Reviews tagging 'Gun violence'

An Unkindness of Ghosts by Rivers Solomon

52 reviews

alexashabit's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Suicide, Toxic friendship, Medical content, Misogyny, Self harm, Sexual assault, Slavery, Transphobia, Racism, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Vomit, Eating disorder, Gore, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Abortion, Body shaming, Blood, Classism, and Murder

thequeerbibliophile's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

4.5

there were times where i felt like i was missing information. i had to reread things a couple times to understand things but even then i was a little lost. i really enjoyed it though and i appreciate the slow burn between aster and theo a lot 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence and Gun violence

Moderate: Slavery and Vomit

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Sexual assault, Toxic friendship, and Suicide attempt

terrestrial_river's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional reflective 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? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Death, Medical content, Racism, Classism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Grief, Colonisation, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Suicide attempt, Torture, Violence, Slavery, and Suicide

Moderate: Abortion, Blood, and Gun violence

necromandy's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad 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

5.0

best book I have ever read. changed my life in three hours. I will remember this book like no other book I have ever read, that is a promise. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Abortion, Ableism, Death, Homophobia, Toxic friendship, Child death, Death of parent, Grief, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Rape, Self harm, Suicide attempt, Medical content, Mental illness, Racism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Sexual assault

Moderate: Gun violence, Fire/Fire injury, Dysphoria, Cursing, Confinement, Classism, Blood, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, and Infertility

peachani's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Classism, Genocide, Physical abuse, Violence, Bullying, Transphobia, Death, Lesbophobia, and Police brutality

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Torture, Genocide, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Misogyny, Chronic illness, and Confinement

Minor: Dysphoria, Gun violence, Rape, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Torture, Ableism, Death of parent, Gore, Infertility, Medical trauma, War, Child abuse, and Slavery

haylzno's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark 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? No

4.25

This was an  adventurous, compelling, dark, and overall loaded scifi novel. 

Taking place on a multilevel spaceship, traveling through space attempting to find a habitable planet, it's passengers are quite literally divided by levels of "class". 

We follow Aster who lives in the lower deck "Tarlands" of the Matilda, apart of a community made up of POC, that is abused and oppressed by the "upper deckers". 
In the wake of the ship leaders death, Matilda struggles to uncover the truth about her own mothers death and the seemingly inconspicuous connections between the two. 

This novel gave me very much Octavia Butler vibes. The characters were very unlovable but in a tangible, realistic way. I found myself only being able to consume a few chapters at a time to be able to soak it all in. 
The ending left me SO unsatisfied, but again, in a way that I just can't stop thinking about. Was it a neat and tidy ending? Absolutely not. But there's something...fitting about that. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Death of parent, Classism, Confinement, Drug abuse, Forced institutionalization, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Rape, Mental illness, Police brutality, Religious bigotry, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, and Racism

Moderate: Medical content, Abortion, and Toxic friendship

jessthanthree's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective 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

Graphic: Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Police brutality, Mental illness, Racism, Injury/Injury detail, Transphobia, Confinement, Classism, Sexual harassment, Self harm, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Child death, Violence, Suicide, Slavery, Murder, Physical abuse, Medical content, Torture, Suicidal thoughts, and Rape

Moderate: Bullying, Body shaming, Chronic illness, Gore, Sexism, Religious bigotry, Homophobia, and Gun violence

Minor: Abortion, Pedophilia, Incest, and Fire/Fire injury

mazomazli's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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

4.5

This is definitely one of the hardest books I’ve ever read emotionally. It deeply pulls from the history of American chattel slavery for world building. If you’ve read Kindred by Octavia Butler it’s in that type of atmosphere but more graphic.

 I would like to inform anyone who has or will compare this to the Handmaid’s Tale that you are incorrect for doing so. I highly recommend any form of nonfiction on the realities of people who were enslaved in the US so you understand that the things read in this book happened often to real people. I would also say it pulls from actual history similarly like the Poppy War trilogy where that author pulled accounts from survivors of the Rape of Nanjing to put directly in. I also might say that like the Poppy War, the real history was toned down a little meaning the events in this book are still not as cruel as the real worlds. 

Here’s a long and incomplete list of topics addressed throughout the book: being autistic in a world that is quick to do violence to you and trying to navigate it, what people do to survive constant sexual assault and rape, child on child sexual abuse after both experiencing and witnessing so much, physical abuse and violence at every turn, the stories told amongst those who are surviving to hold each other up, a character who is white passing and trying to help those oppressed, police brutality (literally overseers are the origins of cops), and a character with psychosis/paranoia (perhaps schizophrenia) with lots of self harm. 

There are so many things I think of between the way Aster tries to always be prepared for when violence comes for her, how Giselle was both vibrant and subdued and so complicated, and the way Theo presents himself and how his uncle likely had abused him as a child and he does not remember. I feel so much for Giselle. It is very uncommon to see a severely mentally ill character depicted so realistically - at the end of the day she wasn’t the big scary danger to every one else. The majority of the violence she did was against herself or objects. 

This is definitely a check if you’re in the headspace before you try this, but I think it’s worth it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Child abuse, Gun violence, Religious bigotry, Racism, Violence, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Sexual violence, Slavery, Sexual harassment, Self harm, Police brutality, and Rape

Moderate: Transphobia, Child abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Homophobia

nautilus18's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Abortion, Medical content, Physical abuse, Ableism, Classism, Death, Gun violence, Homophobia, Miscarriage, Police brutality, Racism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

herfleurs's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Gun violence, Child death, Death, Sexual harassment, Torture, and Homophobia