Reviews tagging 'Colonisation'

An Unkindness of Ghosts by Rivers Solomon

31 reviews

mimirenee's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Confinement, Homophobia, Misogyny, Racism, Rape, Slavery, Transphobia, and Colonisation

rcsreads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense fast-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? It's complicated

3.5

The space ship is a great analogy for being trapped in slavery, you can't run away into a vacuum. The actual science of this space ship though, is insane like it has a tiny sun with floors for growing crops round it that all require drastically different environments and you can see people on other floors and they're upside down. What? If you take the ship purely as an analogy and don't think about science then this is a really interesting way to write about slavery and trauma full of diverse, queer and neurodivergent characters. The A deck ruling class are the white, heteronormative colonisers and the rest of the alphabet of decks represent the various cultures that the West enslaved and colonised. The analogy is good but the actual plot of the story gets confusing. 
 The story of Aster learning about her mother through the journals she left behind started out so well and then kind of got lost later. We just dropped it for the middle of the book and then it reappeared at the end with a lot of solutions which clearly happened off page. 
 I could see why Giselle was there to show us the effects of trauma but i have no idea why she was Aster's friend, she seemed to hate her a lot and they had nothing in common apart from living on the same floor of the massive ship. I have no idea what the Lieutenants motives were, he was a cartoon villain who just decided one day that a random child was his nemesis and he was going to mess with her for the rest of his life.
 It was very readable and I enjoyed it but this review seems to think otherwise...

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Police brutality, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Stalking, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Lesbophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

jdianm's review against another edition

adventurous tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Child death, Confinement, Death, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Police brutality, Medical content, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Abortion, and Death of parent

dragon_s_hoard's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infertility, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Vomit, Police brutality, Medical content, Grief, Stalking, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, Dysphoria, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

pearlpool's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious 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? It's complicated

4.5

this was INSANE…….. so heartbreaking and beautiful :( WOULD HIGHLY RECOMMEND LOOKING AT THE CONTENT WARNINGS!!!!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Deadnaming, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Transphobia, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Police brutality, Religious bigotry, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail

auteaandtales's review against another edition

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Gore, Hate crime, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, Transphobia, Violence, Murder, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Abortion and Pregnancy

cowboyaj's review against another edition

challenging dark medium-paced

4.0

I really liked this one. The way Soloman was able to turn this kind of story into the sci-fi genre was incredible. The writing quality was amazing as well! I love Aster as a character. 

However, if you do read this book I would highly encourage reading the content warnings first. It doesn't hold back on harsher topics, though I think that quality makes the book much stronger. 

My few disappointments of the book was the (romance?) and the ending. I honestly had such a difficult time discerning if Theo and Aster were romantically involved or not. Their relationship felt like it was fluctuating constantly and it just felt too surface level compared to the other themes of the book. For me, the ending wasn't satisfying. Though I don't always need a happy ending, the ending just didn't give me any relief from all the build up that happened from the beginning of the story. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Slavery, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Child death, Rape, Suicide, Abortion, Murder, Pregnancy, and Colonisation

Minor: Gun violence, Transphobia, Blood, and Vomit

oworthyfool's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective sad 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

Rivers Solomon weaves a deft tale of oppression, family, and ultimately hope in the face of human evil. A timely story of how society turns on the less fortunate and intentionally marginalized, the focus nonetheless is of Aster struggling to make sense of her mother's death, the day of her own birth. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gun violence, Hate crime, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Vomit, Police brutality, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Excrement, Abortion, Fire/Fire injury, and Abandonment

midwichtriffid's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

This was a book with an interesting premise, complex characters and a world that feels bleak and hopeless. It deals with an incredible number of very dark topics and you should be very aware of any trigger warnings in this book as it does not pull any of its punches. Its hard to say that I enjoyed this book, or even that I am glad that I read it, but it was a book that needed reading. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Gore, Hate crime, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

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