Reviews tagging 'Violence'

The Bright Lands by John Fram

10 reviews

anemone42's review against another edition

dark emotional funny mysterious tense fast-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

4.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia and Violence

Moderate: Racism

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

ashcrash's review against another edition

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? Yes

4.0

love the classic “horror lurking beneath a tiny town,” and it’s executed v well. characters are flawed but lovable and their relationships are real. think IT mixed with a gritty teen drama. a few too many characters to keep track of for my brain.

the ending was honestly very anticlimatic for me, and the main reason i didn’t give this a higher rating. as compelling as the beginning and middle is, it builds so much that when we actually get the reveal it isn’t as interesting as the fake outs and proposed theories we got earlier, which is sad.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Gore, Adult/minor relationship, Homophobia, Murder, Pedophilia, and Racism

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Addiction, and Toxic friendship

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

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

---

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

---

Content Warnings

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

hawkguyscoffee's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious slow-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

4.5

Even with it's slow start the story doesn't fail to make the reader intrigued about it's mistery and at it's climax definetly keeps the reader on their toes (my hands were quite literally shaking as I did). What's more, even if you think you won't, you ultimately fall in love with th characters and start cheering for them. The hard topics of racism and homophobia were, to my opinion, well tackled and even tho I have my criticism about certain plot points I do believe this is an important story that succeeds at talking about the kind of homophobia and toxic masculinity young men are subjected to in the world of American Football. What's more, I loved the dynamic between Joel and his brother that very much reminded me of the one I have with my own and I feel I will always carry their journey and characters in my heart (as well as the rest of the cast who, each for their own reasons, managed to make me fall in love with them too). 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Rape, Homophobia, Murder, and Suicide

Moderate: Bullying, Drug use, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Vomit, Violence, Hate crime, Racism, Drug abuse, Body shaming, Outing, Child abuse, Addiction, Sexual assault, Religious bigotry, and Pedophilia

aromarrie's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Murder, Violence, and Blood

Moderate: Homophobia, Suicide, Injury/Injury detail, and Grief

rliedtke's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.75

 

This will leave you saying what the f***. I wasn’t really sure where it was heading throughout the book but I definitely wasn’t expecting exactly what we got. The climax is about 100 pages long which sounds crazy but it was pretty epic and still felt fast paced, I couldn’t put it down once that scene started. 

What I liked: multiple POVs, short chapters, the problems it discussed (homophobia, racism)

What I didn’t like: the writing felt mediocre to me and a few lines made me cringe 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Homophobia, and Violence

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Drug use, Sexual assault, and Racism

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.