Reviews tagging 'Violence'

The Second Rebel by Linden A. Lewis

13 reviews

nonesensed's review against another edition

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? It's complicated

5.0

Revolutions are rarely clean, no matter how well-meaning or necessary. At least, that's an excuse a lot of people will march out once things get bloody. Our main cast may have good intentions, but do their allies? Who are their allies? Treason is always a possibility. So is seeing different solutions to the same problem.

Since this is book 2 in a trilogy, I don't want to spoil anything. All I can say is that things get dark, but that darkness feels earned. Can't wait to read the finale! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War

Moderate: Sexual violence, Violence, and Body horror

brukneem's review

adventurous dark 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? It's complicated

4.5

The layers of character development, world building an expertly hidden plot twists blew me away. I'm pissing shitting crying throwing up and screaming into the void. This series is absolutely amazing 😭🥰

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Colonisation, Violence, Religious bigotry, and Classism

Moderate: Body horror, Sexual violence, War, Dysphoria, Trafficking, Torture, and Slavery

thysparklyreads's review

adventurous dark emotional sad tense

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

4.75

Glad I chose to read this as soon as I finished the first book since I was afraid I'd forget all of the world building done in it. 
This is where the story paved by The First Sister allows its characters to truly shine, and it was fascinating. It was honestly a fantastic read, definitely give it a chance if you were at all hooked by The First Sister. Now onto the third one! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Dysphoria, Violence, and Body horror

Moderate: Medical trauma, War, and Religious bigotry

Minor: Vomit

iam's review

adventurous dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

5.0

 Reread April 2023: Loved this so much. Where book1 is about the loss of bodily autonomy, book2 is about sacrafice and martyrdom, and the decision to harm the one to spare the many. gut-wretching yet enchanting.

 Original review: High-stakes, fast-paced, painful and yet full of hope, The Second Rebel is a stunning and worthy sequel that makes me want more.

Read this review and more on the blog!

Content warnings include: violence, mostly off-page torture and experimentation on humanoids (very plot relevant), death, off-page sexual abuse, oppression, blackmail, fade-to-black sex, corruption.
Mentions of: domestic abuse, child abuse, biological/viral warfare, suicide.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: The First Sister was one of my top if not most-favourite-of-all reads of 2020. I adored it from beginning to end, so, naturally, I was very excited for The Second Rebel, and had very high expectations.

I am more than happy to report that all of these expectations were met, and more!

The book more or less seamlessly picks up where the previous one left off (making rereading The First Sister right before starting this very rewarding). Astrid, Lito and Hiro are each following their respective goals, all of which become more and more intertwined. There is also a new addition to the protagonists, Luce, Lito’s younger sister, an idealistic artist who just started a new job at Val Akira Labs right when her brother gets into the big corporation’s crosshairs.

The stakes are very high from the beginning, and only keep rising. Old and new players affect the board and reroll the dice more than once. New connections and relationships form and are torn apart, we get to explores ones that were only previously hinted at or shown through second hand.

Hiro, who only got flashback chapters in The First Sister, now has their own present chapters and they are an absolute delight of a character to read about. I adored them in book 1 already, but book 2 only cemeted my love for them.

I particularly loved how the book expands the worldbuilding. There are more details about the Sisterhood, the Asters, and even the elusive Synthetics. The backdrops again feature both familiar and new places all across the human controlled parts of space, which was interesting to see. And there will be more to be discovered in the sequel…

Hinting at the ending, I won’t say anything other than that I pretty much spent the entirety of the last 30% sobbing my eyes out. It was glorious, is was painful, it was so, so good, and I absolutely cannot wait for the finale of the trilogy.

 I received an ARC and reviewed honestly and voluntarily.

 Before reading: I remember seeing The First Sister's cover for the first time and being stunned. I can't remember when I was last so mesmerized by a cover! And now book2 managed to make me feel the same way once more!
I absolutely cannot wait to read this!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Violence

Moderate: Torture

Minor: Domestic abuse and Child abuse

booksthatburn's review against another edition

 I found myself much less interested in the the story than in the first book. I'm still uneasy with some of the character choices I mentioned in the first book's review and I couldn't tell when or if they would be resolved. Ultimately, while I'm unable to pin down exactly what I don't like about this book, trying to make myself finish it resulted in a period of several days where I barely read anything and could only handle re-reads. As soon as I officially DNF'd this I was able to read other stuff again. For me, that's enough. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Blood, Violence, Death, and Mental illness

Moderate: Trafficking, Child abuse, Sexual content, Classism, Misogyny, Transphobia, Medical content, Cursing, Fatphobia, Dysphoria, Medical trauma, Torture, Xenophobia, Terminal illness, Sexism, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide, Body shaming, Blood, and Gore

Minor: Abandonment, Excrement, Self harm, Pandemic/Epidemic, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Confinement

salemander's review

5.0

god this book was so good!! sobbed through the entire last fucking half jesus christ i need these characters to get peace. such beautiful writing and the world building is insane!! terrified for the next book but i know it’ll be worth it 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Genocide, Grief, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Body horror, Medical trauma, and War

caseythereader's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional tense slow-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Gore, Suicide, Violence, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Child death, Cursing, Death, Grief, Rape, Sexual content, Blood, Murder, Ableism, Child abuse, Medical content, Sexual violence, and Slavery

Moderate: Dysphoria and Transphobia

faduma's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Police brutality, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Torture, Violence, War, and Death

Moderate: Confinement, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Sexual violence

rebeccajost's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful fast-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide, Slavery, Body horror, Child abuse, Classism, Murder, Trafficking, Violence, War, and Xenophobia

beesknees's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful sad tense 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? It's complicated

4.5

I picked up The Second Rebel immediately after finishing The First Sister. The biggest change for me was an increase in rotating character perspectives, including the addition of Lito's sister Lucinina. Although it took effort to keep the wild events happening to each character in order, I was intrigued by each piece of the story, never wanting to rush through a specific chapter and onto the next character perspective. As the second book in a trilogy, I was expecting heartbreak, which was promptly delivered. 
One thing I appreciate about this series in general, is how despite the many (many) hardships our characters face, there is always at least a small sliver of hope that keeps you rooting for their success. I appreciate Lewis's determination to create diverse characters, presenting various races, cultures, sexualities, and class--even thought I feel that Lewis could do a more delicate job of showing and not telling. I am genuinely looking forward to the final installment of the series.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Xenophobia and War

Moderate: Deadnaming, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Genocide, Blood, and Body horror