Reviews tagging 'Religious bigotry'

Blue-Skinned Gods by SJ Sindu

12 reviews

charming_killerqueen's review

adventurous challenging dark mysterious 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? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Misogyny

Minor: Drug use and Vomit

asha_m's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense slow-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Transphobia and Religious bigotry

medhuvada's review

emotional tense medium-paced

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

3.0

The storyline and premise are very interesting, but are let down but the oddly rushed pacing in the last third.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse

Moderate: Classism, Toxic relationship, Suicide, Terminal illness, Religious bigotry, Infidelity, and Gaslighting

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

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

emzireads's review

emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Religious bigotry, and Emotional abuse

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

littlekinggone's review

dark emotional reflective sad tense 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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death, Suicide, and Religious bigotry

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

brewsandbooks's review

emotional informative mysterious reflective sad 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

3.75

  I greatly enjoyed this book. It was not what I expected when I first started reading it. I truly felt for Kalki in everything he went through. I think the book is being marketed in a very mysterious way that overall works. I don't want to ruin how it plays out, but I will say that I thought Sindu did a spectacular job at placing us in Kalki's ashram and his life as he grows up. I felt for him in all of his relationships and for his own internal struggles. I also loved how Sintu used his outside, grownup perspective at times to let us know where he understood more fully and had grown past some of the things that happened.
I enjoyed the examination of spirituality and a person's own journey with it. When does blindly accepting harm those around you? When does someone's own views block them from having true connections? I also thought the views on India's caste system were interesting and added layers and depth to this already deep novel.
The end of the book lost me a little, however, because I almost wanted more of what Kalki went through as an adult and how he grew past his young adult self. I was curious why Sintu decided to end it when she did, and wanted a bit more of his growth past some of this journey, to give context to him as an adult. But overall, stunningly written, incredibly interesting, and well worth the read. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, and Drug abuse