Reviews tagging 'Hate crime'

Even If We Break by Marieke Nijkamp

9 reviews

savreads28's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-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

1.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Dysphoria, Hate crime, Medical content, Drug use, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic friendship, Murder, Transphobia, Ableism, Addiction, Chronic illness, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Grief, Bullying, Drug abuse, and Mental illness

rxanne5's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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? N/A

4.5

I have re read this book a few times by now. I do love this book a lot. 

I'm a huge nerd so it's only natural I'm liking this book so much. It has been a while since I read it again though. There are spoilers ahead!

I love the character building in this book. I like how Marieke Nijkamp builds characters disabled or lgbtq+ people can relate to without it being a huge plot point or something that tries to get 'fixed' throughout the book.

I could also relate to some of the characters. I do like the plot twists in this book, but I had a bad feeling about Liv the whole time already. This is definitely my favorite book if the two I have read by this author and I also got a friend hooked on this. 

There are some beautiful quotes in this book, that also made me think for a while. Great book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Bullying, Child death, Transphobia, Hate crime, Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Abandonment, Deadnaming, Death, Gore, Ableism, Gaslighting, Mental illness, Toxic friendship, Murder, and Self harm

bradley's review

dark emotional hopeful mysterious 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Suicidal thoughts, Addiction, Child death, Mental illness, Car accident, Death, Drug abuse, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Transphobia, and Violence

Moderate: Hate crime, Ableism, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Grief, and Toxic friendship

aqulia's review

adventurous fast-paced

• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

Even When We Break was a fun book to read, but I'm not sure Nijkamp intended that.  I loved that there was an autistic character, because characters with autism are really rare.  The trans and nonbinary representation was great, too.  The interactions between Molly, Finn, and Ever where great, and I love how Nijkamp explored all of the characters flaws.  And their game sounded super fun! The death traps, while rather silly, were fun to read.

However, this book has some major flaws.  First, some of the POVs sounded too similar.  Molly's was distinct, but Liva and Carter's often sounded similar.  This problem was worse between Finn and Ever.  I actually had to flip back to the beginning of the chapter to differentiate the two.  Second, figuring out the killer was way to easy.  You can guess before the group starts their game, and figuring it out after the death is trivial.  The killer's motivation for committing the crimes was rather non-sensical, and beating the killer felt too easy.

In short, if you are looking for a tense book that leaves you guessing who the killer is, this is not for you.  However, if you want to have a good time with the book version of an 80's slasher b-movie, Even When We Break is the book for you.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Murder

Moderate: Transphobia, Self harm, Addiction, and Hate crime

Minor: Ableism, Car accident, and Fire/Fire injury

madarauchiha's review

slow-paced

2.5

This feels like fanfic but not really in a good way. I guess if you like DND then you'd like this book. I don't, so I didn't. Also I'm an adult and I'm not into reading about being a teenager. Been there done that.

The writing was ok. I think it held suspense well enough. It was a very standard 'group goes to isolated location, gets picked off until the ending' story. 

The ending was irritating and felt shallow.

major plot spoiler

livia is the villain because all her friends are doing better than her. ok sure whatever. also she was abused as a child which made her evil.. Um. No.

content warnings
minor ableism, medical content, animal cruelty, animal hunting, 

medium child abuse, car accidents, injuries, ableism, transphobia, hate crime, 

major addiction, drug abuse, death, murder, gore, drug use, panic attacks, 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, Death, Child death, Murder, Gore, and Panic attacks/disorders

Moderate: Child abuse, Car accident, Injury/Injury detail, Ableism, Transphobia, and Hate crime

Minor: Ableism, Medical content, and Animal cruelty

baponthecob's review

dark hopeful mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.0

I really wasn't connected to the friend group as a whole, but as individuals, Ever was my favorite and I related the most to Maddy. I really did not care about Carter at all, and I hated Liva with a passion. Her head was so far up her own ass that she could probably taste her breakfast. I understand that she was conditioned to be that way by her parents, but at some point she is responsible for her own actions, especially when her friends wanted to help. Finn was done so dirty by her. I got tired of her classism and ableism so quick. Also transphobia??? Really out of left field. Like she is a cis straight rich white girl out here belittling her queer, trans, and disabled friends who are not as well off 😟 and then had the audacity to say she still cared about them 😟 and that they made her do what she did bc they tried to be more than they should 😟 please get some help
And after all that, we've got Ever still feeling bad. They have so much compassion for everyone else and I love them for it, but they really need to care about themself too :( and that's where  the book takes us at the end. Freshly realized morals, taking one step at a time, all that cheesy shit.
Overall, I liked how this book discussed friendship and how some things may not last. The main message at the end was a little bittersweet but still hopeful. But it was just VERY in-your-face, which really took me out of the story.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Blood, Drug abuse, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, and Violence

Moderate: Car accident, Chronic illness, Ableism, Fire/Fire injury, Suicidal thoughts, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Hate crime, Self harm, and Transphobia

nyoom's review

dark reflective slow-paced

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

0.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Body shaming, Bullying, Car accident, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Grief, Hate crime, Kidnapping, Medical content, Mental illness, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, Transphobia, and Violence

Moderate: Medical trauma and Toxic relationship

Minor: Colonisation

drp_moonlight's review

adventurous emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

I can't begin to say how underwhelming it was. The book markets itself as a thriller but the actual action is far too often put aside for teen drama and angst that tried to pass as character development but only served to drag the story to a complete halt. The villain was incredibly predictable and not even interesting at that. Still rated 3 stars because it was a quick read and entertaining enough. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Ableism, Blood, Bullying, Car accident, Death, Drug abuse, Hate crime, Murder, Transphobia, and Chronic illness

Minor: Animal death and Suicidal thoughts

maisierosereads's review

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Blood, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Gore, Hate crime, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, and Violence