Reviews tagging 'Animal cruelty'

White Smoke by Tiffany D. Jackson

18 reviews

peachmoni's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense slow-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

3.75

My biggest gripe is the ending. I would have liked to see what happened directly after the events of the last chapter,  when

The Foundation is finally exposed

. Maybe the author left it ambiguous because in real life, those with money, power and privilege usually win.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Xenophobia, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Addiction, Gore, Blood, Kidnapping, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Animal cruelty, Bullying, Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Pedophilia, and Medical content

danaslitlist's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious 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? Yes

3.5

Never in my life have I wanted to kick a child more than I wanted to kick Piper.

This is my second book by Tiffany D Jackson after reading The Weight of Blood and I think that did this one a disservice. Because I absolutely loved TWoB so much it was going to be hard for any book by her to be as good. It’s not that White Smoke isn’t entertaining, it’s just that TWoB was so great this one pales a bit in comparison.

However! I highly recommend this one as well. This is the tension and gaslighting  of  Rebecca  meets  the eeriness and unsettling atmosphere of Get Out.  There were plenty of moments that had the hairs standing up on the back of neck and me shaking my head saying “nope nope nope”, in the best way. Marigold is unreliable, unlikable character (for the first half) who gets you on her side due to the behavior of the majority of her family. I think this works really well to allow the reader to feel isolated and trapped within the events just like Mari.

I think the ending was a bit sudden and wish there was more of a dedicated conclusion but for those who don’t mind that type of conclusion there won’t be a problem. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use and Racism

Moderate: Drug abuse

Minor: Animal cruelty and Death

kyrstin_p1989's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious 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

3.5

Creepy. Upsetting. Real. This book is about a haunted house in a community that has been destroyed by greed, power, classism and racism. My heart was in my throat several times. Great YA horror story. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, Religious bigotry, Stalking, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

ecn's review

adventurous dark emotional 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

4.75

Maybe I’m a sucker for spooky/ghost stories, but this book was SO good. The twists were interesting and gave me what I wanted out of a story - to the point where I didn’t even mind the predictable parts

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, Hate crime, Racism, Violence, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

queenshrike's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense slow-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? Yes

3.5

Rather slow to start. I feel for Mari more than I like her. There were so many threads here that you could have potentially just made 3 books about each storyline and then connected them.

It ends so abruptly that I can't even really say I finished it. It leaves room for a sequel simply with all the loose ends.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Chronic illness, Drug use, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, and Classism

cbbyles07's review

dark informative mysterious 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? Yes

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Cultural appropriation

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Gore, Hate crime, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Religious bigotry, Fire/Fire injury, and Gaslighting

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Excrement, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Colonisation, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail

misty_muskrat's review against another edition

dark emotional medium-paced

• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

It felt like the author was a little obsessed with the idea that marijuana is an addictive substance/gateway drug. Marijuana didn't need to be a thing in this, especially with so many big themes already existing in the book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Police brutality, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Ableism, Animal cruelty, and Racism

Minor: Pedophilia

mmikadze's review against another edition

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Drug abuse, and Drug use

Minor: Animal cruelty