Reviews tagging 'Torture'

Sia Martinez and the Moonlit Beginning of Everything by Raquel Vasquez Gilliland

12 reviews

stormywolf's review

adventurous challenging emotional inspiring fast-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

  Though I planned to read this as one of the 25 Reads of December from RivetedLit, I actually missed the deadline for opening the book before the day was up, so I ended up picking this up from my library as both an e-book and an audiobook instead. This one caught my eye firstly from its gorgeous cover, and secondly due to its interesting premise which promised to blend immigration issues with aliens?! Bizarre? Maybe. But surely it had to be exciting, right?

 
 Read my full review at The Wolf's Den

Overall, this was a mixed bag for me. I loved the slice-of-life narrative that dominated the first half of the story (with the romance, heritage, and social justice issues), but I just never bought into the Sci-Fi storyline that crashed into the second half. I honestly do think combining the issues of illegal aliens with space aliens was a clever idea, I just didn't find the execution of that combination to ever come together. I don't know if it was the breakneck speed of the story, the continual escalation of wtf moments one after the other, or simply my own cynical nature that made me refuse to suspend my disbelief, but I just couldn't reconcile that second half with the first. I still would recommend this to those who are looking for a YA book with a focus on Mexican-American traditions, immigration and racism struggles, and a romance that isn't afraid to deal with and work through trauma, but also enjoy huge twists and action-packed Sci-Fi. And who knows, maybe I'll come back to this one in the future and find the whole allegory works great the second time around. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Gun violence, Hate crime, Violence, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Bullying, Physical abuse, Child abuse, Torture, and Police brutality

Minor: Cursing, Domestic abuse, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Blood, Bullying, and Kidnapping

stormywolf's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional inspiring fast-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Read by Inés del Castillo
 Unabridged Length: 8.2 Hours
 Listened at 1.5x Speed

 Read my full review at The Wolf's Den 
 
Overall, this was fine for those already familiar with the audiobook experience as a whole, but does pose some unique quirks that might dissuade some from trying it. The previously mentioned chapters pose one issue. Another concerns the language of the book. There are quite a few lines in Spanish that never receive a translation, so unless you're fluent or just unbothered (like I am), you might prefer a text version if you want to run any quick Google Translates. So unless you use audiobooks as your only/preferred option, maybe use a text version in tandem or instead of for this story. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Hate crime, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Xenophobia, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual assault, and Violence

Moderate: Bullying, Police brutality, Torture, Physical abuse, and Child abuse

Minor: Blood, Bullying, Domestic abuse, Kidnapping, Cursing, Medical trauma, and Physical abuse