Reviews tagging 'Blood'

In the Quick by Kate Hope Day

4 reviews

dotarvi's review

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

This is not a romance novel. Ignore the publisher's description of this book. This is a story about a brilliant young woman who understands engineering problems, but not people, and the relationships she manages to build anyway. There is some weird stuff in there that comes from Jane Eyre, but it really isn't the point. The audio book was brilliantly narrated.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail and Medical content

Moderate: Confinement, Fire/Fire injury, Death of parent, Grief, and Blood

caseythereader's review against another edition

adventurous emotional tense fast-paced

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

3.5

Thanks to Random House for the free copy of this book.

- Honestly, I read this whole 250 page book in one day and I'm not entirely sure what to make of it. @carrickreads called it Jane Eyre in space, and I think that's pretty dead on (especially because I thought James was a total jerk).
- The lack of quotation marks around dialogue always makes me feel like the characters are at a remove from me, like I am watching the proceedings float by through a window.
- I didn't like how June always had the solution that dozens of other geniuses working for months or years couldn't come up with, even when she didn't have any formal training.
- Now, I've said all this stuff I didn't like, and yet, I blew through the book and needed to know what was going to happen. Like I said, I have no idea how I feel about it! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Medical content, Sexual content, and Terminal illness

terpsichore1674's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious reflective fast-paced

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

3.75

No surprise, "In the Quick" is an otherwordly and compelling tale about a young woman coming into her own.  June is clear-eyed and her spare, simple voice manages to convey the exquisite vastness of space with intimacy of her inner monologue. FYI: If you are looking for swoony romance (per the book jacket) you are not going to find it here.

The only thing that throbbed like a bad molar (this is very specific for a reason) was the weird Jane Eyre/Mr. Rochester "Madwoman in the Attic" narrative that springs up toward the end, I'm not sure I'd be the type of woman to forgive my new boyfriend for keeping his dying ex in a hidden room on our sparsely populated space outpost, but far be it from me to judge.

Though solitary in her genius, June's relationships see her grow, unfold, turn to the sun and remind us of the power of connection through the grace of an outreached hand. This book flies by, much like those satellite space stations orbiting soundlessly above us, driven by the force of June's mind and conviction.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Blood, Violence, and Vomit

aodhfyn's review against another edition

challenging emotional inspiring reflective sad tense slow-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

3.75

This story is... Interesting. In broad terms, it's well written, engaging, and contemplative. But when it comes to the mood it is often tense and sorrowful. There are few genuinely happy moments, and because of the way it's written there were numerous times I felt detached and dissociated. Additionally, I am not a fan of the ending. Specifically:

I hated James, and detest the fact that she goes back to him.

That really is a major spoiler, by the way. Anyway. Because of its quality, and the high degree of recognition I felt toward the main character, the flaws don't hold it back too much for me. But... They're still too much for me to feel happy about the book. Which is sad.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Blood, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Self harm, Medical trauma, Medical content, and Grief

Read this if you are concerned about potential triggers or my review. If simply listing those triggers is already a lot, it may be best not to read this either.

this book was hard to read after about page 130+ because of the toxicity of James, specifically drug abuse, medically abusing and containing a companion due to obsession, (including gaslighting and forced drug abuse), mania, and a relationship with the main character that, unfortunately, does not end with those details coming to light. There are also depictions of tangible harm throughout the story, but not so graphic that I believe it would bother the average reader beyond a surface-level empathy pain or so.