Reviews tagging 'Gun violence'

War Girls by Tochi Onyebuchi

10 reviews

grapefruit_jazzie's review against another edition

adventurous emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Murder, Death, War, Gun violence, and Genocide

zombiezami's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional informative mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

4.25

I read this for a book club. It was hard for me to get into, but I did eventually get there. The part I liked best about this book was the worldbuilding. I especially enjoyed the author's approach to imagining tech that really doesn't work the way you want it to, or that you have to McGyver to make useful, or that wasn't made with you in mind. Even in other dystopias involving inadequate technology, I feel that Onyebuchi's approach is uniquely nuanced. 

All of the big emotional inflections in the book definitely hit, for example, "

Chinelo's death, Agu's death, finding out that Onyii killed Ify's mother and lied about where she came from

. Even so, there were a lot of characters, in my opinion, and I kept forgetting who was who.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Gun violence, Death, Blood, Child death, Chronic illness, Torture, Hate crime, Murder, Confinement, Cursing, Violence, War, Death of parent, Body horror, Bullying, Abandonment, Medical content, Stalking, Animal death, and Addiction

Moderate: Racial slurs, Islamophobia, Drug use, Drug abuse, Slavery, Religious bigotry, Alcohol, Terminal illness, Vomit, Toxic relationship, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, and Cancer

Minor: Misogyny, Domestic abuse, Colonisation, and Sexism

sophiesmallhands's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Gun violence, Child death, Death, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Sexism and Racism

corymouse's review against another edition

challenging dark 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? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence and Child death

emmykyhil's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Colonisation, Confinement, War, Violence, Trafficking, Suicide, Slavery, Physical abuse, Murder, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Grief, and Gore

bookcaptivated's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective tense 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death of parent, Death, Blood, Violence, Gun violence, War, Genocide, Colonisation, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, and Murder

Moderate: Body horror, Bullying, Drug use, Grief, Medical content, and Slavery

Minor: Cancer, Misogyny, Racism, and Vomit

valpyre's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional reflective 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? It's complicated

4.0

[audiobook]

this was an intensely compelling, emotional story -- i admit that i don't have enough historical/cultural knowledge to completely get all the nuance, but i knew it was there. the story was dynamic and in my opinion, balanced action well along with emotional resonance and exposition through the POVs of the two main protags. i know the blurb likens it to Black Panther, but personally, it reminded me a lot of Horizon Zero Dawn, with the use of technology that was shown, along with the ongoing climate crisis.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Gun violence

Moderate: Death, Child death, and War

Minor: Cancer

bookswithjk's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Gun violence, and Racism

Moderate: Body horror

secanno's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful sad tense fast-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Genocide, Grief, Hate crime, Xenophobia, Medical trauma, Mass/school shootings, and Gun violence

Minor: Animal death

goblingirlreads's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This is a really difficult book for me to review. After thinking for awhile I've decided to go with the solid 4/5 rating.
Let's talk about what makes this book amazing: This is a sci-fi is based on a real conflict: The Biafran War, also known as the Nigerian Civil War. The book has incredible world-building. I had a complete picture of how war was waged in this world through the use of droids, child soldiers that are fully synth, soldiers having augmented parts that replace what human parts they've lost in battle and of course the mecha that are piloted in huge epic battles. I grew to really love the characters. The world was incredibly bleaI but I felt it gave a clear picture of how war affects people, soldiers, children, entire countries, the planet

That said, I had a huge issue with the pacing in the book. The first section of the book was absolutely perfect to me but the second section jumped back and forth between two characters in two different locations. The chapters were so short that it felt a little whiplashy and like I couldn't get really excited about one story before it jumped back to another. Finally, the third section could have been its own book and felt extremely rushed. I wish this book had spent a little more time in the editing phase to smooth out some of these pacing issues because overall it's incredible and has so much to offer.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Child death, Death, Gun violence, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Drug use and Animal death