Reviews tagging 'Violence'

Los sonámbulos by Chuck Wendig

36 reviews

marleens's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense 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? It's complicated

5.0

I got this book as a gift for Christmas 2019, so right before COVID kicked off. In the years after I didn’t dare read it, as I was avoiding all “pandemicky” books, fearing they would hit too close to home. And now that I’ve finally read it, I’m glad I waited until I felt up for it. Obviously the pandemic in this book gets way worse than COVID ever did, but especially the way people respond to it felt eerily real. 
It’s a chunker and it took me weeks to work my way through, but I loved every step of the way along the plot. Great writing and great characters, and I loved the switching between multiple POVs. Also really liked the bits at the start of the chapters giving little insights into what was being talked about online or in the media. The story end was satisfying to me and could have easily been a standalone, but apparently there is a sequel which I will for sure be reading. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Violence, Gun violence, Body horror, Confinement, Dementia, Rape, Racism, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Religious bigotry

jesticulate's review against another edition

dark mysterious

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Violence, Ableism, Blood, Death, Homophobia, Racism, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Misogyny, Racial slurs, and Rape

I found the beginning of this book excellent and really compelling. In the middle, I was deeply upset because there are no trigger warnings and I ended up hearing (audiobook version) a very graphic rape scene before I was able to turn off the audio. And the end of the book went on too long. Definitely not Chucks best work. But i still really liked the beginning…

amandaklap's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

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

1.75

This book felt soooo long, so LONG!  It is a very political book - to the point of propaganda in it’s polarized splitting of humanity.  The storyline was still intriguing, but I’m certain the author could have cut out a third of the book without any loss. It is unlikely I will pick up the sequel.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pandemic/Epidemic, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, Mental illness, Xenophobia, Murder, Racial slurs, Gun violence, Homophobia, and Violence

yruss972's review against another edition

dark 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

2.0

Too dark, dystopian, and violent for me.
12 monkeys meets The Walking Dead meets The 100

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual content, Suicide, Terminal illness, War, Drug abuse, Gore, Kidnapping, Murder, Pandemic/Epidemic, Sexual violence, Slavery, Vomit, Sexual assault, Mental illness, Medical content, Racism, Hate crime, Abandonment, Bullying, Confinement, Cursing, Grief, Violence, Death, Rape, Religious bigotry, Suicidal thoughts, Gun violence, Torture, Physical abuse, and Racial slurs

talesoftheraven's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark sad tense slow-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pandemic/Epidemic, Sexual violence, Mass/school shootings, Gun violence, Rape, Violence, Hate crime, and Death

tvnguyen's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense 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

5.0

Very similar to Stephen King "The Stand" but it's about an apocalypse of sleepwalkers and white supremacists. Love love this book and the characters. The writing is super easy to follow and the transition in character POV was done very well. I thought I would get lost in the sauce with this book because it is just as thick as "The Stand," but Wendig kept my interest the entire time.

I did not think that the ending was going to be an AI cult, but I am here for that plot twist. Also the gore description of bodies exploding was easily quite terrifying

 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual violence, Violence, Xenophobia, Racism, and Gun violence

narzibenoucdel's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious 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? No

4.75

Smart and nicely paced with well-earned twists and revelations. Character writing felt a bit lacking for my personal taste, but it was still difficult to put down the book despite it being 800 pages; it certainly didn't feel that long since the prose was accessible given the genre and themes. It is an extremely contemporary American novel ripe with many references and an inherent leftist anxiety, but as someone who agrees with the author's (presumed) ideology, the big bad villains felt more prescient than caricature. Certain aspects surrounding the political themes in the novel felt on-the-nose, but the rest of the book's strengths outweighed any minor hiccup in this regard.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Grief, Religious bigotry, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Blood, Rape, Hate crime, Cursing, Mental illness, Murder, Pandemic/Epidemic, Racial slurs, Racism, Confinement, Gore, and Gun violence

cassie7e's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.0

This book is DARK. And achingly long. It feels like run of the mill sci fi until about halfway through when the white supremacists get to hurt people on page. TW for rape, torture, imprisonment, etc. I was not prepared given how mildly graphic topics were handled til that point, with sex being all fade to black and most injuries happening off page or in backstories. And then each sci fi revelation in the back half adds a sinister layer to the whole plot. 

However the politics and desire to seem progressive are stark, and come up in places that just don't flow naturally with the story, like the author needed to jam them in even when they weren't really relevant to the story. Especially when things like climate change are thrown into lines of exposition, all tell and no show, no inherent link to the plot beyond "the world is already doooomed!!" which is just not compelling on its own. This to say that this book is not escapist, and may annoy you even if you agree with its values like I do. If I'd known how despicably polictical the arc would be I might not have picked this up, or at least been better prepared when things got darker fast.

This book also hits closer to home because it describes so so well how people reacted to COVID, before it even happened. In retrospect this isn't surprising; the COVID reactions and White Mask reactions stem from movements and ideologies already stoked in years leading up. But this may make it extra real for readers sensitive to pandemic stories.

Surprise aro/ace mention right at the start! Love seeing this exist in more books. But it doesn't really come up again, and the one other time it's referenced it doesn't really seem to be an accurate understanding of what asexuality is.

One of my least favorite audio narrators, makes every character sound aloof and cocky and judgy or hesitant and whiney. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pandemic/Epidemic, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Torture, and Racial slurs

Moderate: Body horror, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Blood, Death, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, Sexual content, Suicide attempt, Xenophobia, Confinement, Grief, Gun violence, Religious bigotry, Ableism, Addiction, Cursing, Dementia, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Drug use, Gore, Mental illness, and Murder

Minor: Police brutality, Pregnancy, Medical content, Pedophilia, Vomit, and Child death

chaptersofchase's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

3.5

Wanderers 🚶🏽🚶🏼‍♂️🚶🏽‍♀️

Genre: Science Fiction
Trope: Dystopian
Format: 🎧
Audiobook Narration: ☆☆☆☆☆
Pub Date: 7.2.2019
Star Rating: ☆☆☆.5

Let me start by saying that when I ordered this book, I didn’t look at how many pages it was. When it arrived, I thought, ‘Oh dear, what have I gotten myself into?’ because Wanderers is 845 pages!! So, instead of reading, I decided to listen to the 35-hour audiobook __  If you haven’t had a chance to read Wanderers yet, I highly recommend it as it kept me entertained and motivated to stay busy with projects. 

I was fully invested in the story from the start - I’ve always loved dystopian books/shows (even if they make me incredibly anxious). Still, Wanderers was even more interesting as the author gave us scientific background on other outbreaks. At one point, I had to stop to see when the book was published (2019) because it was so eerily familiar to the start of the pandemic we’re just coming out of. Truthfully, I’m blown away by the amount of research the author, Chuck Wendig, had to do before writing this. 

At some point in the book, the story takes a more graphic turn (please be aware that there are many triggers throughout the book). This graphic turn seemed more in place with the author’s other book I’ve read (Book of Accidents - horror). While I was still invested in the story and characters,  I had to skip entire sections as they became too much. 

Overall, The Wanderers is perfect for the dystopian book lovers. I will eventually read the next book in this saga, Wayward.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Religious bigotry, Pandemic/Epidemic, Torture, and Sexual violence

valjeanval's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-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? No

5.0

Powerful book especially in the post 2020 world. Hard to believe it was published in 2019. Definitely hard to read at times but one of the few books I had trouble putting down at night because I needed to know what happened next.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Hate crime, Torture, Sexual violence, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Chronic illness, Confinement, Death of parent, Blood, Kidnapping, Suicide, Violence, Sexual assault, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Pandemic/Epidemic, Dementia, Grief, Gun violence, Religious bigotry, Rape, and Murder

Moderate: Child death, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Racism, Racial slurs, Pregnancy, Drug abuse, Medical content, Drug use, Dementia, and Cursing