Reviews tagging 'Body horror'

An Unkindness of Ghosts by Rivers Solomon

25 reviews

sophiesmallhands's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Medical trauma, Violence, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Medical content, and Self harm

Moderate: Body horror

bash5617's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Rape, Slavery, Suicide attempt, Religious bigotry, Transphobia, Child abuse, Cursing, Forced institutionalization, Injury/Injury detail, Body horror, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Murder, Pregnancy, Sexual violence, Torture, Sexual assault, Death of parent, Death, Hate crime, Violence, Racism, Abortion, Suicidal thoughts, Adult/minor relationship, Fire/Fire injury, and Gun violence

paperbrownies's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful 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

4.0

- lgbtqiap+, adult, sci-fi, dystopian, space gays, horror, makes you go ✨science ✨, ghosts, drifting through space, DIVERSE, 
- f|f
-rep: black intersex neurodivergent nonbinary woman mc, nonbinary woman sc (see author’s twitter thread), aroace sc and a casting of racially diverse and queer characters 

if i had to say anything about this book, then it would be: 
’talented. brilliant. incredible. amazing. showstopping. spectacular. never the same. TOTALLY UNIQUE. completely not ever been done before.’ 
this. this is my review!!! 

-cw: surgery, medical content, needles, transphobia, misgendering, alcohol, death of parent, systematic violence, illness, off-page and on-page suicide, brief mention of cancer, implied child sexual abuse, body horror, injury/injury detail, self harm, abortion, physical abuse, intake of bodily fluids, child death, fire, suicide, torture, confinement, police brutality, minor sexual content 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Suicide, Transphobia, Body horror, Self harm, Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Police brutality, and Violence

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Abortion

Minor: Cancer, Murder, and Sexual content

armontheroad's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Rivers Solomon always delivers with faer books!! This dark space opera is a great commentary on our society. I cared for all of our main characters so much! I will say this book is not for the faint of heart. AN UNKINDNESS OF GHOSTS is very graphic and triggering. I have listed all the content warnings I could remember down below! 

CWs: Here are a few that StoryGraph doesn't have options to list: Execution and misgendering

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual content, Abortion, Death of parent, Suicide, Death, Child death, Rape, Racism, Grief, Medical trauma, Medical content, Slavery, Sexual assault, Excrement, Misogyny, Self harm, Police brutality, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Racial slurs, Sexism, and Domestic abuse

lolajh's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious 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? Yes

5.0

A black autistic intersex nonbinary lesbian main character, Aster, in space! Aster’s childhood best friend is Giselle, whose character arc was heartbreaking and traumatic and so raw and real that she and Aster became my favourite characters. Giselle had some minor chapters in her point of view that I wish we got more of because of how interesting of a character she was.

There was also kind of a lead up to what I thought would be a romance or attraction between both Aster and Giselle which didn’t happen, but was understandable due to Giselle’s mental state at the time. Instead Aster romances with Theo, the space ship’s surgeon, who I always saw as more of a parental figure to Aster than a romance, but it developed anyway. Both Theo and Aster are genderqueer; Rivers described online as Aster being nonbinary and Theo a trans woman, which was nice to see and I still very much liked Theo’s character and their experiences and discussions of gender, HOWEVER, there was a sex scene between Aster and Theo in which Aster asks for them to not penetrate her but also not saying what they could do, but Theo goes down on her anyway. So I think there was a mistranslation of proper consent being done here, which is what let down Theo’s character for me, especially after Aster had already had experiences with sexual assault and rape, it really surprised me that Theo would not be so caring and thorough to ask consent of her properly before doing anything. Before that happened as well they do kiss her face and lips without Aster’s consent, dominating over her and overall it seeming like an unbalanced power dynamic that shouldn’t have happened and then Aster continuing to romance them afterwards.

 

Throughout the story Aster uncovers the mysteries of her mother’s death and the blackouts occurring currently on the ship all whilst dealing with trauma and systemic racism and standing up to it more than anyone had done before. Aster is such a strong and admirable character and I loved her progressions of exploring her gender. Will be visiting more of Rivers’ books.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Suicide attempt, Hate crime, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Medical content, Mental illness, Racism, Rape, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Child abuse, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Gore, Grief, Religious bigotry, Torture, Ableism, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexism, and Suicide

megalai_jadis's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Body shaming, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Colonisation, Confinement, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Homophobia, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Pedophilia, Rape, Racism, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide attempt, and Transphobia

kayesomething's review against another edition

adventurous 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Homophobia, Racism, Body shaming, Medical content, Medical trauma, Toxic friendship, Slavery, Injury/Injury detail, and Confinement

Moderate: Gun violence, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Blood, Body horror, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Grief, Child death, Death of parent, Death, Fire/Fire injury, and Mental illness

Minor: Abortion, Torture, Terminal illness, Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Panic attacks/disorders

akblair's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Blood, Body horror, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Racism, Rape, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide attempt, and Torture

Moderate: Alcohol, Child death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, Sexual content, and Slavery

blockieran's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad 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

About 40 pages in I was close to quitting because it's very triggering. Fortunately I didn't. The story captured me and wouldn't let me go resulting in two nights spent reading instead of sleeping.

The representation is everything I want in one book. Labels aren't explicitly stated (mostly because they don't exist in this world) but there is a black queer intersex character who seems to be autistic and a trans character with OCD and they own my heart. I want to keep reading forever because it hurts to leave them behind.

Be warned: I thought this was mainly an adventure story with discrimination as a background setting. It's very much in your face though.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Ableism, Abortion, Blood, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Dysphoria, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infertility, Injury/Injury detail, Lesbophobia, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Religious bigotry, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, and Vomit

Minor: Alcohol, Cancer, and Drug use

plumpaperbacks's review against another edition

challenging tense slow-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? No

3.5

I don’t think I’m smart enough for this book. The discussions of physics and biology and all sorts of complex science stuff went over my head, and the fact that that comprises so much of the book means most of the book went over my head.

Jokes aside, Solomon wrote a unique sci-fi that left me with much to think about. The setting was interesting, and their writing easy to read without being too simplistic. The main issue I had was with the pacing, as the beginning and end were good, but the middle lagged significantly. I also think the ending could’ve been explained more, though it was satisfying enough as it is.

I ended up quite liking Aster and Theo. It took me some time to warm up to them, but I did. They’re well-written, contrasting characters with a sweet associates to friends to lovers dynamic between them. This relationship is very much a slow-burn, and very much on the back burner. While I respect that, as the emphasis of this book isn’t meant to be romance, a part of me does wish we’d seen a bit more of them in a romantic way.

As I’m thinking more about the book, I’m realizing that, though it’s well-written, the narration was sometimes confusing. If I wasn’t paying close enough attention, it was easy to miss Aster slipping into a flashback. In those situations, I had to be especially attentive so I knew when she had returned to present time. The book gives little indicators at the start of each chapter narrated by a different character even though it only happens a few times, so it would’ve been easy enough to similarly indicate time jumps.

Ultimately, this was neither great nor awful. I’d recommend it, but likely only to specific people, as I don’t think it would be everyone’s cup of tea. Despite some enjoyable elements, I’m not sure it’s my cup of tea. I may or may not pick up more from Solomon in the future.

Representation

• autistic Black queer nonbinary protagonist
• Black side characters
• queer side characters (includes nonbinary, sapphic, and aromantic asexual rep)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Racism, Sexual assault, Death, Murder, Body horror, Medical content, Homophobia, Transphobia, Physical abuse, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide

Minor: Self harm, Pregnancy, and Abortion