Reviews tagging 'Death'

The Bright Lands by John Fram

11 reviews

cameronpetrovich's review

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Sexual assault, Mass/school shootings, Pedophilia, Murder, Homophobia, Hate crime, Adult/minor relationship, Sexual violence, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual content, Death, Blood, Drug abuse, and Drug use

Moderate: Addiction

ramintah's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Gore, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Sexual assault, Suicide, Fire/Fire injury, Homophobia, Murder, Drug abuse, and Gun violence

mr_cain's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful 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? It's complicated

4.75

This book has so many twists and turns, it's a beautiful maze. It had me sobbing at the end.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Death, Drug abuse, Violence, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Outing, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Cursing, Sexual content, and Grief

Moderate: Body horror, Car accident, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Homophobia

Minor: Death of parent, Suicide, Vomit, and Addiction

eegrasse's review against another edition

challenging 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? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Kidnapping, Sexual assault, Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Pedophilia, Suicide, Trafficking, Violence, and Vomit

thingquail's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious sad 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Grief, Adult/minor relationship, Homophobia, Violence, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Rape, Murder, and Gun violence

juliezantopoulos's review

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

I can respect that this is an own voices thriller/horror and appreciate it for that, but this wasn't for me. I understand the commentary on toxic masculinity, especially in sports and in the south. However, the "horror" in this book was not actually scary. I really thought I was getting a horror book and instead I got a murder mystery. I know this is an own voices book with a gay main character, but the use of queer slurs and homophobia was too rampant for me. Which is not to say it's not a reality, but I didn't want to read it....especially with the direction the book went! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gaslighting, Grief, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Racism, and Police brutality

book_banter's review

dark emotional mysterious 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? Yes

4.0

What a wild ride! I think I was expecting more thriller than horror but then I wasn’t mad about it. That last 1/3rd though! I loved that the depravity in this boon was actually all about exploitation others and repression of true self.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Homophobia, Death, and Sexual violence

miranda2021's review

dark mysterious sad tense

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia

Moderate: Death

katelynprice's review

dark mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

3.0

I was really into the mood, atmosphere, and mystery of this book. The first 70% was really good, and then...it got weird. I realize that there is a social commentary going on here, but I am just not a fan of the execution.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse

Moderate: Sexual assault, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Death, Gore, and Homophobia

alexdicanio's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

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

3.0

The first 25% of this book, I wasn’t too sure if I would like it, but I kept on pushing. It doesn’t start out slow necessarily, I just wasn’t into it. I am glad that I kept reading. I say that the cast being diverse is complicated because while there is representation for people of color (minimal -1 or 2), and people (specifically men) in the LGBTQIA+ community, the setting is a small conservative town in Texas, so for the most part, people are hiding and are scared to truly be themselves. I don’t want to give anything away because it is hard to explain without spoiling something. This book deals very heavily with homophobia, racism, and sexual assault - so please be warned. I think it was written very well and I did enjoy all of the different character’s POV’s. What kind of threw me off guard was this added sort of “supernatural” element. It wasn’t, bad I just didn’t expect it. I understand why it was in there, but I also think this could have been an excellent book if the supernatural wasn’t there. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Bullying, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Homophobia, Racism, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, and Violence

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship

There are a lot of trigger warnings for this book. I wasn’t too sure where to put the warning for “adult/minor relationship” because it isn’t gone into a lot of detail. There are however, mentions of figures of authority and students being in a (primarily sexual) relationship. I can’t say much else without giving it away.