Reviews tagging 'Transphobia'

Godly Heathens by H.E. Edgmon

20 reviews

ofbooksandechos's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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: Gun violence, Death, Violence, and Mental illness

Moderate: Ableism, Transphobia, Racism, Body horror, and Violence

Minor: Pedophilia, Suicidal thoughts, Genocide, Slavery, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Self harm, and Child abuse

CONTENT WARNING provided by the author. This story features a candid depiction of mental illness that, although based on my lived experiences, may make some readers uncomfortable. The main character grapples with managing their symptoms, accepting their own and a family member’s illness, some internalized ableism, and some ableism from others. There are references to self-harm and suicide. Other potentially upsetting content includes: • Graphic gore and body horror • Violence, including murder and torture • Off-page sexual violence, including experiences that involve children • Abuse, including child abuse and off-page domestic violence • Mentions of transphobia and racism, including references to slavery and genocide • Animal death

ladykyuuketsuki's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Torture, Death, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Murder, Animal death, Body horror, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Cursing, Emotional abuse, and Abandonment

Minor: Confinement, Domestic abuse, Genocide, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Ableism, Colonisation, Self harm, and Suicidal thoughts

taratearex's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense medium-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

4.0

This was great and I can't say enough how much I wish I had H.E. Edgmon's books as a teen. 

A teenage Indigenous trans God who doesn't know they're a God living in a small town, slowly has to remember their past life to unravel the mess they're in and through uncovering lost memories reckon with if they're the hero or the villain in this story. This book is messy and heavy at times, everyone has a past and everyone has secrets and no one really knows what the "right" thing to do is. I really enjoyed Gem and Willa Mae as a morally grey characters, I loved how queer and trans this book is, and I loved how messy and terrible everyone is. 

I had a bit of a hard time keeping up with the many characters with multiple names and flashbacks, but I do think the author did a great job of continuing to remind you who people were, I think I should have done some annotating to help me as this is generally a thing I have a hard time keeping up with. The plot got a bit winding with some leaps in logic, but I don't think I would have thought twice about that as a teen and for the most part just had to shut my adult brain off a few times. 

Overall, I loved this and look forward to book two! Especially after that major cliffhanger of an ending! Can't wait to reread when the next book comes out.

CW: death, mental illness, gore, violence, torture, self harm, animal cruelty (mild) it's hinted at that something may happen to the dog, but the dog doesn't die, child abuse, racism, homophobia, transphobia, sexual content (mild)

Thank you to the publisher and net galley for the advanced reader copy.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Mental illness, Gore, Death, and Torture

Moderate: Homophobia, Transphobia, Self harm, and Racism

Minor: Animal cruelty and Sexual content

readingwithkaitlyn's review against another edition

dark 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Murder, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Violence, Body horror, Gun violence, Mental illness, and Blood

Moderate: Self harm, Grief, Toxic relationship, Colonisation, Animal death, Ableism, Vomit, Suicidal thoughts, War, and Transphobia

Minor: Slavery, Racism, Genocide, Drug abuse, Sexual content, Animal cruelty, Infertility, and Child abuse

kharlan3's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious 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

Gem is a nonbinary teen living in small town Georgia, and things have never felt quite right- especially that their best friend lives all the way in New York City. This not-right-ness comes to a head as disconcerting things start to happen and Gem learns that they're a reincarnation of a god from another universe, in the midst of a generation-spanning war for the lives of their fellow gods and the world they left behind. 

I completely adored this book. Gem is complex- I rooted for them, but they make bad, messy, heartfelt decisions left and right. The thing that this book did the best was Gem's inner life- the combination of their mental health issues and the memories of their past lives flowing together, the all-consuming yearning that can't be contained to a single object of affection, the coping skills they try to use but aren't quite enough. I haven't seen quite this point of view on trans-ness, gender, mental illness, and growing up in the rural south anywhere else.

This book ends on a cliffhanger, and I can't wait for the next one- H.E. Edgmon hasn't disappointed me yet!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Gun violence, Transphobia, Mental illness, Death, and Murder

Moderate: Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Vomit, Torture, Infidelity, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, Self harm, War, and Suicidal thoughts

krisalexcole's review against another edition

dark emotional medium-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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Blood, Mental illness, Death, Gore, Violence, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Vomit, Child abuse, Colonisation, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Torture, Animal death, and Body horror

Minor: Infertility, Pregnancy, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Animal cruelty, Self harm, Fire/Fire injury, Medical content, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, War, Alcohol, Child death, Death of parent, Racism, Transphobia, and Cursing

thedragonqueen's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional 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? Yes

5.0

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for sending this ebook for review consideration. All opinions are my own. 

 

H.E. Edgmon is one of the most talented authors I have ever read. Godly Heathens had me hooked with the best first line ever written. Gem is neither a hero nor villian in this gripping tale of quite literally escapng the Goddess of Death, a gaggle of Gods stuck in a different world, and your not so average love triangle. I loved that the book was full of representation of trans and non-binary individuals as well as a very diverse cast of Indigenous and Black characters. I need every book Edgmon has ever written. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Torture, Vomit, Mental illness, Death, Transphobia, and Violence

ezwolf's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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

3.75

Gem Echols is a trans high school student just trying to make it out of their small town to be with their maybe love interest in college. That all changes when they meet Willa Mae who reveals that the dreams Gem has had are actually memories of a previous life and they are the reincarnation of a god. 

I thought that Gem was pretty funny at the start of the book and I was on my way to being endeared to them. But somewhere along the way I realized that I didn’t really like them. Or Willa Mae. Or Enzo. I love morally grey characters and they don’t have to do good things but I do need to like them on some level. 

But there are a lot of good things about this book and I think a lot of other people will like it. It's got good trans representation, Native representation, discussions of colonization as well as mental illness. 

I still look forward to reading the author’s other books and would recommend this to people, it was just missing ~something~ for me. 

Thank you to NetGalley for making this available in exchange for an honest review!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Colonisation, Death, Murder, Violence, Blood, Body horror, Chronic illness, Dysphoria, Grief, Gun violence, and Mental illness

Moderate: Sexual content, Self harm, and Vomit

Minor: Sexual assault, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Animal cruelty, Bullying, and Transphobia

traeumenvonbuechern's review against another edition

dark emotional funny 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

5.0

[The ARC of this book was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.] 

 

CN: mental illness, trauma, (internalized) ableism, references to self-harm and suicide, graphic gore, body horror, violence (including murder and torture), off-page sexual violence (including experiences that involve children), abuse (including child abuse and off-page domestic violence), mentions of transphobia and racism (including references to slavery and genocide), animal death, vomit 

 

“For anyone worried you might be the villain in your own story. Maybe you are. I think you deserve a happy ending, anyway.” 

 

Oh. My. Gods. This. Book. 

 

I knew from the first page that this was going to be a five star read, but I never expected that I would love it this much. 

 

“The Witch King” used to be my all-time favorite book, and I still absolutely adore it, but “Godly Heathens” is on another level. I already know I’m going to reread this book at least once before it comes out in November, and many, many times after that. 

 

If you’re looking for a book with… 

 

· villainous main characters 

· reincarnated old gods 

· a t4t4t non-monogamous love triangle 

· a trans- and Native-majority cast 

· amazing mental illness representation 

 

… then “Godly Heathens” might be the perfect book for you. It’s definitely the perfect book for me, and I will probably try to force everyone I know to read it as soon as it comes out. 

 

I’m trying so hard to write a review that does this book justice, but I literally have no coherent thoughts right now, so please just trust me when I say that this book is absolutely incredible. 

 

Please pre-order “Godly Heathens” or request it at your local library if you can! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Murder, Gore, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Ableism, Body horror, and Child abuse

Minor: Animal death, Domestic abuse, Racism, Self harm, Sexual violence, Slavery, Genocide, Suicidal thoughts, Transphobia, and Vomit

romie_chat's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny mysterious fast-paced

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

the way i inhaled this:)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Torture

Moderate: Transphobia