Reviews tagging 'Pregnancy'

Sistersong by Lucy Holland

35 reviews

middumullu's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

4.25

VERY much enjoyed and heavily annotated. Many thoughts about arthurian legend (as you do) and  relationships (as you do). Also appreciated reading about a trans character and realized that I do not get to do that often. So that was nice. I appreciated that each of the main POV characters were distinct and that I could tell which one was narrating even without chapter headers. Some of the plot twists were very predictable. Unfortunate! Some of the characters REGRESSED imho

cough cough riva

and some of the characters were absolute icons and besties

CONSTANTINE and GWEN!!!!

. Let's chat! If anyone has thoughts I desire a discussion of epic proportions. What themes stood out to you?? What did you think of the sibling relationships?? Did you expect the twists???

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia, Deadnaming, War, Violence, Religious bigotry, Outing, Misogyny, and Death

Moderate: Pregnancy

breq's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.5

My main complaint is that I was in it for the murder ballad and that doesn't actually hit until about 75-80% of the way in.  It felt like there was a lot of setup and the book didn't need to start that early.  But some of this may be because I'm already familiar with that setting and didn't feel like I needed much exposition.  I really liked how the

trans character was handled, with what felt like an accurate mix of acceptance and prejudice, without getting too "being trans is constant trauma" or too "magically accepting".  It's a balance a lot of writers miss, and I really prefer narratives that strike that middle area.  My immediate thought, at least, is that it was done well.  My opinion may change as I think about it.  I know some people prefer that trans characters are always gendered correctly in the narrative and never deadnamed, but I feel like there are times when that's necessary and as long as it's handled respectfully, it works.  I think it was handled well here.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Deadnaming, Death, Dysphoria, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Religious bigotry, Transphobia, Violence, and War

Moderate: Ableism, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Sexual content

The trans character is misgendered and deadnamed both by characters and by the narrative. However, some of this is due to him not being out yet to certain characters, and him not choosing a new name until the end of the book. (In fact, at the start of the book, it is not immediately clear that he is a trans man because he is still coming to terms with it, at least in my interpretation.) A number of characters come around and gender him correctly as the book progresses. Some characters do not, which makes sense with the setting. Overall, I felt it was mostly well-handled, although I am not specifically a trans man myself.

mo345's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Chronic illness, Colonisation, Confinement, Deadnaming, Death, Death of parent, Dysphoria, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Pregnancy, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Transphobia, Violence, Vomit, and War

Moderate: Child abuse

Minor: Alcohol, Animal death, Adult/minor relationship, Sexual content, and Cursing

sarahna's review against another edition

adventurous emotional 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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy and Transphobia

book_of_the_north's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative inspiring 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

4.0

Absolute gem of a book. Will stay with me for a long time.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Pregnancy, Religious bigotry, and Transphobia