Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

Some Desperate Glory by Emily Tesh

37 reviews

ablanket42's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, Violence, Xenophobia, Religious bigotry, and War

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Genocide, Hate crime, Homophobia, Pedophilia, Colonisation, and Classism

Minor: Incest, Pedophilia, Abortion, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

talonsontypewriters's review

adventurous dark medium-paced

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

2.5

Excluding a few awkward bits each, the worldbuilding and plot are both fairly strong -- one twist especially spiked my enjoyment -- but I don't honestly feel like the themes, heavy-handed as they are, delved quite as deep as they could have. In particular, certain tenets of the criticized ideological systems go unchallenged and even almost tacitly confirmed as true. I guess you could argue that they were meant to be more subtly folded into the rest of the overarching criticism, but since other things are directly addressed just fine, I find it a bit odd.

Also, maybe I'm just oversensitive about F/F relationships rarely being afforded the same complexity as M/M or F/M ones, but the distinct handling of Kyr and Mags's identities and relationships does rub me the wrong way. Mags and Avi's relationship is consistently one of the more plot-relevant (and a bit fucked up for various reasons), and despite not being perspective characters, they each get in some brief thoughtful dialogue on their identities and realizations thereof. Kyr, on the other hand, gets some repressed subtext and

a single date with a relatively minor, extremely underdeveloped character in a different timeline

, and her introspection about her sexuality is pretty much limited to that aforementioned repression/dismissal and fleeting surprise, which comes across as especially odd given the worldview she starts out with.

Kyr's bigotry in general felt a bit... diluted, as if the author wanted to write a deradicalization arc but didn't want to start her off as so obscenely awful that many wouldn't be interested in reading -- the point gets through, just judging from how many reviews are complaining about how unlikable she was (that is the point!), but to me it felt like a pulled punch. It's not helped by how quickly her development occurs, either, with some token resistance and lingering vestiges afterward not quite enough to make it feel truly realistic or cathartic.

Fine as a story, but falls short in its scaffolding social commentary, which is neither especially unique in concept nor exceptionally powerful in execution. Might have been better marketed as YA, though I feel some further nuance than is provided would still be expected there.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gun violence, Misogyny, Sexism, Violence, Xenophobia, Murder, Gaslighting, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Homophobia, Pedophilia, Racism, Sexual assault, Suicide, Torture, Transphobia, and Grief

Minor: Animal death, Rape, Slavery, Trafficking, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Alcohol

Eugenics.

sophiesmallhands's review against another edition

I spent a little longer before DNFing than I normally would’ve but I was waiting for the slightest HINT of character development in the MC and a little bit more plot structure coherency, but alas, I didn’t see it.
I may pick this up again to finish it  but I just wasn’t enjoying it this time! 😭

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Misogyny, Sexism, Transphobia, Violence, Police brutality, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Physical abuse

Minor: Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Sexual harassment

ka_cam's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious reflective sad tense fast-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

4.5

Fans of Le Guin and similar will enjoy this- the world building reminded me of the Hainish cycle but more queer. A lot of reflections on what is humanity, war, redemptive suffering and violence, revenge, and how fascistic militarized groups make meaning out of suffering and grievance to cause more suffering. Was very engaging, page turner. Best not to think too much about the physics!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, and War

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Racism, Rape, Blood, Abortion, and Colonisation

italapas's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful 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

4.5

This is a nominee for the 2024 Hugo Award and I can see why. It's very engaging and enjoyable to read. The main protagonist's character arc starting in what is basically a cult, coming out of that and learning to be a member of the wider interstellar society is excellent.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Xenophobia, and War

This does refer to forced pregnancy and implied infanticide. It's not a large part of the book, but is definitely there.

ddclarke's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful tense fast-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

I wasn't sure what to expect of this book when I started. I went in knowing nothing but the back blurb (which felt very trope-heavy and YA focused) and the Hugo nom, and the beginning of the book propped that up... 

... but then I couldn't stop reading, and by about halfway through it was clear there was something great happening. 

I loved the turning of the tropes, the themes, and all they wonderful grey. I also love that this seems to be a standalone book; while I'd love more from the universe, I hope the characters specifically are let to rest. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Biphobia, Genocide, Homophobia, Sexism, Sexual assault, Suicide, Violence, Xenophobia, Murder, and War

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Rape, and Gaslighting

wreathedinviolets's review against another edition

adventurous 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Xenophobia, Sexual harassment, and War

Moderate: Cursing, Death, and Emotional abuse

brekaboujie's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense medium-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

This book was SO GOOD. Another point to add to my mental list of "why do I bother reading sci fi by men, women do it so much better". This is a great combination of flawed and interesting characters, extreme high stakes, wonderful twists and turns, great pacing, and a really clear idea from the author of what they wanted to get out of this story. The whole premise of Gaea and our introduction to a terribly biased narrator was brilliant. I had such a sinking feeling through the beginning of the book and going on that journey of discovery with the main character was GREAT, it was so tense and emotional and interesting. 

It was also super immersive - I was completely sucked into this world and every scene and section felt necessary and useful to the plot (seems a low bar but honestly such a relief after my recent reads which were not like that at all), and I loved how everything kept falling into place perfectly set up from the previous scenes and knowledge I'd been given. 

Also the end !!!!!!!!!! Heck yeah. Solid ending. Love a good ending. 

Final point - it's quite an intense book, and the version I read had content warnings at the beginning which was cool. I will say that everything was done really sensitively and well - very little explicit showing of the nasty content warnings, much more themed and just general knowledge of things Just Being Like That. It did remind me a bit of The Handmaid's Tale thematically, but imagine that's a side plot and it's not quite as bad and also they're in space and have guns. So nothing like it really. But regardless, there was a point towards the end of this bookwhere in my mind I literally went WOMEN YES WOMEN THE CONNECTION OF UNIVERSAL SUFFERING !!!!! So enjoy that moment if you read this. Great book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Violence, Xenophobia, and War

Moderate: Genocide, Homophobia, and Rape

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Racism, Abortion, and Pregnancy

A lot of heavy themes but all dealt with sensitively! There is one scene where somone

shoots themselves in the head in front of the main character. This is sudden, and there is a description after of the image of the death. However, they move on quite quickly in the book and (bigger spoiler here on the actual plot) that person doesn't stay dead.

The rape tag is not explicit, people just talk about how that probably was what happened to someone in the past, and it goes hand in hand with the pregnancy tag, which the author calls "forced pregnancy" in their content warnings. This again isn't explicit, it just is accepted as normal in their society and only questioned fully towards the middle and end.

maggiereadz's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional medium-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? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Suicide, and War

milliemudd's review against another edition

adventurous emotional tense medium-paced

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Genocide, Gun violence, Sexual assault, Suicide, Violence, Xenophobia, Gaslighting, and War

Moderate: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Mental illness, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Murder, and Outing

Minor: Misogyny and Abortion