Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

Monsters of Men by Patrick Ness

2 reviews

durrareadsstuff's review

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense fast-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

4.25

A monster, I think, remembering what Ben told me once. War makes monsters of men.
"Wrong," says the Mayor. "It's war that makes us men in the first place. Until there's war, we are only children."

Damn, this book wrecked me! I mean, it had me gasping and mad and also made me shed a tear or two, which I thought was impossible lol. I loved this one the most out of the whole trilogy, I think. Firstly, the way war itself was described by the author was incredible. There was no good or bad, no right or bad side, just a few sides with their own interests and being selfish even though the right thing would be to come together. I loved seeing how Todd and Viola grew so much and I loved Bradley's character. I wished I got to see some more of him and Simone, but oh well. Also, we got a third POV!

Welcome to the club, 1017! I was so happy for Wilf, Bradley and Lee when they sort of got promoted. Ben is also here! aka the only sensible person in this story.

One of my favourite things is how the author writes action scenes and how he develops suspense. It was so good!! And every time Todd tells himself to shut up, I honestly felt that lol. 

Moving on to why I think this was not a 5 star book. There are a few things that annoyed the heck out of me, for instance, Todd being so stupid and gullible and thinking that the Mayor was redeemable?!?

Dude, he killed his own son??

, the unnecessary love triangle (I mean, just give someone to Lee already), Mistress Coyle being herself

and going out with a bang haha

and Ivan.

who finally died.

But fine, at least Lee knows when to back off. Besides that, I get how Todd and Viola are supposed to be each other's weapons, but I just can't help but cringe every time they do that. What else? 
 

Oh, yes, just please explain to me why did everyone had to die?? I mean, even Acorn had to die! It's a miracle there are still people alive at the end of the book.

Also, don't get me wrong, I love how Patrick Ness writes action scenes, but you know, there comes a time when the suspense just gets in the way cause I just want to know if he made it out alive and I want to skip it but I don't want to miss out on any important details, so yeah. I rarely get this worked up over a book so I guess that's a good thing. I think the way the horrors of war was depicted in this book was quite accurate, although not exactly cause this is, after all, a children's book. Like how Todd just wanted to forget all about it, and how it just completely changed Angharrad.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Grief, Murder, Slavery, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Minor: Animal death and Suicide

oliverlang's review

challenging dark reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Death, Emotional abuse, Grief, Gun violence, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, and Violence