Reviews tagging 'Drug use'

Sorrowland by Rivers Solomon

16 reviews

plantybooklover's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective 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

 This book is a challenge. It is beautifully written, complex. It's a total mash up- Sci Fi, Fantasy, Horror.   
Overview:  Vern escapes a cult known as Cain -Land as a pregnant teen. She births twins in the woods and chooses an extrordinarily difficult path to raise them while avoiding those from the compound who pursue her. Vern develops supernatural powers and features and must work to understand and control them. 
  This book- though under 400 pages packs a punch to the gut.  I was struck by the massive amount of references to both great black literature, and intense black American traumatic events.  While I caught a lot of them, I'm sure I missed more.  
   I would have enjoyed reading this slower, with a group, but... I finished it up for the Trans Right Readathon. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Toxic relationship, Drug abuse, Racism, and Sexual content

Moderate: Sexual harassment, Blood, Sexual violence, and Gore

Minor: Animal death, Drug use, Religious bigotry, Medical content, and Infertility

twistmalchik's review against another edition

adventurous 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Suicide attempt, Sexual content, Self harm, Pregnancy, Forced institutionalization, Adult/minor relationship, Police brutality, Physical abuse, Domestic abuse, Death, Confinement, Chronic illness, Rape, Body horror, Blood, Religious bigotry, and Injury/Injury detail

nonidude's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Bullying, Lesbophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic relationship, Misogyny, Medical trauma, Murder, Gore, Racism, Physical abuse, Self harm, Violence, Animal death, Blood, and Adult/minor relationship

Moderate: Mass/school shootings, Gun violence, Fire/Fire injury, and Grief

Minor: Suicide, Homophobia, Suicide attempt, Genocide, Death of parent, Child death, Cultural appropriation, Terminal illness, Suicidal thoughts, Drug use, Cannibalism, and Alcohol

ash_ton's review against another edition

dark emotional 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? Yes

3.75

i read this for the LGBTQIA+ book club i'm a part of! i don't normally gravitate towards science fiction so it's always nice to be pleasantly surprised. 
i was not expecting the turn the book took. like, at all. wild

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Pregnancy, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Homophobia, Blood, Stalking, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Violence

Moderate: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Death of parent, Sexism, Animal death, Emotional abuse, Grief, Cannibalism, Child death, Colonisation, Domestic abuse, Pedophilia, Adult/minor relationship, Medical content, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, and Sexual content

Minor: Drug abuse, Drug use, Terminal illness, Suicide, Bullying, Cancer, and Cultural appropriation

cookiecat73's review

dark mysterious 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

This was a very raw, very honest book that absolutley did not shy away from tough topics. I loved the characters. The first 3/4 were amazing, but unfortunately the last quarter of the book went in a direction that was much less of my thing and I enjoyed it a lot less. Overall though, very good.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Mass/school shootings, Pregnancy, Racism, Stalking, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Addiction, Animal cruelty, Cannibalism, Child death, Chronic illness, Classism, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Alcoholism, Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Misogyny, Murder, Sexism, Violence, Xenophobia, Alcohol, Blood, Kidnapping, Lesbophobia, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Medical content, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Abandonment, Colonisation, Rape, Sexual assault, Drug use, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Excrement, Racial slurs, and Slavery

kirtreads's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

This book is nothing like I expected. The beginning was a little slow but once the plot took off it was very fast paced. The ending was so good. This is a movie worthy kind of story. It is really fun, action packed and full of twists. 

The characters do feel a little flat though. They aren’t fleshed out totally and the main character makes some choices that felt a little out of character. It isn’t enough that you are totally taken out of the story but it does make you pause a second. 

Overall it is a really good book, and you won’t go wrong reading it! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Forced institutionalization, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Confinement, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, and Violence

strange_little_ranger's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Pregnancy, Gore, Violence, and Death

Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Mass/school shootings, Medical content, Death of parent, Misogyny, Police brutality, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Death, Hate crime, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic relationship, Physical abuse, Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Grief, Murder, Cannibalism, Sexual violence, Slavery, Ableism, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Blood, Child death, Kidnapping, Lesbophobia, Body horror, Colonisation, Cultural appropriation, Torture, Violence, Racism, Religious bigotry, and Sexual content

penofpossibilities's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense

• 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

GOD i did NOT heed the trigger warnings and I honestly don't even have an excuse like I knew this was a horror novel and still picked it up. don't make my mistake and please be safe. Anyway this BOOK!!!! /pos
absolute fucking masterpiece

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Ableism, Alcohol, Cannibalism, Animal death, Domestic abuse, Violence, Suicidal thoughts, Body shaming, Child death, Colonisation, Death, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Genocide, Grief, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Police brutality, Blood, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Cursing, Child abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Confinement, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Lesbophobia, Religious bigotry, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Homophobia, Sexual content, Slavery, Mass/school shootings, Pregnancy, Self harm, Stalking, and Torture

Moderate: Addiction, Drug use, Cultural appropriation, Vomit, Trafficking, Rape, Excrement, and Medical content

Minor: Suicide, Racial slurs, Transphobia, Infertility, Terminal illness, and Cancer

graphic: cult

cascannotread's review against another edition

dark 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

4.5

I’m not even sure how to put this book and the experience of reading it into words. I read the entirety of Sorrowland by Rivers Solomon so I may have been slightly delirious from hunger and fatigue. Once I started I quickly realized I knew nothing about what the book was about —for some reason I thought it was an anti colonial vicious take on fae but that is decidedly not this book. Nonetheless, after reading The Deep by Rivers Solomon (which was excellent, highly recommend) I had complete faith in their ability to craft an excellent story. Sorrowland was no exception. No book has shocked and surprised me quite like this one and I will be thinking about it for a long time. 

I don’t think I’ve ever read anything quite like Sorrowland and I don’t think I ever will again. Rivers Solomon might quickly be becoming one of my favourite authors; they are, at the very least, an author I always look out for. There is something so distinctly unique about their books, writing style, and storytelling. 

This isn’t much of a review and I think I need to reread it before I can form any real coherent thoughts but nonetheless, I highly recommend this book! 

Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with a digital arc in exchange for an honest review. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail and Body horror

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Gore, Sexual content, Violence, Murder, Racism, Self harm, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Death, Injury/Injury detail, and Homophobia

Minor: Gun violence, Pregnancy, Alcoholism, Racial slurs, and Drug use

yuyine's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

4.75

Rivers Solomon nous offre à nouveau un roman surprenant, intense et marquant qui questionne de nombreuses thématiques avec force dans une intrigue mêlant SF, thriller, drame et weird fiction. Maternité, transformation psychologique et physique, amour queer, émancipation, rapport à la terre et au passé, oppressions et éducation sont autant de veines qui parcourent un récit puissant et organique qui ne peut pas laisser indifférent.  

Critique complète sur yuyine.be!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Religious bigotry, Racism, Pregnancy, Homophobia, Animal death, Blood, and Sexual content

Moderate: Murder, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Injury/Injury detail, Pedophilia, Violence, Cannibalism, Death, Gun violence, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide

Minor: Drug use, Child abuse, and Rape