Reviews with content warning for Body horror - Merciless Saviors

Reviews tagging 'Body horror'

Merciless Saviors by H.E. Edgmon

9 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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caseythereader's review

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious slow-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

3.5

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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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mythian's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad 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

3.5

3.5/5, rounding up. This book, like its predecessor, is a fast read with loads of gore and morally complex characters. It picks up right where Godly Heathens left off, with the scales of balance toppled and the Reaper and Lionheart after Gem and the other gods. Since the magic has been disrupted, the gods have difficulties using their powers, or being able to access them at all. It's interesting discovering who these characters are when their whole persona, literally the thing they are named for, isn't working as intended.

The last third of the book was emotionally gut-wrenching and was nearly a perfect ending...except for the last page. The last plot twist was unexpected and I felt like it cheapened Gem's sacrifice, because in the end, it wasn't much of a sacrifice. Although I could also see it being a metaphor for survivors reclaiming their power. The cycles of time and time happening all at once is a recurring theme that I really liked, however I think it became too meta and went "is any of this really happening? Maybe it's all in your head!" which was annoying.

As a warning, this book covers the topic of child abuse by a family member and the repercussions of surviving such abuse.

Disclaimer: I received a free advanced reader copy of this book from NetGalley.

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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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evansee's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense

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

3.75

Very intense! Which was true of the first book also, but some of the body horror/gore in this one was tough for me (think Alien chest-burster scene but… more).
Overall, I thought this was a satisfying conclusion to the story and the narrative was gripping. I loved the relationship between Gem, Rory, and Enzo. It feels weird to say but I also appreciated the depiction of disassociation; representation of that experience is important.

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readingwithkaitlyn's review

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