Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

Thunderhead by Neal Shusterman

5 reviews

adventurouspotato's review against another edition

adventurous 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Abandonment, Fire/Fire injury, and Confinement

Minor: Genocide, Death of parent, Physical abuse, Suicide, Toxic relationship, and Kidnapping

a_cera_t0ps's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional reflective tense fast-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

4.75

It felt way more action-packed than book 1. Everything happened pretty fast, but it kept a good pace. It was a really good bridging book that smoothy opened up even more plot threads while still staying consistent with what it already had to work with. This book was mainly just to establish new characters and a big bad, but it was still a compelling, fun read, especially if you're coming right off the heels of the first book in the series. 500 pages went fast.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Hate crime, Fire/Fire injury, Religious bigotry, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Medical trauma, Medical content, Police brutality, Murder, and Toxic relationship

rara_pp's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Blood, Death, Genocide, Murder, Suicide, Torture, Toxic friendship, and Violence

Moderate: Gaslighting, Grief, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Kidnapping, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Slavery, Stalking, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Violence, and War

Minor: Abandonment and Confinement

readwithde's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring 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? It's complicated

4.5

Once again, I was shocked and surprised by this series. I love how seamlessly the story fluctuates between action, drama, emotion, and philosophy; it is like reading the best parts of many different genres.

Mainly, I view this as a story of four pairs:

Rowan & Citra, Faraday & Curie, Goddard & Rand, and Grayson & The Thunderhead.

In each pair, the two have to separate (or are separated) to fulfill their own mission. While there is mutual respect between some pairs, others fall to infighting or distrust. By the end of the book

most of these pairs have reunited, now able to face this new era of humanity together.

I was able to guess many of the end of the book twists, but much of the middle was a surprise. I had no idea how much I would love Grayson's story, or even what would happen with Tyger. It made the book go very quickly in the middle, but the end seemed less impactful and a bit slow when you can guess what is coming. 

I loved the duality through the book, not only by having these pairs working both together and separately, but even how the unsavories were similar to the scythes in many ways; even the tonists and scythes have similar rituals. These binary pieces constantly swirl parallel to each other as the book's DNA, all while The Thunderhead is forced to sit back and allow humanity to forge its own path. 

All of this might make you think this is a dense and philosophical book, but the plot is fairly straightforward, fun, and action-packed. The characters just have a lot to deal with, and when it has to do with matters of life and death, it is heavier than a typical YA futuristic dystopian novel.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Murder, and Violence

Moderate: Blood, Dysphoria, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, Suicide, Torture, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Body horror, Bullying, Cultural appropriation, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Kidnapping, and Sexual content

its_van_vulpen's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

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

4.5

I really enjoyed this book but I did find some aspects of the ending predictable although I still really enjoyed their execution 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Mass/school shootings, Death, and Violence

Minor: Toxic relationship