Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Seven Devils by L.R. Lam, Elizabeth May

8 reviews

gxbi's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, War, Xenophobia, Grief, Pandemic/Epidemic, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Slavery, Gore, and Torture

Moderate: Child abuse, Vomit, Blood, and Medical trauma

nickoliver's review against another edition

adventurous emotional tense slow-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Colonisation, Murder, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Grief, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Violence, and War

Moderate: Death of parent

Minor: Torture

relin's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, Colonisation, Gore, Death, Child death, Death of parent, War, Child abuse, and Abandonment

Moderate: Slavery, Genocide, Stalking, Outing, Grief, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Eating disorder, Suicidal thoughts, Chronic illness, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Torture, Alcohol, Xenophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, Panic attacks/disorders, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, and Cursing

Minor: Transphobia, Kidnapping, and Addiction

allisonwonderlandreads's review

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful 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

4.0

Seven Devils features an undercover team of women seeking to bring down an empire and maybe go to a ball while they're at it. There's a great heist moment as well as battling in space, commandeering imperial ships, and investigating secrets be they hidden on backwater planets or in imperial palaces. This was a smooth, cinematic reading experience with snappy action scenes and the vivid, unfamiliar locales that make space operas so enticing.

All our leading ladies have their voices heard in this adventure. The POVs are distinctive and well-developed, providing insight into how each found the resistance and what wrongs the empire did to bring them to this risky endeavor. There's one pleasant sapphic romance just starting to blossom, but the majority is focused on the found family bonds that form among the crew. Each connection point is poignant and delivered convincingly. I also want to shout out the ace representation in Ariadne, hacker extraordinaire, genius, and absolute ray of sunshine. There's also a badass trans woman who I think we'll see more of in the sequel.

In terms of world-building, I think fans of the genre will find it light and approachable. The book makes use of science fiction standbys like AI and mental conditioning/brainwashing to add some further moral questions to the struggle against a massive, dominating imperial power. I look forward to seeing how the plot develops in the sequel, and I am excited to get to know the two late additions to the team much better. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Colonisation, Death, Death of parent, Genocide, Grief, Murder, Physical abuse, Xenophobia, Violence, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Abandonment, Blood, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Sexual harassment, Slavery, War, and Transphobia

lycanhood's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, and War

Moderate: Colonisation, Cursing, Grief, Torture, and Xenophobia

starccato's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Death, Emotional abuse, Grief, Colonisation, Murder, Medical content, Gun violence, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Genocide, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Confinement, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Gaslighting, Blood, Body horror, and Slavery

Minor: Vomit, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Gore, Death of parent, Drug use, Alcohol, Torture, and Terminal illness

wondereads13's review

adventurous dark hopeful mysterious 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? No

4.5

This has been described as a feminist space opera, and that's pretty much it. The characters are all women (except the villain and one guy who shows up at the end), they all have their own skill sets, and there's some pretty crazy backstories. I can't believe I have to wait at least another year for a sequel!

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual assault, Child abuse, Violence, Death, and Grief

One of the characters is a former concubine (essentially a sex slave), but the actual contents of her job are kept vague

melaniereadsbooks's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious 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

I absolutely adored this queer space opera! If you are a fan of Star Wars, I definitely recommend giving this series a try.  There are so many unique characters and the plot is killer! My favorite plot line was Eris but I won't say much about it because of spoilers.  I really loved the idea of the Empire and the fact that all of the "lab-grown" children have to fight to the death to become the heir and the spare! That was brutal and gruesome, but so so interesting to read.

I loved the character development between all of the characters and being able to read a little bit about some of their pasts as well as their presents. I definitely thought the before storylines were good chapters to include!

Also, just....Ariadne. Enough said.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Child death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Gore, and Grief

Moderate: Sexual assault, Sexual content, Body horror, and Torture