Reviews tagging 'Medical trauma'

The Marrow Thieves by Cherie Dimaline

24 reviews

tlaynejones's review against another edition

adventurous dark sad tense fast-paced

• Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Kidnapping, Pandemic/Epidemic, Grief, Medical trauma, Racism, Colonisation, Forced institutionalization, and Genocide

Moderate: Drug use and Sexual assault

tales_told_in_gold's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad 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? No

5.0

It was the title that caught my eye - immediately, I wondered, "who's out here stealing bones?" 

Starting off as a random find at the library, "The Marrow Thieves" ended up being a layered emotional journey loaded with enough sucker-punch twists to make my heart ache. The narrative voice that Dimaline weaves into her characters is truly a skill to admire. She makes you feel like you're sitting right there beside them, listening to their stories as they captivate you with memorable tales of love and grief and joy and pain. 

We follow the perspective of Frenchie, a teenage boy whose coming-of-age in this world of environmental destruction and cruelest inhumanity towards Indigenous peoples lead him to discover what it means to be a survivor of a rich heritage being systematically targeted by those who seek a cure to their own lost culture. 

How do you hold on to what you have left? How do you regain what's been eradicated? How far would you go to protect your loved ones? 

Give this speculative novel a read if any of those questions intrigued you.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Racism, Genocide, Violence, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Child death, Racial slurs, Death of parent, and Rape

leenzreadz's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective 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? No

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Kidnapping, Colonisation, Death, Forced institutionalization, Racism, Violence, Medical trauma, and Murder

Moderate: Grief

Minor: Blood

destinyr's review against another edition

adventurous dark fast-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? No

3.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Medical trauma, Racism, and Xenophobia

rachelfayreads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Forced institutionalization, Grief, Violence, Racism, Kidnapping, Genocide, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Xenophobia, Colonisation, Rape, and Murder

lpdx's review against another edition

adventurous dark sad 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? No

3.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Abandonment, Alcohol, Child death, Forced institutionalization, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Racism, Rape, Violence, Child abuse, Genocide, Grief, Kidnapping, Torture, Trafficking, Animal death, Colonisation, Death, Medical trauma, and Hate crime

Moderate: Confinement and Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Drug use and Cannibalism

sshabein's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful 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? No

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Violence, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Rape

Minor: Child death

zombiezami's review against another edition

4.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Medical trauma, Grief, Death of parent, Religious bigotry, Physical abuse, Genocide, Forced institutionalization, Gun violence, Child abuse, Gore, Blood, Murder, Animal death, Death, Child death, Racism, Torture, Violence, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Colonisation, Vomit, Sexual violence, Stalking, Rape, Pregnancy, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Addiction, Alcohol, Drug use, Drug abuse, and Alcoholism

pigeonquestions's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional inspiring tense fast-paced

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

5.0

Beautifully written. A view of “the apocalypse” entangled with history back to the first residential schools and Indigeous peoples forced from their lands, not just when the coastlines began to shrink or the Water Wars or when a dreamless plague spread over North America. Lovable characters of multiple generations in a found family that I got very attached to. Dark, hopeful, bittersweet, fast-paced. I love the way stories are interwoven into the main narrative. The story features a pair of men who are a couple and though they face adversity, homophobia is never really an issue. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Racism, Murder, and Violence

Moderate: Trafficking, Forced institutionalization, Abandonment, Genocide, and Child death

Minor: Sexism, Alcoholism, Rape, and Medical trauma

katrinky's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

2.5

this book was brutal, but the writing wasn't strong enough for it to totally land for me. the central plot point is clever (and devastating), but the book read like an idea the author had that wasn't fleshed out enough to make a whole book. this is one of those books that is close enough to being very good that it reminds you how freaking hard it is to write a very good novel.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Body horror, Colonisation, Cultural appropriation, Death, Genocide, and Child death

Moderate: Grief, Murder, Medical trauma, Violence, Trafficking, Sexual violence, Racism, Physical abuse, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, and Gore

Minor: Rape