Reviews tagging 'Torture'

Some Desperate Glory by Emily Tesh

22 reviews

mmmmkay's review against another edition

adventurous challenging tense fast-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual violence, Torture, and Animal death

emily_mh's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

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

5.0

I read this book on a friend’s recommendation and honestly bless her, because it was phenomenal. It’s the kind of story where I had no idea what was going to happen next, and I mean that in the best possible way. Every time I would be like “ah, it’s this trope”, and then pages later Tesh would flip everything on its head. I was sooooo invested and truly hooked by this fresh, original approach.

The plot was not the only mind-blowing thing about the book. It was also packed with existentialism, posing questions such as: what choices in the past lead us to our current reality? Are there certain outcomes which are inevitable in every reality? Who gets to decide what is for the “greater good” - who gets to even DEFINE the “greater good”? I love when books pose these ethical and philosophical questions and then the whole narrative is an exploration of them. Some may be answered, some may be left open, ultimately beyond the scope of the story to answer. But in every case the reader is challenged to consider things they may never have before.

Tesh also tackles extremist indoctrination as a main theme, as MC Kyr (along with most of the SCs), experiences this having grown up on Gaea Station, a military post containing the humans who survived the destruction of Earth and seek revenge from the alien perpetrators. This was heavy to read about. Gaea’s society is founded on eugenics (specifically relating to race and ability), as well as misogyny, sexism, queerphobia, and bioessentialism, and the sexual violence these engender. And Kyr, at the beginning of the book, is the poster child for Gaea. Her character arc is inexplicably wrapped up in deprogramming her indoctrination as she is exposed to the world outside Gaea. It is truly astonishing how much Kyr changes over the course of the novel, and how much she discovers about herself when free from oppressive social constructs. Kyr is by no means perfect at the end of the book, but she also isn’t the same person she was in the first chapter. It is important to note that Tesh as the author always presents the above topics (eugenics, sexual violence) as abhorrent. Even when Kyr doesn’t understand their horrors, you as the reader know that Gaea is deeply, deeply wrong, that Kyr is deeply, deeply wrong, and Tesh does too.

I wouldn’t say this is “found family” like the synopsis proclaims. Every relationship in the book is too complicated and messy and often filled with both love AND hate, to fit neatly into a usually wholesome and straightforward trope. And that’s to this book’s credit. The characters all feel real because none of them can be perfectly squared away into an archetype, their understandably complicated reactions to one another birthed out of the complex situations they find themselves in.

I am so glad my friend recommended this to me and that I decided to give it a go. The only criticisms I can think of right now are that I wish the commentary on eugenics and disability had been made more explicit, and that the ending felt a touch deus ex machina (but maybe that was ironically intentional). Regardless, this book deserved its 5 stars.

Rep: queer MC, queer SCs, Afro-Latina SC

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, War, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Suicide, Child abuse, Murder, Violence, Genocide, and Gun violence

Moderate: Ableism, Homophobia, Cursing, Sexual harassment, Body horror, Animal death, Colonisation, Physical abuse, Sexism, Racism, Transphobia, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, and Death of parent

Minor: Vomit, Abortion, Rape, Torture, Blood, Suicide attempt, Fire/Fire injury, Slavery, Sexual content, Alcohol, Suicidal thoughts, Medical content, Self harm, and Drug use

Major: queer used as a slur 6 times, loss of a loved one, bioessentialism, eugenics, misgendering Minor: suicide ideation

adotzam's review

adventurous dark tense medium-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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, War, Homophobia, Blood, Violence, Misogyny, Genocide, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Racism, Torture, Rape, and Sexual violence

bug_gwen's review

dark sad tense medium-paced

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

This was not the book to read during a terrible crisis in the Middle East. Having said that, it’s a compelling portrayal of fanaticism, authoritarianism, and xenophobia. It’s very good, but I just couldn’t 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Violence, and Suicide

Moderate: Homophobia and Racism

Minor: Rape

haleywofford's review

adventurous dark sad 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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Adult/minor relationship, and Death

Moderate: Murder, Xenophobia, Violence, War, and Torture

Minor: Abortion, Pregnancy, Gun violence, Colonisation, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Blood, Rape, Homophobia, and Injury/Injury detail

paukinra's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, War, Gaslighting, Child abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Sexism, Outing, Gun violence, Genocide, Sexual assault, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Forced institutionalization, Torture, Sexual violence, Incest, Homophobia, Emotional abuse, and Death

Moderate: Xenophobia and Pregnancy

bookbrig's review

adventurous emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.5

This kept me hooked from the beginning, because Kyr was such an interesting perspective character. I liked the world building, and the twists of the story that I didn't anticipate, but I think Kyr is what kept me hooked. This reminded me of Seven Devils/Seven Mercies and The Disasters by M.K. England. It isn't YA, but I think it would work well for the right teen since so many of the characters are teenagers navigating growing up (just on a space station with extremely outsized problems)-the opening includes explicit content warnings. It's definitely a story that's lingering with me after I finished.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Xenophobia and Suicide

Moderate: Sexual assault, Violence, and Genocide

Minor: Torture

kindra_demi's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense fast-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

5.0

A friend told me that I needed to read this book. That I would absolutely love it. So I immediately went and got the book (a trip that was over 2 hours round trip). AND IT WAS WORTH EVERY SECOND OF RUNNING TO BEAT WATERSTONES CLOSING. Yes, it took me months to finish, grad school does that... But outside of that, it's so good.

First, let me say, I started reading the physical book but I switched to the audiobook because again grad school. Before I get into the book, let me just say Sena Byer has become one of my favorite narrators and I cannot wait to listen to more work from her. She voices each character so well (to the point I thought there had to be new narrators for the different voices. Literally a vocal chameleon).

Now the book. I will preface with I am a sucker for books with characters whose world is shattered by getting an understanding of how messed up their perception is (such as with nationalism for this book). This book then brings in elements of trying to understand your world when dimension changes are possible. It was set for me to be a book I absolutely love.

It's so easy to get into the world. Yes, there is a lot of world-building (it's sci-fi), but it's not something I found extremely difficult. I would recommend it actually for someone who isn't super familiar with sci-fi but wants to start reading it. There are "excerpts from other books" (that are from the Some Desperate Glory universe) that help give context to the story itself.

The mc can be insufferable (and rightfully so. The mc is a teen who was raised in a military base as a "war breed child". She was literally made to serve her station.), but you watch them as they grow and change. There are characters that you'll either hate or hate to love. There are characters that I personally want to put in bubble wrap and protect their sweet souls. And all of these feelings are established early in the book. So when the multiple dimensions become a factor, it can really influence one's opinions on a character.

TL;DR: Yes read it. Read it if you love sci-fi or love stories that are about the breaking of one's nationalistic perspective. And read it in either a physical/ebook or an audiobook option. Emily Tesh (and if you chose the audiobook, Sena Byer), will not do you wrong.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Grief, Suicide, War, Blood, Gore, Pedophilia, Sexual harassment, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Suicidal thoughts, and Violence

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Medical content, Bullying, Homophobia, Misogyny, and Torture

pineapple_queen's review

adventurous emotional funny hopeful 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Physical abuse, Bullying, Xenophobia, War, Violence, Suicide, Sexual assault, Pregnancy, Grief, Death, Death of parent, and Child abuse

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Chronic illness, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Pedophilia, Racism, Rape, and Torture

the_lesbrarian's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective 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? Yes

5.0

Who gets to decide what the greater good is? And what happens when we disagree over what that means? 

Some Desperate Glory is a beautiful, unexpected story about what it means to be human in this universe. Following violence and love through interweaving threads of space and time, Some Desperate Glory asks the question “what’s worth fighting for” through the eyes of a 17 year old child soldier in a militant space colony set to avenge a murdered Earth. The world created in this novel is brutal, and the characters are, at times, shockingly cruel, though their capacity for gentleness and reflection often reveals itself at surprising moments. While reading this book, I laughed out loud in surprise, joy, and painful recognition. Tesh identifies her work as “social science fiction,” and I couldn’t agree more.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide

Moderate: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, and Murder

Minor: Xenophobia, Gaslighting, Genocide, Adult/minor relationship, Homophobia, War, Death of parent, Rape, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, and Torture