Reviews tagging 'Animal death'

We Ride Upon Sticks by Quan Barry

24 reviews

faeriefangss's review

dark funny mysterious fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship

Moderate: Homophobia, Sexual assault, Stalking, Drug use, Animal death, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Pregnancy and Vomit

elderwoodreads's review

dark funny mysterious reflective slow-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

This is the most unique book I read this year, possibly ever. Bray's writing style was a little odd at first but once I was in I was in. Everything I have found listed as cons by other readers were pros to me. I loved the plural first person narration, the slow burn, and the overly verbose descriptions. Please give this one a try. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Stalking, Body horror, Bullying, Cursing, Infidelity, Animal death, Eating disorder, Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Adult/minor relationship, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Homophobia

Minor: Blood, Misogyny, Outing, Pregnancy, Racism, Sexual assault, Drug use, Sexual harassment, Vomit, Medical content, Classism, Death of parent, and Racial slurs

talonsontypewriters's review against another edition

funny lighthearted medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol

Moderate: Sexual content, Fire/Fire injury, Pedophilia, Body shaming, Misogyny, Animal death, Bullying, Drug use, Racism, Stalking, Homophobia, Sexism, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, and Religious bigotry

Minor: Fatphobia, Racial slurs, War, Gun violence, Sexual assault, Excrement, Terminal illness, Pregnancy, Death, Cancer, Infidelity, Rape, Lesbophobia, Vomit, Child death, and Suicide

ameliez's review against another edition

funny lighthearted

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

2.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Infidelity, Homophobia, and Racism

Minor: Racial slurs and Animal death

annablume's review

adventurous funny lighthearted mysterious relaxing 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

4.0

I really enjoyed this but there are a couple of things i don't like: I wish the main characters got like... equal page time. With some of them I didn't get to spend enough time to really get to know them. I was a little disappointed by the ending

the time jump.. i wish i could have been there at the final game and I didn't really care for the all grown up versions of the team.

I did not enjoy the adult-minor-relationship and the commentary on that... left a sour taste in my mouth that i'm still sitting with, even more so when paired with that one little comment on sexual abuse ...
i really liked the story and the writing style so it still gets a (maybe spineless on my part idk) high rating

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Body horror, and Alcohol

Moderate: Racism, Sexual assault, and Homophobia

Minor: Rape, Vomit, Fire/Fire injury, Eating disorder, Stalking, and Infidelity

saintyeehaw's review against another edition

funny mysterious reflective 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

2.75

Had to really force myself to finish this one as the writing style confused me a lot of the time. Despite only being 360 pages, this book feels really long for some reason (30+ page chapters?). The witchcraft was cool and cute in equal measure, but the sports talk was very boring for me personally. I liked several of the characters but since the focus kept changing between the whole team, I never felt like I got to really know any of them. Unfortunately, by the end I was also completely done with the romanticization of high school girls in sexual relationships with adult men and was ready to put the book down and never pick it up again.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Adult/minor relationship, Fire/Fire injury, Racism, Religious bigotry, Sexual content, Animal death, Bullying, Cursing, Injury/Injury detail, Infidelity, Stalking, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Death, Drug use, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Medical content, Toxic relationship, and Gun violence

dlrosebyh's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny 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

3.5

This entertaining story by acclaimed author Quan Barry is a tour of feminine force. We Ride Upon Sticks is set in the coastal town of Danvers, Massachusetts, where the accusations that led to the 1692 witch trials began. It follows the 1989 Danvers High School Falcons field hockey team, that will do anything to reach the state finals—even if it means channeling some disarmingly dark powers. Barry brilliantly ties together the individual and communal evolution of this charmed squad as they crash their way through a remarkable season in chapters filled with 1980s iconography—from Heathers to big hair.

The Falcons, led by good-girl captain Abby Putnam and co-captain Jen Fiorenza, prove to be astute, inventive, and daring, defying society's antiquated conceptions of femininity in order to discover their wonderful true selves via the furnace of team sport and, more importantly, friendship.

This book is the identical result of Stranger Things but with hockey. This book is intriguing, but the run-on phrases and overly detailed chapters are not for me. Although I wasn't a major fan of the writing style, I like how dense and witty it is. I expected horrors in this novel, but halfway through, I knew there would be no horror, only black magic. Finally, this novel would have been better if the conclusion had been more interesting.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, and Homophobia

Minor: Racism, Sexual assault, and Infidelity

githgorlfriend's review against another edition

funny inspiring lighthearted 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

so much fun and i got so easily attached to every single character. i never ever say this but i want a tv adaptation. absolutely raving abt this book UNTIL the ending which was underwhelming. mel should have been a lesbian no matter how cliche it was i’ll die on this hill.  also i didn’t really like the time jump and anticlimax basically the last 35 pages felt weird to mebut up until then it’s genuinely so wonderful and i loved the ride. perfect perfect use of a character ensemble 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Stalking, Animal death, Homophobia, and Racism

Minor: Sexual assault

kteq's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny 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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Deadnaming, Racial slurs, Animal death, and Stalking

Minor: Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual assault, Cursing, Drug use, Homophobia, and Sexual content

tay_af's review against another edition

adventurous funny mysterious 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

3.5

This was a very fun, very strange read that rightfully understands teen girls as culty, angry, and potentially terrifying. I did feel it lost momentum at times, and that some of the plot twists and moments of foreshadowing didn’t entirely pay off, but it was overall a very well-written and original novel. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death