Reviews tagging 'Colonisation'

Some Desperate Glory by Emily Tesh

30 reviews

dwacek's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful inspiring 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Genocide, Homophobia, Misogyny, Suicide, Violence, Xenophobia, Colonisation, and War

libreroaming's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, and War

Moderate: Homophobia, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Cultural appropriation, Toxic friendship, and Colonisation

Minor: Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Abandonment

raychelbennet's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad 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

Despite the extensive trigger list, just wow. Incredibly comprehensive for a single novel. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Genocide, Hate crime, Homophobia, Misogyny, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, War, and Classism

Moderate: Bullying, Abortion, and Pregnancy

m_petranoff's review against another edition

adventurous challenging 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? Yes

5.0

A phenomenal futuristic dystopian science-fiction novel that looks at how someone can be a part of, perpetuate, and glorify fascism, and how one can disentangle oneself from it. With breakneck pacing and concise, clear character development, this book gives you an unlikable protagonist who is shocked to discover how unlikable she is and does something about it. Without any spoilers, it's an incredibly well-built world that tells a compelling story, then, about halfway through, changes all the rules. My only complaint was that I wanted more.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Suicide, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Homophobia, Sexism, Sexual violence, Xenophobia, and War

Minor: Genocide, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, and Colonisation

The book comes with a content warning at the beginning that is accurate and clearly written by the author.

itsmebee'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? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence

Moderate: Rape and Sexism

Minor: Racism and Colonisation

avilareads's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense 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

One of the best science fiction novels I have ever read. There are some incredible explorations of bio essentialism, imperialism, revenge, and cult mentality in this. One of the strongest points of this novel is the difficult and harrowing process of de-radicalization and the depths of consequence when it comes to cult programming. such an incredible novel!!!! and queer!!! and emotional!!!! i loved it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Sexism, Sexual assault, Suicide, and War

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Rape, Torture, Xenophobia, Grief, Murder, and Colonisation

ceruleanseas's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Homophobia, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Gun violence, Hate crime, Incest, Pedophilia, Rape, Suicide, Torture, Kidnapping, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Slavery, Trafficking, Abortion, Pregnancy, and Alcohol

valjeanval's review against another edition

adventurous tense medium-paced

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

4.0

I ended up pretty mixed on this one. At first, I was really bored. The lawful neutral protagonist who can't get a clue in a dystopia that just didn't make any sense.

You want the human race to survive by both training women for war and also relegating them to a breeding harem? And you are controlled breeding people but also have sex as much as you want with the concubines but being gay is not ok? I see the inspiration in other controlled societies, but this one seemed like it shouldn't have lasted 2 years, especially with a leader as lacking in charisma or skills as Jole.

It feels like the message of the book is a good one, but for me that message superseded the actual writing, and made the story as a whole fall a bit flat for me. It still won the Hugo, and while it wouldn't have been my pick, I see why it got the nomination. The aliens are good, the plot once you're off of Gaea station is intriuging, and the pace is sharp. As a rule though, I just kept coming back to the fact that I didn't really enjoy spending time with any of the characters, and that this was one of the dumber dystopias out there, built more to highlight reality's flaws than because it makes sense for the world-building.

So yeah, I'm going with 4 stars because it was better than a lot of things I give three stars, but overall kind of meh.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Gun violence, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual assault, Suicide, Xenophobia, Excrement, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail

schnaucl's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

4.75

I really liked this novel.   It started with the destruction of Earth and tells a story about the perils of Fascism, white supremacy, homophobia, and xenophobia.  It tells a story about what blind spots are developed when one grows up in that system and the price you pay for having those blind spots. 

I liked the characters and I enjoyed seeing them in different incarnations. I appreciated that growing up with very different circumstances didn't necessarily change certain fundamental truths of who the characters were and just because Kyr learned from her mistakes and tried to do better, she still didn't necessarily see the whole picture or naturally see the how to be as inclusive as she needed to be, although she did come to the realization of what needed to happen after it was pointed out to her.   She wasn't magically perfect even when raised outside of a Fascist State  (though still definitely inside an Imperial one)

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Ableism, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Homophobia, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Violence, Xenophobia, Police brutality, Grief, Murder, Toxic friendship, Colonisation, and War

Minor: Child abuse, Suicide, Torture, Pregnancy, and Alcohol

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