Reviews tagging 'Animal death'

The Only Harmless Great Thing by Brooke Bolander

13 reviews

beccaand's review against another edition

dark emotional sad fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Body horror, Terminal illness, Violence, Cancer, and Gore

Moderate: Classism

Minor: Misogyny and Sexism

thebetterstory's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

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

4.0

A beautiful, angry scream of a book. The prose is unselfconsciously strange and beautiful, with the elephants' perspectives handled with especially gorgeous aplomb.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror and Terminal illness

Moderate: Classism, Confinement, Animal cruelty, and Violence

Minor: Misogyny, Death of parent, and Animal death

emmalouisereads's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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? Yes

3.0

This was an interesting idea, however I really had no idea what was happening for about 1/3 of the book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Gore, and Animal death

hendrixpants's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense fast-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Violence, Animal cruelty, and Murder

grey_jayne's review against another edition

challenging emotional sad tense 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? It's complicated

3.5

Sad and poetic, this novella opens up a different perspective on the ugliness of humankind. The shortness of the story really helps get the point across without overstaying its welcome. I found this unique and thought provoking. Highly recommended if you want something new.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty and Animal death

palomees's review against another edition

dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Animal cruelty, Violence, Body horror, Terminal illness, Injury/Injury detail, Death, and Cancer

overlap's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective fast-paced

1.75

I really wanted to like this book, but it felt sensationalised and almost disrespectful, while not giving the message I think it wanted to. I suppose it is an interesting perspective to explore, it just wasn’t for me. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death and Death

machen27's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

I'll be honest, at first glance, this is a weird book. A piece of alternate history where elephants communicate with humans and somehow become irrevocably associated with ionizing radiation. Yet, it speaks at questions of how we might atone for our sins as a society, the place we have in this world, and the harms we do to each other. Bolander wastes no time and dives straight into it, pulling you along whether or not you follow until a dizzying end. It's such a short book that reading it will take no time, even though you must carefully work through it to understand what it means on even a literal level. Definitely recommended.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Death, and Gore

Moderate: Animal death and Injury/Injury detail

bookwyrmknits's review against another edition

challenging dark sad medium-paced

2.5

This is a very powerful story, but it is not a happy one nor is it an easy read. I enjoyed very few parts of this book (all the parts I properly enjoyed were the ones narrated by the elephants and telling their stories) — the rest of the book was too raw for me to say I "enjoyed" it. However, it is incredibly well crafted, and it's worth reading for a lesson in how to write a novelette if nothing else.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty and Terminal illness

Moderate: Animal death and Violence

Additional CW:

graphic description of radiation poisoning

heather_e's review against another edition

dark reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Sexism