Reviews tagging 'Sexual content'

The Bright Lands by John Fram

4 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

---

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

donnyeatsbooks's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A

5.0

It’s Friday Night Lights meets Twin Peaks by way of Stephen King, with the biting social commentary of a Jordan Peele flick.

It’s also gay. As fuck.

John Fram methodically chips away at the pearly-white veneer of small-town Texas and exposes the eldritch horrors beneath, commenting on conservatism and faith-based hypocrisy in the meantime, and making you question everything you thought you knew about “traditional values.”

If that isn’t enough to convince you to rush to your nearest online checkout, then I don’t know what is.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Murder, Violence, Sexual content, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Homophobia

Minor: Hate crime

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.

---

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

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. 

---

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.