Reviews tagging 'Violence'

Wanderers by Chuck Wendig

37 reviews

valjeanval's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious 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? No

5.0

Powerful book especially in the post 2020 world. Hard to believe it was published in 2019. Definitely hard to read at times but one of the few books I had trouble putting down at night because I needed to know what happened next.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Hate crime, Torture, Sexual violence, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Chronic illness, Confinement, Death of parent, Blood, Kidnapping, Suicide, Violence, Sexual assault, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Pandemic/Epidemic, Dementia, Grief, Gun violence, Religious bigotry, Rape, and Murder

Moderate: Child death, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Racism, Racial slurs, Pregnancy, Drug abuse, Medical content, Drug use, Dementia, and Cursing

halestorm802's review against another edition

adventurous dark medium-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: Violence and Rape

Moderate: Racial slurs, Gore, and Racism

ddaley2214's review against another edition

dark 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? No

4.0

I finished this book on Saturday but had to sit on what I had just read for a few days.

First, this book is a perfect example of why content warnings should be standard for all books. I purchased this book in early 2020 at the start of lockdown and got around to reading it this year. I had seen a review that referenced the scene in Chapter 50 as a heads-up, but nothing about anything else. There were a few reviews in book spaces for this, so that part was unsurprising. Here are the content warnings: racism, homo/transphobia, sexism, blood and gore, physical, verbal, sexual assault, illness, and a pandemic.

Now onto a review of the actual book. I try to write reviews that aren't just summaries or blurbs over again, and I try to write them spoiler free. 

The summary of the book about Shana doesn't even scratch the surface of what goes on in this book and who we, as readers, get to meet and discover. There is so much more to this story than what I went into this expecting. The story unfolds as the characters wind across America. Wendig tells a story that, at times, is reminiscent of what we face every day in an ever-changing landscape. It is eerily spooky how well some of the happenings in this book mirror real life, especially for a book published before Covid-19.

As big as the book is, the hardcover coming in at just under 800 pages, it was a little daunting even though I've read bigger books. The pacing is always unknown, the extra page count lending itself to a slower pace. Never fear, though; at its slowest, I would class this book as a medium pace book. It moved along well enough that it kept you engaged and wanting more. It was a bit long-winded and explanatory at times, in a way that reminded me of Michael Crichton. You could tell the author did his research about the material he was writing about, but maybe he did too much research, and now he is shoving it all into the book.

The lack of content warnings and the language that the author used that felt like it occasionally slipped toward harmful stereotypes made me rate this book four stars. I understand that a bigoted character is going to use offensive terminology; I'm not bothered by the fact that there are offensive words or anything (I also don't think that Wendig intentionally meant for these characters to come across this way, but intent and execution are two different matters). I think it played harmfully into the stereotypes, even the characters that were racists. The lack of content warnings, or even a note in the beginning that says to view the content warnings associated with this book, go here (insert web address), is unforgivable.

That being said, I could not shut up about this book. At work, at home, and with friends. I wanted to keep reading it, but real life had to keep moving. The way the story kept true to the summary but so much more kept me engaged. I didn't pick up on how it would end until it happened. But, reflecting, I can see where the breadcrumbs were placed. It wasn't a complete surprise, and I know what I missed.

I'm going to take a little break from this universe and these characters to further digest what I read. I'm excited about book 2, and I already own it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Sexual assault, Terminal illness, Violence, and Racism

Moderate: Addiction

Minor: Abandonment and Pregnancy

kayahcherie's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

Starting with the good: the plot development, the characters, the story in and of itself—all of that was so, so good. A real good apocalyptic, pandemic-meets-climate-change-and-current-political-realities page turner. 

However, the dialogue throughout was so cringey. I would get it if it were stylistic to a specific character but it wasn’t. And I absolutely hated the ending (literally just the last four or five pages. Like. Seriously?????).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Gun violence, Blood, War, Violence, and Rape

Moderate: Addiction and Suicide

sydbap's review

adventurous dark emotional sad 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Misogyny, Murder, Rape, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Racism, Terminal illness, Death, Mental illness, Violence, Blood, Dementia, Homophobia, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Abandonment

rely's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-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? It's complicated

5.0

I loved the plot. I liked mist if the characters but Shana drove me nuts. She took me out of the story. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Homophobia, Sexual assault, Violence, War, Antisemitism, Death, Gun violence, Hate crime, Islamophobia, Rape, Religious bigotry, Xenophobia, Classism, Cursing, Misogyny, Racism, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Physical abuse, and Kidnapping

frozencusser's review against another edition

Anal rape with gun oil in a plot device that has nothing to do with the sci-fi part of it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Torture, Sexual assault, Kidnapping, Violence, Body horror, and Physical abuse

emviolet's review against another edition

challenging dark sad 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

3.5

This is a very dark book, worsened by the fact that we are living in a global pandemic. It took me a long time to read it for many reasons; length, content, depth of information. This is not going to be for everyone, and it does have very Stephen King vibes in terms of storytelling and length. That being said, I do think it’s a pretty good book. There is a lot of attention to science, detail, and development of plot and character. It’s scary, not in a spooky way but in a “this could really happen” way. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Xenophobia, Racism, Rape, Gun violence, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Violence, Torture, and Homophobia

meshell's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful 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? It's complicated

3.5

I read this book back in 2019, and I generally enjoyed it. I thought it was clever  - and viewing it through the lens of still going through a pandemic, it's even more prescient on some of the less awesome human inclinations during a pandemic (but also some of the good ones.)

I thought the different points of view were great interms of building the story to it's eventual outcome. It was a book I could get lost in, the characters were all interesting, flawed, but interesting, the premise was fascinating. 

minor spoiler ahead, and some of my least favourite parts of the book:

But I've realized that even two years later, every time I think of this otherwise decent enough book, I'm still reminded of the gratuitous rape scene, 3/4 of the way through the book. It was just so unnecessary, we'd already established very well that Stoover was a "bad guy," it wasn't subtle, but it's just tacked on there as additional evidence. And Wendig even wrote about how gross gratuitous rape scenes were (in reference to game of thrones, but still - he knows it's gross.)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape

Moderate: Violence

qwerty88's review against another edition

dark hopeful mysterious sad 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

Person of Interest meets The Stand

 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Dementia, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Murder, Police brutality, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Abandonment

Minor: Alcohol and Animal death