Reviews with content warning for Suicidal thoughts - Merciless Saviors

Reviews tagging 'Suicidal thoughts'

Merciless Saviors by H.E. Edgmon

8 reviews

dundiesbooks's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

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

3.0

This 2nd installment steps up the game in the god department and I don't think it's for me. I do like the personal stories and relationships at the base of it all. There are even a few wholesome moments. The overall very dark vibe and the many violent scenes didn't do much for me though, neither positively nor negatively.
I could critique a lot, it just wouldn't be fair though, because most of it comes down to personal preference and I'm sure this is great for the right audience.* So I'll leave it at: It's a solid story with fantastic (literal) ideas and complex characters. It's just not entirely my cup of tea.

Edit: *After looking at a couple of other reviews, I realised how much I'm not the target audience and it's no wonder I couldn't get into it as much, since I can't relate at all.
I also forgot to mention how confusing the "time jumps" were, listening to the audio book.

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princegene95's review

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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

This duology is amazing. I read the first book several months ago when it came out, and just read this one.
The story invests you, wanting to know more about the dark world of the Ether and the background of its many gods.
But this story is also about a kid trying to deal with past trauma and new relationships. About someone ready to face those who have hurt them and (maybe) become a better person for it.
In the acknowledgments at the back of the book, it’s stated

every page of this story is dedicated to survivors of childhood trauma

and it shows. There’s times when you can feel the pain these characters have been through as they carve through the world to try and make a place better for themselves.
As someone who has recently entered their first throuple, and is still trying to navigate how to interact with all members of the group, and this book perfectly describes those feelings.

”But when jealousy and anger are cut open, the gooey organs of fear spill out. If they come to like each other-hells forbid even love each other-then what would they need me for?”

I’ve thought about this exact same thing many times, and yet, it seems all the more real when reading it from a character dealing with similar issues as myself.
I had really enjoyed the first book, and when opening the second to see a full list of content warnings, including things I don’t normally like to read about because it hits too close to home as someone both trans and has childhood trauma, I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to read this book. But I am so glad I did. I can see why others wouldn’t like it. If they aren’t queer, or gender diverse, or haven’t dealt with trauma like this, they probably wouldn’t like it, or at the very least, not be able to relate to it like I have. And that’s something I love being able to do, is relate to the books I read. And this book is one that I can relate to, and I plan on rereading several months down the line because this is a story and a world I would like to revisit.

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ctara2123's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional medium-paced

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

3.75

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krisalexcole's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional medium-paced

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

3.0

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lila_still_reads's review

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dark 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

2.0

Merciless Saviors picks up right where Godly Heathens ended- Gem has upset the balance of power by carving away the power of the Cyclone for themselves. Poppy is on the verge of death and Marion is hungry to strike back. Gem has Enzo and Rory for comfort but how can it be enough when present danger and buried memories both seek to tear Gem apart.

Unfortunately, this book didn’t do it for me. In my review for Godly Heathens, I think I said it read like fanfiction (complementary), but some parts of Merciless Saviors read like fanfiction (not complementary). There’s a little too much “I’m the most dangerous thing in this world” for me to not roll my eyes and I felt like the Ether was poorly fleshed out in a way that works in fanfiction (set in a world you’re already familiar with) but just didn’t in this story. More description!

How can it be so much smaller than earth yet also parallel enough that they also have Taylor Swift (but screamo)? I think a few more Clover chapters could have helped ground this side of reality.

The amount of power the characters had in the Ether- especially with the lack of definition of the boundaries of their magic- just made the stakes feel squishy. (For example,

Enzo seems to no longer have power because of the imbalance Gem caused and this was interesting! But jk he actually does have power so he and Rory can have a cool fight

On a more personal note, this more a heads-up than a criticism, but I struggled with this book because of how it depicts depersonalization and sexual abuse. Edgmon does give a warning, but I’m giving my own:

I think Edgmon depicts depersonalization, especially leading up to a suicide attempt, really well. It felt very real and actually made me upset, but this made the book not enjoyable for me to read.

I think it’s good to explicitly note that Gem tries to kill themselves twice in this story.

Basically- it’s mostly well done, and because of this, a huge flag to anyone who’s ever struggled with similar.

The depersonalization felt like it followed the groundwork lain by Godly Heathens well- it made sense as part of Gem’s continued story- but the childhood sexual abuse didn’t feel as integrated into the first book. It sort of becomes everything, the linchpin of this story, and it felt odd that it wasn’t brough up at all in the first book (per my memory at least). You also cannot pull the “maybe this magical world was all created by you as a result of your sexual trauma” thing in the second book of a duology where that’s not at all what the first book is about.

It's clear that this issue is very personal to Edgmon and I don’t want to get into why its also personal to me or why aspects of how they deal with ‘recovered’ memory angered me (it’s a fantasy book, there really is some memory recovery going on via fantasy means), but all this to say- I could see it really working for someone else, but it just didn’t for me.

I could really tell Edgmon was working through something with this book and I think it could be really resonant for someone else, but for me, it was mostly just frustrating, then upsetting, then frustrating again.

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pm_me_book_recs's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful tense 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? Yes

4.0

I actually liked Merciless Saviors better than Godless Heathens! I thought the first was a bit too camp, the dialogue was very edgy and didn't quite feel like teens? Merciless Saviors is more toned down with the forced quips and one-liners, they are still there, just not totally saturating the dialogue.

How the story all comes together was really heartbreaking and cathartic. A truly beautiful rendition of a child's experience with deep deep trauma. There were some parts that felt a bit repetitive, but then I thought about my own experiences and thoughts during CPTSD spirals and realized it was spot on. The evolution of the characters is really sweet. I was honestly fine with the story focusing more on the main three instead of the entire cast.

I do agree with other reviewers that the existential time crises were sometimes hard to follow, or maybe out of place? I can't put my finger on it, but something about the portrayal didn't quite mesh with the story? It wasn't enough to derail or ruin anything, just kind of distracting. There were a few confusing or convenient things towards the end of the book that I went back and read twice to make sure I didn't miss anything... but somehow I'm still not understanding certain characters survival... This is a hard part to dive into without spoilers, so I'll just leave it at that. The plot holes got me pacing.

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC, appreciated as always.

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lothtor's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad tense

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

4.75

Review of Merciless Saviors:

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

4.75 Rounded up. My only critique is the pacing. Sometimes the pages would drag on and other moments I wanted to stay further in.

I've been waiting for the second installment of this duology since I devoured the first book Godless Heathens. Merciless Saviors starts right off where the first book ended. The book throws you in without a safety net and while there are moments of explanation in case you forgot - for me the first book and this one will be very difficult to forget. There were moments where I thought I was lost in what I was reading, which made sense once I got through that section. It really showcased the confusion that the MC, Gem, was going through during that time.

I highly recommend checking out the trigger warnings that are listed at the beginning of this book as Merciless Saviors dives deeper into the issues more than Godless Heathens. The gender commentary is not as prevalent in this book as it was in Godless Heathens, which did not detract from the impact of it. The first book had it as the forefront where now it goes to the back and is more subtle in its reveals. This book focuses on the trauma and healing of that keeping in mind the logic and emotions of what teenagers feel, no matter how messed up.

Ultimately, the duology and this book in particular are a love story. A story of self-love, looking into yourself and figuring out the jumbled mess of gender and sexuality while finding those that you can be yourself: the good, the bad, and the ugly. And they still love you because of how utterly human you are.

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readingwithkaitlyn's review

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