Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Some Desperate Glory by Emily Tesh

19 reviews

bookishwondergoth's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful reflective 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

Not quite 5 stars but sooooooo close. This book was an absolute ride and I adored every moment. There was a bit of a lull in the middle and I got whiplash a few times with all the changes, but ultimately this was a fantastic examination of cult mentality, facism, radicalisation and deconstruction of dangerously right-wing views. Absolutely brilliant. Will be reading more of Emily Tesh's books for sure.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Sexism, Homophobia, War, Transphobia, Xenophobia, Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Sexual harassment, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, Rape, Murder, Misogyny, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Genocide, Grief, and Pedophilia

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Pedophilia, Gun violence, and Death of parent

Minor: Blood

blacksphinx's review against another edition

adventurous 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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Misogyny, Violence, Xenophobia, Gun violence, Sexism, Suicide, Homophobia, Transphobia, and War

Moderate: Sexual assault, Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Racism, Confinement, Sexual violence, Torture, Pregnancy, and Colonisation

Minor: Abortion and Bullying

mo345's review against another edition

adventurous challenging funny reflective medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Xenophobia, Blood, Pregnancy, Colonisation, Confinement, Death, Genocide, Sexual assault, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Sexism, Suicide, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Rape and Grief

Minor: Medical content, Cursing, Alcohol, and Abortion

The xenophobia tag refers to opinions some characters in the book have about aliens.

bookswithbethx's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful reflective 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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy, Adult/minor relationship, Murder, Child abuse, Genocide, Death of parent, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Death, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Misogyny, Outing, Torture, Xenophobia, Rape, Sexism, Violence, and War

scifi_rat's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Plot: 4★
Prose: 4★
Pace: 4★
Concept/Execution: 5★/4.5★
Characters: 4.75★
Worldbuilding: 4.5★
Ending: 4★

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Suicide, Violence, War, Homophobia, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Murder, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Colonisation, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Genocide, Grief, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual assault, Abandonment, Gore, Outing, Pregnancy, Rape, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, Medical content, Pedophilia, Kidnapping, and Racism

Minor: Bullying, Blood, Abortion, and Alcohol

analenegrace's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful tense 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

4.5

This fantastic one-off "social science fiction" captured so many moral dilemmas in it. Kyr as a character was written fantastically, unlikeable, yet the necessary person for this role. Tesh is able to capture what is so dangerous about fascism, fanaticism, and bio-essentialism while also giving the reader a space opera. It captured so many elements of sci-fi that I enjoy. 

The feminism of this book is so important as it takes a character who is a staunch believer in her bio-essentialist community and learns to see the amazingness of the women around her and the women who came before her; especially those who beared children for their community.  

An important line that stood out to me was, “She wasn’t Earth’s child. She was Elora Marston’s and Yingli Lin’s and Ursa’s, and she owed her duty not to some abstract unknown planet but to the women who’d come before her.” 

Often we not only forget the women who came before us, but forget the women around us, forced to live a bio-essentialist life. This book is an important reminder, especially in a post-Roe world, the importance of who we consider when we discuss feminism, intersectionality, and bio-essentialism. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death, Gaslighting, Grief, Gun violence, Homophobia, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, War, Body shaming, Classism, Pregnancy, Sexual violence, Suicide attempt, Violence, Suicide, Transphobia, Xenophobia, Confinement, Murder, and Outing

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship

Minor: Abortion

gondorgirl's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Xenophobia, and Bullying

Moderate: Misogyny, Murder, Incest, Sexual harassment, Torture, War, Injury/Injury detail, Genocide, Grief, Gun violence, Adult/minor relationship, Suicide, Violence, Homophobia, Kidnapping, and Sexual assault

ezwolf's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional reflective slow-paced

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

4.0

Kyr is a teenager born to fight for humanity after Earth is destroyed by The Wisdom and she has the training scores to prove it. When she's assigned to the Nursery and sends her twin brother on a mission meant to kill him, she breaks the rules and goes after him. Venturing to a planet inhabited by "traitor" humans, Kyr begins to learn that maybe everything she's learned is not the whole truth. 

This book brings up a lot of great topics, the faults of humanity in the future, as well as currently. Gaea is everything you would expect from a society that's almost entirely white and able bodied, xenophobic, homophobic, and forces its women to be pregnant for years and years. Of course, this is why Kyr starts off being immensely unlikeable, but she does grow and learn to realize how narrow minded her thinking was and at one point even recognizes that even though she has made progress, she still holds internal biases. 

But this is getting a solid 4 stars from me because I could not stand Kyr for a good chunk of the book. I know that was part of the plot and Kyr had to realize that Gaea was brainwashing everyone, but I was never endeared to her. I wanted her to succeed because no one should grow up the way Kyr did but I didn't particularly care about anyone other Yiso, I didn't like any of the characters other than them.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for making this available in exchange for an honest review! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Sexism, Suicide, Violence, Homophobia, Grief, Xenophobia, Gaslighting, Genocide, Gun violence, Murder, Misogyny, War, Blood, Death, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Pedophilia, Sexual harassment, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, and Torture

Minor: Ableism, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Abortion, Death of parent, Racism, Rape, and Pregnancy

grimdark_dad's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence, War, Death, Grief, Sexual assault, Genocide, Pregnancy, Suicide, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, and Suicide attempt