Reviews tagging 'Addiction'

Axiom's End by Lindsay Ellis

3 reviews

purplatypus's review against another edition

adventurous emotional tense fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail and Violence

Moderate: Medical content, Xenophobia, Confinement, Kidnapping, Blood, Suicide, Death, Genocide, and Car accident

Minor: Pandemic/Epidemic, Excrement, Addiction, and Slavery

brnineworms's review

adventurous tense fast-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

4.0

This is YA. That’s not a positive or negative judgement, just an observation. It wasn’t marketed as YA fiction as far as I recall but that is absolutely how it reads – a college-age protagonist who needs to learn a lesson or two about responsibility, an intermittently-relevant family, awkward romance, drama, angst, queer rep, etc. I enjoyed it but I can see I’m not the target audience.

Also,

I feel like a lot more could have been done with the fact that Ampersand’s knowledge of Earth culture was hundreds of years out of date. He could have spoken Middle English, for example. The point was that he thought humans were violent and backwards, owing to the fervent religious fundamentalism and purges he witnessed in the wake of the Black Death. But then that seems kind of unnecessary, because we’d already seen him horrified by humans eating meat – there was no need to invoke medieval atrocities when there are already aspects of modern life which he finds abhorrent.

This may seem nitpicky but it’s superfluous details like this that end up making the book at least a hundred pages longer than it needed to be. Thankfully, the quick pace prevented the story from feeling like a slog.

I’d recommend Axiom’s End to fans of Stephenie Meyer’s The Host. It has a similar vibe.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical content, Suicide, Confinement, Self harm, Stalking, and Violence

Moderate: Racism, Death, Antisemitism, Cursing, Drug use, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, and Sexual content

Minor: Torture, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Ableism, Car accident, Colonisation, Grief, Gun violence, Islamophobia, Slavery, Vomit, Murder, War, Abandonment, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Excrement, and Fire/Fire injury

mind control, not having control over one's own body

gwendolynaudrey_reads's review against another edition

adventurous tense fast-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

4.0

This book is clearly an entry point into a much more complex series. It moves quickly, synthesizes 2000s pop culture and political intrigue, and is inspired by classic adventure stories like "Men in Black" and honestly, even "Beauty and the Beast." The main character is a blank slate type young girl character. She is loveable, and her decisions are logical based on her age and background, but she isn't exactly the most complex of characters (yet). I love the diverse set of characters we are introduced to who promise to be important later (an absent Julian Assange father figure, a complicated CIA agent, an alternative, linguist but jealous "cool aunt," - not to mention ALIENS.) AND I love how Ellis never lets you breath.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror

Moderate: Abandonment, Gaslighting, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Genocide, Addiction, and Suicide