Reviews tagging 'Rape'

An Unkindness of Ghosts by Rivers Solomon

190 reviews

rcsreads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

3.5

The space ship is a great analogy for being trapped in slavery, you can't run away into a vacuum. The actual science of this space ship though, is insane like it has a tiny sun with floors for growing crops round it that all require drastically different environments and you can see people on other floors and they're upside down. What? If you take the ship purely as an analogy and don't think about science then this is a really interesting way to write about slavery and trauma full of diverse, queer and neurodivergent characters. The A deck ruling class are the white, heteronormative colonisers and the rest of the alphabet of decks represent the various cultures that the West enslaved and colonised. The analogy is good but the actual plot of the story gets confusing. 
 The story of Aster learning about her mother through the journals she left behind started out so well and then kind of got lost later. We just dropped it for the middle of the book and then it reappeared at the end with a lot of solutions which clearly happened off page. 
 I could see why Giselle was there to show us the effects of trauma but i have no idea why she was Aster's friend, she seemed to hate her a lot and they had nothing in common apart from living on the same floor of the massive ship. I have no idea what the Lieutenants motives were, he was a cartoon villain who just decided one day that a random child was his nemesis and he was going to mess with her for the rest of his life.
 It was very readable and I enjoyed it but this review seems to think otherwise...

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Police brutality, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Stalking, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Lesbophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

laguerrelewis's review against another edition

dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

Rivers Solomon has a way of tugging you by the soul, pulling you into the world they’ve lovingly and painstakingly crafted. An Unkindness of Ghosts is many things: a rumination on faith & oppression, on the afterlife and our ancestor’s legacy, a story of survival and rebellion and forcing a space for yourself when the system denies it, but most of all, it is a good book. I cannot stress enough to heed the content warnings, but if you can stomach them, this book will reward you.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Child abuse and Transphobia

jdianm's review against another edition

adventurous tense medium-paced

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

4.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Child death, Confinement, Death, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Police brutality, Medical content, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Abortion, and Death of parent

slinkmalink's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Racism, and Violence

Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt

oodles17's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

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

4.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism and Slavery

Moderate: Child death, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicide attempt, and Death of parent

Minor: Child abuse and Abortion

third_bookworm's review against another edition

adventurous dark reflective tense slow-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

This was good! I enjoy Solomon's writing a lot. The ending was not as satisfying as I would have liked, but it made sense with the rest of the book.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism

Moderate: Homophobia, Mental illness, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Police brutality, Suicide attempt, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

vrkinase0411's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

3.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Transphobia, and Violence

Moderate: Torture

Minor: Rape and Xenophobia

readingthroughinfinity's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark sad 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? It's complicated

4.0

Gosh, this was good. I keep saying that I don't read much sci-fi these days and then picking up sci-fi books and being blown away by them, so maybe that needs to change. Dark, tense, and violent, with a brilliant main character, this was completely compelling from start to finish. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Physical abuse, Rape, and Classism

Moderate: Ableism, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexual violence, Violence, Police brutality, Medical content, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Abortion and Death of parent

dragon_s_hoard's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infertility, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Vomit, Police brutality, Medical content, Grief, Stalking, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, Dysphoria, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

tea_luke's review against another edition

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape and Sexual assault