Reviews tagging 'Blood'

Into the Light by Mark Oshiro

3 reviews

imstephtacular's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Religious bigotry, Emotional abuse, Violence, Gaslighting, and Cursing

Moderate: Racism, Toxic relationship, Torture, Injury/Injury detail, Trafficking, Pedophilia, Mental illness, Bullying, Sexual assault, Abandonment, Homophobia, Body horror, Xenophobia, and Blood

Minor: Physical abuse, Vomit, Drug use, Sexual violence, Child death, Death, Grief, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, and War

daniellestarredpages's review

dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

5.0

Into The Light hooked me from the very beginning and kept my attention until the very end. I really enjoyed Into The Light but I must say that it is not a happy story. In Mark Oshiro's own words, Into The Light is a story that tackles the experience of Christian Nationalism and Adoption in the US.

While this book has two POVs -Manny, a homeless boy trying o save his sister from a Christian Cult and Eli, a boy who is currently the star child of thick very same cult- Into The Light is really Manny's story. We get about 5 chapters from Manny's POV to every 1 from Eli's and I can't say I minded. Oshiro writes Manny's experiences on the road, before and with the Varela's very well. The slightly non-linear timeline of the book, while it takes a bit to get used to, really adds to the atmosphere of this novel. The formatting of Manny's thought process felt slightly stilted but unlike in other stories, this felt very purposeful and added to the atmosphere of this book as well.

The character work in this book was also a standout in the reading experience. Manny and Eli, while they don't have universal experiences, they are very easy to connect to and care for. The other characters in this book were just as fleshed out as Manny and Eli they all contributed to the story.

I really loved Into The Light and highly recommend it. Be sure to look into the trigger warnings before reading.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Murder, Physical abuse, Child abuse, Grief, Abandonment, Emotional abuse, and Forced institutionalization

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, and Abortion

edwardianbookwhore's review

dark emotional hopeful tense fast-paced

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

5.0

Thank you so much to NetGalley and TorTeen for sending me an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review!

I really, really loved this book! The prose really surprised me, I think this is Mark Oshiro's best work. I think I really needed a good, sort of unsettling thriller and this definitely checked that box for me. My only complaint is that the book was split into multiple different POVs and there was no way to tell the difference between them. I wish there was some sort of indicator like "Before", "During", "After", etc. But I also understand this is an eARC and maybe they just haven't added those in yet. Overall, this is a really good book!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Religious bigotry, and Child abuse

Moderate: Blood

Minor: Abortion