Reviews tagging 'War'

The Death and Life of Zebulon Finch, Vol. 1: At the Edge of Empire by Daniel Kraus

5 reviews

houseofatreides's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark sad tense slow-paced

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

2.0

The story is similar to that of Pinocchio except the cautionary aspects are regret of Zebulons. Zebulon is a morally dubious and duplicitous character. His narration is invigorating yet krass and cruel at the same time. The sex scenes and descriptions are quite alot. I was surprised considering the cover art; and the fact it follows a undead 17 year old. I was expecting more YA not adult themes. Or descriptions. Are just too carnal and visceral for my taste.

Towards the end Zeubulon has sex as a corpse with a. Sex craved Hollywood actress and in the act his penis breaks off his body. Did not need the description

The positive down of the side characters like Burch Churchwell “Church” bring out the best of Zebulon. I will give vol.2 a try may change my opinion on this one

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Infertility, Suicide, Gore, Genocide, Violence, Sexual harassment, Gun violence, Suicide attempt, War, Racism, Racial slurs, Xenophobia, Murder, Sexual violence, Rape, and Cursing

apersonfromflorida's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Gore, War, Blood, Torture, and Child death

Moderate: Racism, Adult/minor relationship, Emotional abuse, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Racial slurs, and Gun violence

Minor: Fire/Fire injury and Drug use

bookish_magpie's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense 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? Yes

4.0

 This book is absolutely NOT for 14 year olds- I don't know who said it was ok to print that on the bottom of the back cover, but clearly they didn't read it. 

This book is meant to make you uncomfortable. If you read it and recoiled, then Kraus did his job as an author. There were many instances where I found myself shaking my head in horror and/or disbelief. "The Death and Life of Zebulon Finch, Vol. 1" is not a pretty book. It's a tragic, gory story about a dead teen walking through life, passing through the centuries. 

I give it a 4/5. It was a masterclass in abjection, but I'll need a few days before reading the sequel. This one stays on the shelf. 

Content Warnings (in no particular order): Gore, Death, Sex, Derogatory Language (aka slurs), Self Harm, Suicide, War, Murder, Violence 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Gore, Torture, War, and Child death

Moderate: Racial slurs, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Adult/minor relationship, Suicide, Racism, Child death, and Death of parent

Minor: Drug use and Fire/Fire injury

jarnbooks's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

I enjoyed reading it. It started out fast, slowed once you hit WW1, then gains speed after that. Zebulon has an interesting way of telling his own story that keeps you engaged, until he is bored; then you’re bored. The secondary characters add a lot to this book and you’ll find yourself hating most of them but all of them are in-depth and have unique interactions with Zebulon that make them memorable, even if they only show up for a couple pages. With that, its very much a who’s-who of history and that’s the only way you can figure out what year it is. And when first reading this, I thought Zebulon was a self-insert (and still think he is to an extent). Nonetheless, I’m excited to read the second book and see what happens to Zebulon next. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, War, Alcohol, Death, Racism, Sexual content, Violence, Torture, Medical content, Medical trauma, Blood, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Slavery

Moderate: Suicide attempt, Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Death of parent, Child death, Child abuse, Sexual harassment, Toxic relationship, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, Drug use, and Murder

Minor: Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Mental illness, Abortion, Alcoholism, Racial slurs, Sexual violence, Vomit, Self harm, Pregnancy, Car accident, Excrement, Infertility, Infidelity, and Rape

Most of these are one-time things that happen over the course of a few pages but are extremely explicit. The most graphic was the war arc that happens during part 4. There is a ton of body horror throughout the book including dismemberment, and graphic descriptions of body decay.

annabelle's review against another edition

This started out so strong. I love the darkness of the story and all the gruesome elements. I loved how horrible all the characters were. I loved the health circus and Dr. Leather. 

It was after the 60% mark that I began to lose interest. There were still some good moments, but once Zebulon left for LA I was truly bored. We lost a lot of the horror elements, and we didn't remain in one place with one set of characters. I loved having that in depth character study and we lost that after we got to WW1. The story lacked the depth it had before and it felt like something we had already seen before. Those sections didn’t add anything new. Those sections really reminded me that we are reading from a white man’s perspective. 

The beginning was so good, but the following sections didn’t compare. I don’t want to waste time on books that I don’t love so I DNF’d. It’s not a bad book, it just didn't grip me after a certain point.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Gore, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Torture, Violence, and War