Reviews tagging 'Gore'

The Lesson by Cadwell Turnbull

7 reviews

kappafrog's review against another edition

dark emotional informative sad tense 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

3.0

This was a tough book to get through. It was way more violent and dark than most of what I read. I wanted to see it through because I was really interested in seeing a sci-fi story told from the perspective of Virgin Islanders. And there was a lot of good stuff in here - Turnbull had some really moving character moments and managed to convincingly portray a range of perspectives about the Ynaa. It was an approach to first contact that was unlike any I'd read before.

My main issue though, besides the compatibility issues mentioned above, is that there was too much left unclear about the aliens by the end of the book.

How did Mera escape punishment from the other Ynaa? What was she trying to do to Derrick's body in the "dreams" Patrice saw? But on a much bigger level - what was the everlasting life (Yn Altaa), why could it be condensed in a blue pearl, why did it take hundreds of years of research for Mera to develop, and why was Earth the only planet where it could be found out of countless others the Ynaa searched? Those last questions also make it hard for me to see this as a great analogy for colonialism, since they don't seem applicable at all in human colonialism, slavery, etc.

I had a nagging issue with the worldbuilding - fair enough that the aliens decide to stay in the Virgin Islands, but why were other world governments completely absent from the story? It's really hard to imagine that the rest of the world wouldn't be crowding into the islands to get better access to the aliens. On the flip side, the worldbuilding around Mera's history on the island was really interesting. Although I never felt satisfied in finding out the reasons she was doing what she was doing, it was interesting piecing things together alongside characters like Jackson and Henrietta.

I appreciated reading a book from a perspective totally different from most of what I read. Seeing the Caribbean from the eyes of local people instead of tourists is really interesting. There were a lot of great ideas in this book, but for me, they didn't all form a cohesive whole. I'm interested to see what more this author writes, though this was way too violent for me so I hope his future work is less so!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Animal death, Genocide, Suicide, Blood, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Violence, Death, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Body horror, Cancer, Child death, Murder, Slavery, Torture, and Animal cruelty

Moderate: Sexual harassment, Bullying, Drug use, Religious bigotry, Fire/Fire injury, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Medical content, Gun violence, and Infidelity

Minor: Classism, Vomit, Suicide attempt, and Police brutality

anniereads221's review

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Cancer, Lesbophobia, Blood, Death, Infidelity, Toxic relationship, Suicidal thoughts, Alcohol, Animal death, Biphobia, Child death, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Colonisation, Violence, Gore, Bullying, and Grief

friendlypoet's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional reflective 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? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Terminal illness, Colonisation, Slavery, and Murder

Minor: Gore

jamgrl's review

emotional mysterious reflective tense 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? Yes

5.0

What a unique first contact story! 

Aliens have invaded Earth— but only the Virgin Islands. The aliens look like humans— but they are much more powerful. They say they are only staying temporarily and peacefully. Issue is, they have short fuses.

This book is super interesting and unique. It weaves together the stories of islanders going through interpersonal issues while also dealing with the political realities of their time- aliens. The book is not just about aliens, they are just another layer to these people’s lives, hiding in the background, and yet they are an inescapable force on the island. 

The book switches perspectives quite a lot, but it wasn’t too hard to follow who everyone is. The mystery of the aliens unfolds around and 
between the character’s personal dramasfalling in and out of love, making hard choices about when to follow dreams, inter-generational familial conflict. Not to mention how filled it is with Virgin Island culture from an author from the Virgin Islands!

The audiobook has stellar performances from the narrators. (Sometimes they can get whispery, so not every location is ideal for listening.)


(I also liked No Gods, No Monsters by the same author, but I must admit I liked this one better 🫣.)

{{Warning: there is a lot of violence, some fairly graphic, and character death}}

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Content Warnings

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

Minor: Car accident and Physical abuse

vaguely_pink's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective 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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Grief, Colonisation, and Slavery

Moderate: Death of parent, Gun violence, Medical content, Pregnancy, Racism, Terminal illness, Violence, Murder, Animal death, Biphobia, Body horror, Cancer, Child death, Fire/Fire injury, and Gore

Minor: Cursing, Homophobia, Sexual content, Suicide, and Vomit

whatellisreadnext's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Death, and Gore

noreadingdegree's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense

• 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

once again, audiobooks are killing it for me. this one was fantastic. i didn't realize how much i enjoyed first contact stories until i read this book. there is something about humans trying to navigate and come to terms with extraterrestrial life that fascinates me. i loved that this book focused on multi-POVs from the same family/friend circle and how the arrival of the arrivals changed their lives with each other. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Violence, Slavery, Murder, Infidelity, Grief, Death, and Animal death

Moderate: Cancer, Homophobia, and Terminal illness

Minor: Sexual content and Car accident