Reviews tagging 'Cancer'

Blue-Skinned Gods by SJ Sindu

15 reviews

kefeshe's review

reflective 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

3.0

Beautiful and simple to read, it felt like I was having a conversation with a friend who was telling me about thier childhood. I really appreciated the layout and how each person or layer was lost and how it shaped Kalki's understanding of the world. It was a lot more reflective than I had expected, frequently sprinkling in major philosophical questions between the storytelling. I found myself on this emotional roller coaster with Kalki. It would be interesting to hear some of Ayya's perspective, what his motivation were and how he convinced those alongside him to brainwash a child that way.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse and Suicide

Minor: Mental illness, Transphobia, Terminal illness, Homophobia, and Cancer

elyssarenae's review

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad 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? It's complicated

3.5

Once the metaphorical curtain was lifted, the story felt a bit rushed and out of place compared to the first half-or-so or the book. I understand that is also how Kalki likely felt and was experiencing his life, but it was enough to take me out of the story in some instances, and it ended very abruptly. 

Otherwise, an intriguing premise and good writing! I give the first three sections a 4/5⭐️ and the last section a 1.5/5⭐️ for a 3.5/5⭐️ overall. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident and Death of parent

Moderate: Physical abuse, Cancer, Suicide, and Animal death

Minor: Self harm

thesapphiccelticbookworm's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective 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? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death of parent, and Violence

Moderate: Alcohol, Blood, Classism, Domestic abuse, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Suicide, Toxic relationship, and Transphobia

Minor: Murder and Cancer

taviarz's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.5

I wish we could’ve seen more of his life after he was free

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Cancer, Self harm, Suicide, and Transphobia

sknappy1's review against another edition

emotional sad 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse and Physical abuse

Moderate: Transphobia, Suicide, Death, Death of parent, Infidelity, Chronic illness, Cancer, Classism, Domestic abuse, Grief, Sexual content, Terminal illness, and Violence

Minor: Animal death and Vomit

hazmur's review

challenging emotional informative reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

I wanted to give the book 5 stars cause I really enjoyed the main plot line, but it had many issues that brought it down. It introduced characters that had very small parts in the books and didn't leave any meaningful impact yet had so much potential. The last act is super underwhelming it focused to much on

the band element rather than what that made kulki feel, they briefly mention kulkis new job but never develop it further or show the track he would have to start on to get there.

 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Mental illness and Sexual assault

Minor: Death of parent and Cancer

racheloddment's review

challenging emotional 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Child abuse, Grief, Emotional abuse, Alcohol, Death, Religious bigotry, and Suicide

Moderate: Transphobia, Vomit, Homophobia, Cancer, Drug use, Blood, Sexual content, and Misogyny

caseythereader's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad 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

4.25

Thanks to Libro FM for the free copy of this book.

 - BLUE SKINNED GODS takes its time unraveling it's story, but my goodness, is it worth it. This book is beautiful, enraging, heartbreaking, joyful, and so much more.
- Even when I thought I knew exactly where Kalki's story was going, there's a major plot twist I did not see coming.
- The audiobook, narrated by Varun Sathi, is an immersive experience. I felt like I was right there in Kalki's head, trying to work everything out with him. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Cultural appropriation, Death, Death of parent, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Car accident, Chronic illness, Colonisation, Cursing, Gore, Child abuse, Classism, Grief, Vomit, Alcohol, Blood, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Medical content, Self harm, Suicide, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Sexual content

jayisreading's review

emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

3.0

What drew me to this book was the premise, which is that the protagonist, Kalki, was raised in a way that he was believed to be a god due to his blue skin. Over time, though, various events lead to him questioning the validity of his god status. Perhaps not surprisingly, this also results in significant consequences, which Sintu divides into four sections.

Unfortunately, I didn’t enjoy this book as much as I thought I would. There were a lot of interesting ideas and themes, especially this conflict of truths and lies, as well as desires and obligations, as well as touching on issues of the caste system, tourism, queerness, among others. It didn’t feel as cohesive as it could have been, though, and I think what affected this was the pacing of the book. I found the first section dreadfully boring, but things started picking up in the second and third sections, diving deep into an interesting, almost psychoanalytic exploration of deception and manipulation in Kalki’s life. I was hopeful for the fourth and last section, as a result, only to be disappointed by the way things were hastily wrapped up. It felt as though too much was happening and, as a result, the book was barely holding it together by the end. I honestly finished the book with more questions than anything.

There was a lot of potential in this novel and I really enjoyed the ideas and writing, but the execution made it difficult for me to actually enjoy this book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Emotional abuse, and Suicide

Moderate: Misogyny, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Religious bigotry, Car accident, Child abuse, and Transphobia

Minor: Cancer, Self harm, and Kidnapping

ahliahreads's review

challenging emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide and Child abuse

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Cancer, Blood, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Religious bigotry, and Vomit