Reviews tagging 'Gaslighting'

An Unkindness of Ghosts by Rivers Solomon

8 reviews

mothwitchlibrary's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Abortion, Racism, Sexual assault, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Injury/Injury detail, Death, Suicide, Child abuse, Sexual violence, Rape, Physical abuse, Medical content, Child death, Bullying, Gaslighting, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Self harm, Religious bigotry, Murder, Classism, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, Homophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, and Confinement

riverrliam's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective tense slow-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

4.25

This book is heavy on science terms, so be prepared to look things up! Some of the plot was confusing to me, but overall it was entertaining and a quick read. I liked all the queer representation. I love a dystopian story / escape for a better world and the setting was unique. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Dysphoria, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Hate crime, Homophobia, Medical content, Body shaming, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Classism, Death, Gore, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Bullying, Confinement, Mental illness, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, Rape, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Grief, Gun violence, Self harm, and Fire/Fire injury

kellyofcali's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious 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

4.0

Very much a modern sci-fi for me, I liked the world the author created and the way they wove in themes of classism and racism while still pursuing a vibrant sci-fi story with a more diverse and varied cast of characters. My main issue was the ending - it felt like someone told them to "wrap it up" and so the ending felt unhurried and less gripping than the earlier parts of the book. However, definitely worth a read and made for an interesting book club discussion (people were very split) - especially for sci-fi lovers.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Sexual violence, Violence, Death, Abandonment, Abortion, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Gaslighting, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Rape, Death of parent, and Forced institutionalization

Moderate: Blood, Medical content, Misogyny, Slavery, Chronic illness, Grief, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Pregnancy and Racism

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...

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Content Warnings

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

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

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Content Warnings

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

nagev's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Homophobia, Abortion, Classism, Racism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Violence, and Confinement

Moderate: Pregnancy, Police brutality, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual violence, Bullying, Chronic illness, Medical trauma, Gaslighting, Fire/Fire injury, Death, Blood, Abandonment, Torture, Transphobia, Rape, Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual assault, Terminal illness, Vomit, Slavery, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, Sexism, Panic attacks/disorders, Murder, Misogyny, Medical content, Lesbophobia, and Grief

Minor: Ableism, Child abuse, and Alcohol

solenodon's review against another edition

challenging emotional tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Torture, Injury/Injury detail, Police brutality, Sexism, Sexual assault, Abortion, Child death, Death, Murder, Physical abuse, Medical trauma, Child abuse, Colonisation, Medical content, Racism, Religious bigotry, Misogyny, Ableism, Classism, Confinement, Death of parent, Grief, Rape, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Slavery, Violence, Body shaming, Mental illness, Self harm, Transphobia, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Excrement, Fire/Fire injury, Racial slurs, Gore, Homophobia, Pedophilia, Suicidal thoughts, and Lesbophobia

Minor: Alcohol

peannlewis's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective sad tense slow-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

4.5

Difficult but engaging read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Abandonment, Abortion, Ableism, Blood, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Colonisation, Confinement, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Gun violence, Homophobia, Hate crime, Lesbophobia, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Slavery, Suicide attempt, and Torture

Moderate: Dysphoria, Incest, Murder, Pedophilia, Pregnancy, Religious bigotry, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, and Transphobia