Reviews with content warning for War - Brotherless Night

An excellent novel - I hope it’ll win this year’s Women’s Prize. I almost couldn’t stop myself from sobbing while reading it on the train. It was a unique reading experience for me - the warmth the characters feel for each other steeped in constant threat, the moral complexity that turns into pure horror. It also depicts the civil war in a very human, nuanced way without expecting any previous knowledge.

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srilekha's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful informative reflective sad tense slow-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? No

4.75

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jmitchell20's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional informative sad 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

3.75

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rwims's review against another edition

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challenging informative slow-paced

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

2.5

I found this a hard read. It was interesting finding out about this time period and the civil war something I knew nothing about. We see how such a war it affects the place and the people and each family and the division it causes.

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baileyanabella's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes

4.75

This book was dreadfully slow. There is so much preliminary world building and exposition that has to happen before the real bulk of the story can take place, and I probably would have DNF'd it for how slow the pacing was if it hadn't made the WPfF shortlist.
That said, though, I am glad that I didn't. This is one of the most heartbreaking books I have ever read, but it is so important that narratives like these exist. Sashi being a young girl, just a handful of years younger than myself for a majority of the book, I strongly empathized with her thoughts and actions as she did the best she could in impossibly difficult situations.
War is devastating, for anyone and everyone involved. There is no winner, even when the fighting is over. And this story shows you exactly that.

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nov_ella's review

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challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring sad tense 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? It's complicated

5.0

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happyknitter2020's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad 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? It's complicated

5.0

Absolutely brilliant book. Read as shortlisted for The Women's Prize 2024...think this is the clear winner. The writing is beautiful, strong & clear. Learned so much about the civil war & complex trauma experiments. A definitive 5 star book, will be at the top of my 2024 books.

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