Reviews tagging 'Medical content'

A Big Ship at the Edge of the Universe by Alex White

9 reviews

sassmistress's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense fast-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

This book was an exciting ride. We're talking fast cars, shootouts, big explosions, epic hand-to-hand and aerial combat, battlefield banter. Space fantasy, almost cyberpunk, but I'm guessing a more accurate description would be magipunk? Arcane punk? Whatever it is, there were some really unique, imaginative ideas here. The magical war tech, body modifications, sport design, etc. are really cool and the world-building has been explored to the edges--what economics, disability experience, etc. look like. 

The writing and pace are excellent, the women are written well, the pieces all fall into place at the end, the solutions are clever and consistent with the world-building. I love the range of experiences, the found family, and the daring rescues...

It's just that the content isn't my speed. It's darker than I like, with antiheroes, a lot of bloody violence, sexual content, language, blasphemy, and general cynicism. The characters are rough around the edges, but without the heart of gold you'd get in stories like Firefly. They're likeable enough, but not lovable for me. 

It's an amazing book for the right reader; I'm just looking for a different vibe under all that excitement and creativity. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Sexual content, Cursing, Gun violence, War, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Murder, and Violence

Moderate: Genocide, Grief, Ableism, and Police brutality

Minor: Drug use, Slavery, Dysphoria, Kidnapping, and Alcohol

Violence: Near constant. Graphic descriptions of injury, copious amounts of blood, graphic deaths including crashes, skull crushing, guns, stabbing, explosions, immolation, and more.

Sexual content: Very frequent, includes innuendo, explicit talk, sexualization, reference to orgies, nude bathing in mixed company with sexualized descriptions, several occurrences of "closed door" sexual activity for MF and FF couples, plus post-coital scenes, passionate/frisky MF and FF kissing. All consentual, welcome, and reciprocated, IIRC.

Language: Decently frequent, including a**, cr**, d**n, and blasphemy of various sorts.

I put it down for drug use when I noticed a scene with tobacco smoking. There might be more. Several references to alcohol use that seem to be indicative of alcoholism, but it's not "up close".

One character has to regularly deal with in-universe ableist comments that kinda smell like racism, usually malicious.

Medical content, pretty graphic but might be a spoiler:

There's a medical resuscitation scene that gets pretty graphic, with robot appendages entering the body and writhing around in there. Violent cranial equivalent of defibrillation, repeated several times to try to save the person, with survival odds flashing lower every time.

strange_little_ranger's review

adventurous lighthearted mysterious 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? No

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, and Violence

Minor: Addiction, Alcohol, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Car accident, Child abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Child death, Stalking, Torture, War, Chronic illness, Genocide, Grief, Murder, Classism, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, Colonisation, Sexual content, Kidnapping, Violence, and Medical content

devynvictoria's review

adventurous tense medium-paced

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

3.5

I liked how unique the characters are and how the main characters had some great character development. The book was about 100-150 pages longer than it really needed to be. I took a break from it for a few weeks while I read other stuff, but I’m glad I came back and finished it. Overall a great story, I just wish it wasn’t so long. I’m not sure if I’m going to continue with the series or not.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Death, Medical content, Violence, Blood, Murder, War, Ableism, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Grief

Minor: Vomit and Fire/Fire injury

fromjuliereads's review

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? Yes

3.0

I admit that I liked the characters in this book and read the whole thing to see what happened to them. But the plot was a struggle for me in multiple parts. I think for me, I would have enjoyed this one more as a show or movie. Some parts of the plot just dragged a bit much for me. But I liked the characters and interactions. Not entirely sure yet if I'll continue the series. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Grief, Kidnapping, Murder, Death, Violence, War, Medical content, Vomit, Cursing, Genocide, Blood, and Gun violence

therainbowshelf's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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

I Absolutely loved this book (and I don’t always love sci-fi)! When former treasure hunter Boots sells fake maps about a legendary lost warship to the wrong people, it sets off a chain reaction that pulls her in, along with her old crew and a competitive racer. I loved the integration of magic with technology, and I really enjoyed the characters throughout. Also always delighted to find LGBTQ rep or books by Queer authors (and this has both!)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Alcohol, Blood, Body horror, Classism, Death, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Homophobia, Confinement, Body shaming, Car accident, Cursing, Medical content, Outing, and Violence

Moderate: Gun violence, Kidnapping, and Gaslighting

Flashbacks

apersonfromflorida's review

adventurous lighthearted sad fast-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Injury/Injury detail, and Gun violence

Moderate: War, Car accident, and Death

Minor: Medical content and Police brutality

lucystolethesky's review

adventurous dark funny mysterious 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Gore, Medical content, War, Murder, Kidnapping, Grief, Death, Blood, and Genocide

Moderate: Ableism, Mental illness, Sexual content, and Confinement

Minor: Child abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, and Slavery

caseythereader's review

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious tense slow-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

 - Wow, this was so fun! Y'all know I love a ragtag spaceship crew story, and BIG SHIP delivers that, along with heart-pounding battle scenes, not to mention a great magic system.
- Really interesting to read Boots' lack of magic as a disability in this world. It does fall a little into the trap of "your disability is really a superpower," but for the most part I thought it functioned as disability does in our world - people are embarrassed to talk about it, and often forget that she needs some basic accommodations.
- I can't wait to pick up the sequels and find out where this story is going. Add the crew of the Capricious to the list of spacers I'd follow anywhere. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Alcohol, Blood, Death, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Medical content, Murder, Sexual content, Violence, and Vomit

troisha's review

adventurous emotional funny mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Murder, and Violence

Moderate: Genocide, Gore, Grief, Medical content, and Vomit

Minor: Ableism, Child abuse, Kidnapping, Sexual content, and Suicidal thoughts