Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

Some Desperate Glory by Emily Tesh

35 reviews

30something_reads's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.5

Maybe? Maybe lower? Maybe higher? Idk. I need to think on it.

There were some really interesting and exciting things happening in this story. It took turns that I was not expecting and really enjoyed. And it was compulsively readable. Emily Tesh has a great pen. 

But I also think the author maybe took on too much with only surface level resolutions for all of it. The -isms and -phobics were off the charts and I don't necessarily think all of them were handled appropriately. (An d by that, I mainly mean the way racism is discussed. It definitely feels like a white woman wrote it in that regard.)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Homophobia, Misogyny, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Transphobia, Violence, Xenophobia, Pregnancy, Outing, and War

Minor: Bullying, Cursing, Rape, Abortion, Death of parent, Colonisation, and Classism

juliana2's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional reflective tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Child abuse, Genocide, Homophobia, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Grief, Abortion, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Outing, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, and War

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

deedireads's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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? Yes

4.25

All my reviews live at https://deedireads.com/.

Honestly, I can’t believe Some Desperate Glory wasn’t on my radar until it was nominated for the Hugo, especially with such blurb power (VE Schwab, Tamsyn Muir, Alix Harrow, Shelley Parker-Chan, John Scalzi, and more). But wow am I glad it showed up!!

The book is set in a future where Earth has been destroyed and the last colony of humans lives and trains to exact revenge. The main character, Kyr, is an unlikeable but highly skilled trainee about to receive her official placement — until that placement goes wrong and everything she thought she knew gets turned on its head.

This is one hell of a story. It especially picks up halfway — I think I literally said “whaaaaat!” out loud in a room all by myself. I’m not sure I’ve ever read a book about what is essentially an awakening from brainwashing, but it does set up a lot of exploration of important themes like racism, homophobia, sexism, suicide, and eugenics. In fact I’d almost say it’s a little heavy handed on some of this stuff, but in a forgivable way.

The audiobook performance was also good, but because there’s a decent amount of worldbuilding, I’d recommend starting the book in print and switching to audio once you’ve got a handle on things (or listening as you read along).

I could definitely see this winning the Hugo!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Suicide, Transphobia, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Death of parent and War

Minor: Rape

avocadosocks's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Xenophobia, Sexual harassment, and War

Moderate: Death, Homophobia, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Transphobia, and Violence

Minor: Genocide, Abortion, Death of parent, and Pregnancy

emily_mh's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

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

5.0

I read this book on a friend’s recommendation and honestly bless her, because it was phenomenal. It’s the kind of story where I had no idea what was going to happen next, and I mean that in the best possible way. Every time I would be like “ah, it’s this trope”, and then pages later Tesh would flip everything on its head. I was sooooo invested and truly hooked by this fresh, original approach.

The plot was not the only mind-blowing thing about the book. It was also packed with existentialism, posing questions such as: what choices in the past lead us to our current reality? Are there certain outcomes which are inevitable in every reality? Who gets to decide what is for the “greater good” - who gets to even DEFINE the “greater good”? I love when books pose these ethical and philosophical questions and then the whole narrative is an exploration of them. Some may be answered, some may be left open, ultimately beyond the scope of the story to answer. But in every case the reader is challenged to consider things they may never have before.

Tesh also tackles extremist indoctrination as a main theme, as MC Kyr (along with most of the SCs), experiences this having grown up on Gaea Station, a military post containing the humans who survived the destruction of Earth and seek revenge from the alien perpetrators. This was heavy to read about. Gaea’s society is founded on eugenics (specifically relating to race and ability), as well as misogyny, sexism, queerphobia, and bioessentialism, and the sexual violence these engender. And Kyr, at the beginning of the book, is the poster child for Gaea. Her character arc is inexplicably wrapped up in deprogramming her indoctrination as she is exposed to the world outside Gaea. It is truly astonishing how much Kyr changes over the course of the novel, and how much she discovers about herself when free from oppressive social constructs. Kyr is by no means perfect at the end of the book, but she also isn’t the same person she was in the first chapter. It is important to note that Tesh as the author always presents the above topics (eugenics, sexual violence) as abhorrent. Even when Kyr doesn’t understand their horrors, you as the reader know that Gaea is deeply, deeply wrong, that Kyr is deeply, deeply wrong, and Tesh does too.

I wouldn’t say this is “found family” like the synopsis proclaims. Every relationship in the book is too complicated and messy and often filled with both love AND hate, to fit neatly into a usually wholesome and straightforward trope. And that’s to this book’s credit. The characters all feel real because none of them can be perfectly squared away into an archetype, their understandably complicated reactions to one another birthed out of the complex situations they find themselves in.

I am so glad my friend recommended this to me and that I decided to give it a go. The only criticisms I can think of right now are that I wish the commentary on eugenics and disability had been made more explicit, and that the ending felt a touch deus ex machina (but maybe that was ironically intentional). Regardless, this book deserved its 5 stars.

Rep: queer MC, queer SCs, Afro-Latina SC

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Ableism, Animal death, Body horror, Cursing, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Transphobia, Grief, Death of parent, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Drug use, Rape, Self harm, Sexual content, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol

Major: queer used as a slur 6 times, loss of a loved one, bioessentialism, eugenics, misgendering Minor: suicide ideation

rikagx's review against another edition

adventurous dark fast-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: Rape, Death of parent, and War

exaal's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

"Some Desperate Glory" is an exciting tale with many twists and turns. Taking a page out of Ender's Game, this book explores the morality behind warfare, the conscription of child soldiers, xenophobia, and the fate of the human race. With LGBTQ+ undertones, the main character, Kyr, goes through drastic changes in character in this story that spans time and space.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Xenophobia and War

Moderate: Child death, Gun violence, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Suicide, Grief, Death of parent, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Child abuse, Genocide, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Murder, and Pregnancy

minervacerridwen's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

5.0

I love that this book didn't treat brainwashing as something a character can just as easily shake off. The things Kyr had learned all her life kept returning to haunt her, and I think that's the strength of this book. Action-packed with some shocking turns and interesting worldbuilding, Some Desperate Glory was an impressive rollercoaster.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Ableism, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Homophobia, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail