief, Homophobia, Bullying, Medical content, Rape, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Xenophobia, Ableism, Abortion, Fire/Fire injury, Emotional abuse, Racism, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide attempt, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, Torture, Death of parent, Dysphoria, Panic attacks/disorders, and Physical abuse

armontheroad's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Rivers Solomon always delivers with faer books!! This dark space opera is a great commentary on our society. I cared for all of our main characters so much! I will say this book is not for the faint of heart. AN UNKINDNESS OF GHOSTS is very graphic and triggering. I have listed all the content warnings I could remember down below! 

CWs: Here are a few that StoryGraph doesn't have options to list: Execution and misgendering

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual content, Abortion, Death of parent, Suicide, Death, Child death, Rape, Racism, Grief, Medical trauma, Medical content, Slavery, Sexual assault, Excrement, Misogyny, Self harm, Police brutality, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Racial slurs, Sexism, and Domestic abuse