Reviews tagging 'Child death'

Deathless Divide by Justina Ireland

17 reviews

directorpurry's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional 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

2.5


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wogslandwriter's review

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adventurous emotional hopeful fast-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

An absolutely stellar sequel. I am a sucker for duologies and I think this one wrapped up Jane and Katherine's story well. I am a fan of 19th century history, usually pre-Civil War, but this series was exactly my kind of thing. The book is written for a younger audience, but it doesn't feel out of place to read it as an adult. As a white person, I learned a lot about the inner feelings and experiences of black women and I hope that this book will help me have continued empathy and grace for people who do not look like me and have been harmed for generations by my ancestors and currently by other white folks. It is amazing to see Justina Ireland wrap up such complicated feelings and experiences into a zombie novel and communicate them so clearly. I am very excited for her future books.

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greenlivingaudioworm's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

2.0


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beccaand's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional tense 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

4.25


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bookhookedheather's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful sad 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

5.0


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lilacs_book_bower's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional reflective sad slow-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

3.0

I really enjoyed the first book.  Jane had such an engaging, funny voice, and she was really a character to root for.  It is an intriguing alternate history, where zombies (called shamblers) rise from the dead on the battlefields of Gettysburg, and kill and bite/turn people.  Black people are used as cannon fodder in the war against the dead, and young Black women can be trained to fight the dead and protect white women.  In the sequel, after the town of Summerland falls to shamblers, Jane and her friends escape, but there is an immediate death that sends Jane into depression and on a quest for revenge (over a character that I did not think was remotely worth it, but love is weird).  While the change in her character makes sense due to the plot, I really missed the old Jane's voice, and consequently didn't enjoy this book nearly as much.  It didn't feel like there was a lot to this book, if that makes sense.  On the plus side, we now have Katherine as a narrator, in addition to Jane, and I liked seeing her POV (and her ace rep).  Katherine, and her loyalty to her best friend Jane, is the saving grace of this story.  Ireland shows multiple races in the 1800s Western US and handles well the explanations of racism against Black people, and the stress that puts on them, just to survive.   On the negative side, story lines feel half-fleshed out, characters that should interact don't, the pacing was uneven, and I'm not entirely comfortable with the way Ireland handled the discussion of the Chinese immigrants or the Native Americans.  The book felt way too long for the amount of plot that actually happens.  I was looking forward to this one, and unfortunately, I was disappointed. 

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breesbookmark's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious 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

4.5


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lizabethstucker's review

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4.5

4.5 out of 5

After the fall of Summerland, Jane McKeene and Katherine Deveraux escort a wagon of survivors to Nicodemus, Kansas.  They and Jackson Keats fight off shamblers during the trip to the black-run town, observing how the undead appear to be getting larger and smarter with their tactics.

Jane has no intentions of staying in Kansas, her plans to continue to California to search for her mother and Aunt Aggie, the woman who essentially raised her, is still her primary focus.  But events interfere with her plans, from survival to revenge to dealing with grief and guilt.

Starts immediately after the end of "Dread Nation".  Immediately engrossing, with the added benefit of alternating chapters giving us more insight into Katherine.  I was iffy about her in the first book, but this time I find myself enjoying her more and more.  We're given a much better look at her backstory and her methods of dealing with anxiety and self-doubt with the use of her corset.

Jane is still as prickly as ever, certain events that happen in the story making her try desperately to harden her heart to protect herself.  She believes she is alone, friendless, but Jane has more friends and allies than even she can imagine.  

Prepare to have your heart twisted and broken, patched and twisted again.  Ireland has given us strong black characters, inclusivity, bisexual characters such as Jane, and a chunky read.  Comparing it to the first book?  Not quite as strong, but that might be due to the size.  It literally could've been divided into two books, considering how the different sections were separated by over a year.  Just my opinion.  Still a great read.  

CONTENT WARNING:  child endangerment, child death, zombies, violence, and brutality.

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gattolinos_nerdy_nook's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional tense fast-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

4.5

This had me hooked from start to finish. The plot and character development was something that I thought was done very well, and without spoiling everything I appreciate it felt realistic for the development to backtrack and then go forward again with the events of the book.

This is the second and final book in the Dread Nation duology, which picks up right where the last book left off. This book hits the ground running and doesn't hold back on moments that will shock or hurt at all. It is a ride that I loved it. The characters all feel real when reading too. They have their wants and needs and they are all the same, but it doesn't mean they are against one another.
This time the book had dual prospectives of Jane and Katherine which is changed up from the first book. I really liked this change up at it felt like it gave the whole story better and also really lets us see the world that the girls are living in.

This was perfect to read during spooky season.

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saemiligr's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful sad tense 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 one was really really good. I related to the depiction of grief and anger. The recovery back from that was an amazing journey, all the while the threat of zombies felt real and realistic. I really felt like it was supposed to be two different books for sure, wish it had been. 


<spoilers> It was such a bitter sweet ending of her finding her mother and it not being what she expected. That part hit me surprisingly hard. Really hopeful there is another in this series. </spoilers>

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