Reviews tagging 'Rape'

An Unkindness of Ghosts by Rivers Solomon

190 reviews

writererinm's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring mysterious 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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, Transphobia, Violence, Police brutality, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Outing, and Toxic friendship

cowboyaj's review against another edition

challenging dark medium-paced

4.0

I really liked this one. The way Soloman was able to turn this kind of story into the sci-fi genre was incredible. The writing quality was amazing as well! I love Aster as a character. 

However, if you do read this book I would highly encourage reading the content warnings first. It doesn't hold back on harsher topics, though I think that quality makes the book much stronger. 

My few disappointments of the book was the (romance?) and the ending. I honestly had such a difficult time discerning if Theo and Aster were romantically involved or not. Their relationship felt like it was fluctuating constantly and it just felt too surface level compared to the other themes of the book. For me, the ending wasn't satisfying. Though I don't always need a happy ending, the ending just didn't give me any relief from all the build up that happened from the beginning of the story. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Slavery, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Child death, Rape, Suicide, Abortion, Murder, Pregnancy, and Colonisation

Minor: Gun violence, Transphobia, Blood, and Vomit

arguhlincozzi's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark inspiring mysterious reflective sad 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Excrement, Police brutality, Medical content, Grief, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

oworthyfool's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective sad 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

5.0

Rivers Solomon weaves a deft tale of oppression, family, and ultimately hope in the face of human evil. A timely story of how society turns on the less fortunate and intentionally marginalized, the focus nonetheless is of Aster struggling to make sense of her mother's death, the day of her own birth. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gun violence, Hate crime, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Vomit, Police brutality, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Excrement, Abortion, Fire/Fire injury, and Abandonment

midwichtriffid's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

This was a book with an interesting premise, complex characters and a world that feels bleak and hopeless. It deals with an incredible number of very dark topics and you should be very aware of any trigger warnings in this book as it does not pull any of its punches. Its hard to say that I enjoyed this book, or even that I am glad that I read it, but it was a book that needed reading. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Gore, Hate crime, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

juniperb23's review against another edition

challenging emotional 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, and Slavery

emmagiverny's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Racism, Police brutality, and Death of parent

Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Abortion, Sexual harassment, and Colonisation

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

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

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

booksjessreads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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? Yes

5.0

This is my first ever sci-fi read, and I must say that this is an incredible book. I felt so immersed into this story and genuinely, it was phenomenal. The world-building, the dialogue, the complexity of characters, the natural flow of writing. It was just... amazing!

I will admit that it took me about 2-3 chapters to fully get going. I listened to the audiobook and I also felt like whilst I was listening in the first couple of chapters, I did miss key details about the world-building, but just continued listening. I felt like as I went through the story, this didn't matter too much and I thought I had a good grip of the world by the middle of the book. I have bought a physical copy so that next time I read, I read the print copy to annotate those extra details.

Genuinely, the conjunction between structural racism and generational ships in Matilda was my favourite part about the whole thing and thought the crafting of this world was done extremely well. I saw some 'critics reviews' that said the 'many layers of metaphor' and 'worldbuilding by poetry' disappointed readers that wanted hard science fiction, but this is what I loved most. The poetic language only heightened the worldbuilding and reading between the lines made it all the more real for the reader. Although, I understand this is not to everyone's taste. 

I am of the opinion of other reviews where the ending does feel slightly rushed and there were some things that could have been explored in some more depth for me, but I still really enjoyed the story anyway! I felt the pace really picks up about half way through, and that it was a very packed ending in the last few chapters.

I did also feel as though the death of the Sovereign and Lune's death could have been explored more. I felt like in the middle of the story, we were looking towards a mystery of what the fluid-like metal was and how it got there, but we were abruptly given the answer to that and I felt like it could have been dragged out more mysteriously before we came to that conclusion.

It is very rare I want a book to be longer, but I wish it was so that there could be so many more things added. I thought the book was excellent as it was anyway, not just because of the worldbuilding, but the ending, for me, was unexpected. I just wish that themes could have been explored more. I just never really wanted the book to end. 

I would recommend this book 100%! I think it was an amazing experience, especially listening to the audio as it just brought everything to life. Before reading though, please read the trigger warnings, as there are a lot of graphic triggers in this book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Violence, Medical content, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Infertility, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicide, Fire/Fire injury, and Sexual harassment

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

Moderate: Gun violence, Blood, and Abortion