Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

The Final Strife by Saara El-Arifi

36 reviews

ladybeldaran's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad 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

4.75

This is a fantastic book. The first part goes a bit slow as the world and the characters are being set up for us, but once the plot picks up, I couldn't put the book down until I finished it (no, really, I kept taking little breaks at work, I stayed up way too late, etc.).

One thing I loved about this book is that the setting - which is otherwise brutal and filled with oppression, is completely queernormative & gender equal. Additionally, though the world is highly stratified according to a blood-based caste system that is an allegory for racial inequities in our own world, there is no anti-blackness in this book. All of the characters are Black, and you'll find no negative language about features associated with Black-ness at all. It just goes to show that you can engage with real-life oppression without re-traumatizing those suffering from those systems of oppression - I have a lot of respect for el-Arifi for managing this.

The characters are fascinating, and we continue to learn more about them and their pasts, while exploring the ways in which they are changing and responding to the events of the book. You'll find multi-faceted characters here. Both of our main characters have their flaws, but I was invested in them from the beginning. There's a surprising amount of mystery in the book, which I think is handled better than average for an epic fantasy book.

I think el-Arifi manages to juggle the personal stories extremely well with the epic, sweeping political events taking place, and this reinforces the book's core message about inequities - that the personal IS political. The setting is fascinating - we don't get to see much in the first book, which takes place almost exclusively in the city we start in, and I'm excited to (hopefully) see more in the second book.

In short, the moment I finished this book, I decided I couldn't wait for my library to receive the recently published second installment and went out and bought it myself. (And I'll still check it out when my library gets it, because this author deserves the circulation!)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Physical abuse, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, Death of parent, Colonisation, and Classism

Moderate: Alcohol

Minor: Vomit

moonchild_cos's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, Blood, and Classism

Moderate: Ableism, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Physical abuse, Slavery, Violence, Death of parent, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Body shaming, Bullying, Sexual content, Vomit, Grief, and War

bookcaptivated's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Ableism, Body shaming, Slavery, Alcohol, and Colonisation

Minor: Medical content and Stalking

_james_'s review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Bullying, Confinement, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Colonisation, and Classism

Moderate: Child death, Confinement, Hate crime, Suicidal thoughts, Medical trauma, and Death of parent

Minor: Cursing, Excrement, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, and Toxic friendship

gagereadsstuff's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Racism, Self harm, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Death of parent, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Alcohol, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Torture, Excrement, Vomit, Kidnapping, and Grief

errie's review against another edition

adventurous tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Racism, Slavery, Violence, Blood, and Police brutality

Moderate: Body shaming, Sexual content, Alcohol, Colonisation, and Classism

tilda_002's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.25

This book is a fantasy novel in which colour of your blood dictates the class you are in within society. Those with red blood  are the embers “the elites” of society, then are those with blue bloods who are the dusters and below them are those who have translucent blood who are called ghostings. The story follows our main protagonist Sylah as she enters a competition called the Aktibar a competition that takes place every 10 years. Due to a series of unfortunate events she gets sidelined and it’s forced into training a Duster raised by an Ember called Anor.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Death, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Excrement

ewalkergrace's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Drug use, and Blood

Moderate: Sexual content, Violence, and Alcohol

Minor: Grief

malinhalia's review against another edition

adventurous dark reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body shaming, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Racism, Torture, Alcohol, and Colonisation

Moderate: Genocide, Sexual content, and Slavery

cozyscones's review against another edition

challenging 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Gore, Self harm, Sexual content, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Alcohol, Colonisation, and Classism

Moderate: Body shaming, Fatphobia, and Torture

Minor: Excrement and Vomit