Reviews tagging 'Gun violence'

The Book Eaters by Sunyi Dean

87 reviews

isaaah's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Confinement, Slavery, and Grief

Minor: Infertility, Rape, Sexual content, Vomit, Trafficking, Acephobia/Arophobia, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol

cassiecollins's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

3.5

Man, I really wish the whole concept of book-eating was better incorporated. As it is, there are a few moments where it's used in interesting ways—like Devon eating maps and train schedules—but overall it feels like you could replace it with any other alien physiology and the narrative wouldn't be affected at all. The story itself was pretty good, though toward the end the flashbacks just became redundant and were in the way of the present story.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Sexism, and Murder

Moderate: Gun violence and Rape

Minor: Pregnancy

ledichose's review

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

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

4.0

One of the things I most enjoyed about this book was the mother–son relationship or, rather, the development of Devon’s role as a mother. While there were moments where the book seemed transparent as an allegory, I felt it was an original concept, and, as a sci-fi book, it didn’t have a lot of techie bleep bloops—an approach to the genre that I prefer. What I would have liked was more development of other characters and their relationships to Devon, especially Hester and Ramsay. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, Cannibalism, and Murder

Moderate: Slavery, Violence, and Cannibalism

Minor: Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Sexual violence

imds's review

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Body shaming, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Infertility, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual violence, Slavery, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Vomit, Police brutality, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Cannibalism, Religious bigotry, Acephobia/Arophobia, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, and Abandonment

plumpeony's review

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Trafficking, Grief, Stalking, Gaslighting, and Alcohol

therainbowshelf's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense 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

4.0

I’ll admit that I just don’t like dark gothic stories. If you do, maybe give this interesting spin on a vampire story a try. The book eaters and mind eaters concept kept me intrigued enough, and the out of order storytelling was interesting. Check content warnings before diving in.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Aphobia

zombiezami's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

5.0

I’m so fortunate that A) this book exists, B) I added it to my TBR, and C) I got to read it. I don’t even remember how this ended up on my TBR, but I’m glad I did. This story is slow, layered, and beautifully written

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body horror, Bullying, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Infertility, Mental illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Trafficking, Cannibalism, Stalking, Car accident, and Pregnancy

Minor: Child death and Incest

Eugenics

ladyknightkaci's review

Nothing about this book grabbed me. I kept reading because of the hype around it. I can get why people finish it, but I don’t understand anyone who loves it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny and Alcohol

Moderate: Alcoholism, Gun violence, Violence, and Gaslighting

Minor: Cannibalism

ms_sarah621's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

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

3.0

This book has really good writing and a great premise. I wasn’t fully expecting the book to go so deep into the Family dynamics and the darkness of the Family. I was hoping for a thriller/horror story about this woman and her child. But, it was about motherhood, feminism, creating family, trauma, and religion/cult beliefs. Some of this took me out of the world and distracted me. However, the writing is just so well done, and Cai’s character is indescribable. I really kept reading to get more from him. And that ending….. anyways, I enjoyed this. I wish it focused more on the book eaters occasionally, rather than trying to be deep. But I think that’s just a it’s not you, it’s me thing. Typical of me. I would definitely recommend to others and truly did enjoy the story and the comparison of fairytales and deviating from them throughout. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Confinement, Gun violence, Pregnancy, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

schausjk's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.25

This was mesmerizing. I really appreciated the worldbuilding, and even though I doubt a sequel would be likely, I'm really interested in seeing where these characters would go.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, and Trafficking

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Torture, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Lesbophobia