Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

The Alice Network by Kate Quinn

30 reviews

makmo722's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

3.5

A solid three and a half stars. Good book, and a really big leap for me into a new genre. I enjoyed the story, but found it hard to follow at times. I appreciate the author’s attention to historical detail. Also, I SO appreciated the author adding a bit to the end to really tie the whole story up nicely. 

I will note that it was far more challenging to read than I expected. War is dark and the effect is has is seen clearly on every page of this book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Sexual assault, Torture, Violence, and War

Moderate: Alcohol, Child death, Cursing, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Suicide, Pregnancy, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and Antisemitism

stabilesero's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful inspiring 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

4.75

I absolutely loved this book. The trio of Charlie, Eve and Finn; all of their flaws and developments were just captivating. 
I loved the duo perspectives of both Eve and Charlie, it added a depth to the book and I loved to see their contrasts and similarities. It loses 0.25 of a rating purely because I feel like Charlie's perspective has nothing on Eve's, but it was nonetheless relevant to Eve's present story. 
There were spicy moments, and swearing, which I found didn't take away from the plot or characters and I feel that reviews that claim they do, don't give Quinn enough credit for how they were used to show the development of character or who the characters were. 
I'm thoroughly looking forward to reading more of Quinn's works because of this book!

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Content Warnings

Moderate: War, Violence, Murder, Abortion, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Antisemitism, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Cursing, Death, and Genocide

Minor: Suicide attempt

alona_reads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Abortion, Alcohol, and Grief

thebranchlibrary_'s review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Pregnancy, Physical abuse, Murder, Medical trauma, Hate crime, Vomit, Genocide, Death, Cursing, Injury/Injury detail, Antisemitism, Alcoholism, Abortion, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Police brutality, Gun violence, War, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Blood, and Alcohol

emmehooks's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark sad fast-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? It's complicated

4.5

I was not expecting to so throughly enjoy this book! Badass women spies, badass women defying social convention. The dual timelines wove together beautifully, there was just enough truth in the fiction to keep me interested, and I appreciated that most of the characters were “fallen” people by society’s standards. Absolutely would read another book by Kate Quinn or on this subject.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Torture, Grief, Biphobia, War, Violence, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Sexual harassment, Rape, Pregnancy, Sexual violence, Mass/school shootings, and Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Vomit, Sexual content, Cursing, Excrement, Gaslighting, Antisemitism, Murder, Infidelity, and Alcohol

sabrina_d_arcy's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Gore, Infidelity, Sexual content, War, Alcoholism, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Torture, Abortion, Alcohol, Medical trauma, Murder, Pregnancy, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Blood, Gun violence, Death, Injury/Injury detail, and Rape

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Excrement, Genocide, Mental illness, Grief, and Panic attacks/disorders

cadybooks's review against another edition

adventurous dark inspiring mysterious medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Gore, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual assault, Violence, Alcohol, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Domestic abuse, Forced institutionalization, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Alcoholism, Body horror, Child death, Death, Drug use, Gaslighting, Genocide, Grief, Police brutality, Blood, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Medical content, Medical trauma, Sexual harassment, War, Suicide, and Toxic relationship

lilifane's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Loved it, but it was too long. Hear me out. 

This book is told from two perspectives in alternating chapter. 
In 1915, we follow Eve, who is trained as a spy and sent to Lille in German occupied France to gather and pass on information to the Alice Network, a network of British and French spies during WWI. 
In 1947 Charlie, a pregnant college student from the US, is searching for her cousin Rose who disappeared in France during WWII. She hires Eve to help with her search, and their stories intertwine more than expected. 

When I say, the book was too long, I mostly mean the first half. Charlie's story, especially compared to Eve's, feels really underdeveloped in the beginning. I like that we get to know the characters slowly and in a natural way during their travels together, and the payoff is really great in the end. But it was still hard to stay invested in Charlie's parts for at least the first 200-300 pages, because nothing actually happens. 

The rest of the book is just fantastic. The character work is amazing, so many strong female characters. I literally felt the tension during all the spy business scenes. Reading the author's note at the end, which explains which characters, events and details were real, made me realize how great their portrayal was in the book as well. Facts and fiction fit perfectly together. 

I liked how all kinds of aspects of women's lives during the wars/post-war are shown, the relationships between the characters, the focus on their mental state. I also think it was great to have a protagonist with a speech disorder who uses this weakness and turns it into a strength. But there are several scenes that were hard to read. Kate Quinn does not shy away from detailed descriptions of gruesome and bloody scenes. So yeah, definitely check out trigger/content warnings.

Lastly, one of the things that is really hard to pull off is a satisfying showdown/ending. And I think it was done masterfully here. A lot of times the showdowns in books are either too abrupt or too slow for me. This one is perfectly timed. I love the setting, the characters involved, the emotions, the dialogues, the action, the execution and resolution. All the little details come together nicely. 
And after the showdown we get an ending that's neither too short, nor too long. I'm really impressed. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Grief, Gun violence, Medical content, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Abortion, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Murder, Police brutality, Pregnancy, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Blood, Child death, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, and War

sarahndipity's review against another edition

adventurous emotional medium-paced

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

2.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Physical abuse, Murder, Alcoholism, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Pregnancy, Mass/school shootings, Hate crime, Alcohol, Sexism, War, Cursing, Violence, Genocide, Death, Blood, and Gun violence

Moderate: Abortion and Toxic relationship

stephmorrisbyatt's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Abortion, Rape, Murder, and Torture

Moderate: Physical abuse, Mental illness, Addiction, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Sexual violence, Pregnancy, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, and Sexual content