Reviews tagging 'Suicide'

An Unkindness of Ghosts by Rivers Solomon

91 reviews

greywolfheir's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Toxic friendship, Self harm, Suicide, Violence, Classism, Grief, Death of parent, Death, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Police brutality, Sexual violence, and Racism

lim's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Child abuse, Misogyny, Transphobia, Emotional abuse, Murder, Pedophilia, Violence, Racial slurs, Religious bigotry, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Torture, Police brutality, Racism, Rape, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, and Slavery

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Medical trauma, Lesbophobia, Confinement, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Panic attacks/disorders, Mental illness, Dysphoria, Death, Body shaming, Bullying, and Incest

Minor: Abortion, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Medical content, Pregnancy, Sexual content, Terminal illness, and Vomit

camilleion's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Murder

Moderate: Suicide, Torture, Sexual harassment, Homophobia, Sexual assault, Violence, Sexual violence, Self harm, Pregnancy, and Rape

Minor: Hate crime, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Confinement, Abortion, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Sexism, Bullying, Child death, Classism, Racism, and Blood

sarkenobi's review against another edition

challenging dark sad 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

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical content, Mental illness, Police brutality, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Torture, Xenophobia, Ableism, Classism, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Violence, Abandonment, Blood, Body horror, Body shaming, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Confinement, Death, Hate crime, Lesbophobia, Misogyny, Murder, Sexual violence, Toxic friendship, Dysphoria, Gore, Homophobia, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Abortion, Grief, Religious bigotry, Suicide, Death of parent, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Pregnancy, Suicide attempt, Addiction, Chronic illness, Cursing, Drug abuse, Outing, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Child death, and Miscarriage

Minor: Child abuse, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Vomit

emzhay's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny 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? Yes

5.0

I’ve now read and loved all of Rivers Solomon’s novels, and while it’s definitely the saddest, this one is my favorite. I highly recommend the audiobook. The narration brings so much life to the characters especially with the different accents and bits of languages used. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Suicide, Violence, Racism, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Child death, Suicidal thoughts, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Slavery, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Rape, Homophobia, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

Minor: Pedophilia, Incest, Dysphoria, Abortion, and Terminal illness

auteaandtales's review against another edition

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Racism, Ableism, Transphobia, Sexual violence, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Hate crime, Confinement, Child abuse, Sexual assault, Torture, Physical abuse, Misogyny, Violence, Suicide, Slavery, Gore, Death, and Colonisation

Moderate: Abortion and Pregnancy

tigger89's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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

5.0

This book was incredible. I've never met a protagonist quite like Aster: queer, neurodivergent, sharp in both manner and intelligence, and scarred by a lifetime of trauma but hell-bent on getting her way. The rest of the cast didn't disappoint either, with a varied collection of complexly-written and -motivated characters comprising both the heroic and villainous casts. Theo was an incredible supporting character. Again, complicated and frustrating, but I was so glad we got to meet him and even spend a chapter in his head. I would have liked to hear more from his point of view in fact, though I admit it wouldn't have served the plot any better. I just want more Theo, and I want him to be happy. It's a purely selfish desire. And no, there's nothing on AO3. I checked.

Anyway. There were a lot of ways this book could have gone wrong. The concept of "antebellum slavery recreated aboard a generation ship in transit" was ambitious, and I can think of few other authors who could have done it justice — N.K. Jemisin, perhaps? Jemisin wouldn't have done the character work in the same way though, so it would have been a very different book. I thought the level of scientific crunch was perfect for the story Solomon was trying to tell. The science seemed mostly sound to my layman's understanding(with the exception of the siluminium), but rather than taking on a starring role it formed the backbone that supported the main point of the story, which was about the society that relied on that science to survive.

My only complaint about this book is that the pacing gets a little weird in the last third. A lot of time passes, but the plot remains urgent, so there's some very weird time skips that leave the narrative feeling disjointed, even rushed at times. But this only brings the overall score down to maybe a 4.75, so I rounded it up. If you're someone who likes your sci-fi with science that at least puts up a pretense of being grounded in fact, but who still prefers a focus on character and society over hard scientific crunch, the style of this book would probably appeal to you. Just be mindful of the content warnings, as there's quite a lot of them and Solomon pulls no punches.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Homophobia, Misogyny, Slavery, Transphobia, Violence, Religious bigotry, Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, Police brutality, Racism, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Abortion, Blood, Classism, Death of parent, Child abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, Medical content, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, and Sexual content

Minor: Suicide, Alcohol, Pedophilia, and Pregnancy

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

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, Violence, and Torture

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

Minor: Blood, Gun violence, Vomit, and Transphobia

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