Reviews tagging 'Violence'

Some Desperate Glory by Emily Tesh

80 reviews

lcgordon's review

3.0

Cool premise, bad pacing. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Xenophobia, Murder, Genocide, Sexual assault, Violence, Rape, War, Sexism, and Physical abuse

bex_knighthunterbooks's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense fast-paced

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

3.5

A sci-fi adventure, potentially with good YA/Adult crossover appeal or as an entry to sci-fi, but it is quite dark (check triggers, but the assault side it is generally threats or off-screen). Set on a space station, a small group of humans have formed a militaristic dystopian society after Earth was destroyed by aliens.

The main character is completely indoctrinated, and so is pretty infuriating to follow, but this does give big scope for character development as she gets her eyes opened. The other main character (arguably - though there is only one POV) is also a douche with questionable morals, and then the other side characters are more one dimensional, which means I found it hard to get invested from a character perspective in this book.

I think the plot was quite clever, with a few twists or reveals that I really didn't see coming and I thought added an interesting element to the story. The setting does have a few interesting elements (e.g. the agoge/wisdom, the planet crysalthamus - excuse the spelling, I listened to this on audio), but the ones that intrigued me weren't very deeply explored (the impact of the wisdom on society would be huge and fascinating!), and instead most of the focus was on the space station, which felt like your standard space fascism with elements of handmaid's tale.

There are lots of themes, which I did find interesting: bodily autonomy, fascism, cycles of revenge driving war, are humans inherently dangerous, impact of propaganda and indoctrination, being queer in a heteronormative world - but I don't think these were any of them explored in much depth, and were dealt with in quite a heavy-handed way. On this aspect, I think this fits better with YA where I wouldn't expect as much nuance. I'd say this book is more focussed on the plot and action, over the world or themes, which will work well for some, but didn't especially for me.

A fun fast-paced romp, with a lot of ambitious interesting elements I'd have liked to see explored more.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Violence, Suicide, Child abuse, and Genocide

Moderate: Sexual assault, Adult/minor relationship, Homophobia, and Incest

Minor: Rape and Transphobia

exaal's review

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring reflective tense fast-paced

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

4.0

"Some Desperate Glory" is an exciting tale with many twists and turns. Taking a page out of Ender's Game, this book explores the morality behind warfare, the conscription of child soldiers, xenophobia, and the fate of the human race. With LGBTQ+ undertones, the main character, Kyr, goes through drastic changes in character in this story that spans time and space.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War and Xenophobia

Moderate: Suicide, Sexual harassment, Grief, Death of parent, Child death, Misogyny, Gun violence, and Pedophilia

Minor: Murder, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Child abuse, Forced institutionalization, Genocide, Mental illness, Pregnancy, Rape, and Physical abuse

cahypa's review

adventurous dark medium-paced

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

4.5

I read this book bc I saw a review on tumblr (accurately) saying that this is a book about a gay bitch who finally gets it together by the end of the book. Very satisfying to see her realize the truth about her militaristic space station cult and go through a big transformation. The author said in the afterword that she did a lot of research on fundamentalism and North Korea.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death and Violence

Minor: Sexual violence and Homophobia

milliemudd's review

adventurous emotional tense medium-paced

3.25

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Rape, Sexism, Bullying, Racism, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Mental illness, Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Murder, and Outing

Minor: Abortion and Misogyny

lyndann's review

challenging dark tense slow-paced

• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

Initially I was turned off by the unlikeable protagonist, but overall felt that the large themes the book was exploring were not examined with the nuance I had hoped. A few scenes at the end were confusing (in terms of being out of character and just didn't need to be included), which overall resulted in a lower rating. After the halfway point I was intrigued by the twist, but again, I feel they did not stick the landing. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Violence, and War

Moderate: Child abuse and Sexual violence

voxvenati's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring 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

5.0

When I started this book, I thought it was a strong 3 star. I have never been so pleased to be wrong. 

At the start, I hated Kyr. Borderline stopped reading because I found her to be so awful. I hated the gender essentialism, internalized and otherwise. I hated the bleak world. But it fascinated me, even so, and I read on. 

Every character I thought I hated had such character growth. By the end, I honestly loved every single major character. These were some of the best character arcs I have ever seen, full stop.

The single thing I’m going to say I really did not care for was the characterization of Avi as a redhead. He is unlikable, gay, promiscuous, unattractive. These are some stereotypes that get applied to redheads regularly (though some not as often to men). Didn’t love the stereotype, but I do love Avi. So.

I am such a sucker for aliens and sentient ai/whatever was going on with the Wisdom. LOVED the character growth it? They? Got at the end. “I am a pleasure yacht.” !!!

And Yiso. I want to kiss them on their little crest!!! Every time they were hurt, I was physically upset. I love them so much. 

This whole spoiler section is just me gushing, but the two of them deserve it.

It’s such a cliche to say I couldn’t put this down, but for the later 80% of the book, I was losing sleep, carving out breaks in my work day just to keep reading. I couldn’t stop thinking about it. I was sobbing by the end. 

In one book, Emily Tesh has become an auto-read author for me. If you enjoy explorations of nationalism, fascism, cult tactics, found family, identity, and purpose, you have to give this book a shot. It won’t be for everyone (please check those trigger warnings), but this got into my brain and has lodged itself there. Excellent read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide and Violence

Moderate: Pedophilia, Sexual assault, War, and Rape

Minor: Police brutality

toopunkrockforshul's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Really loved this, it kept me on my toes the whole way through and the characters were so interesting and compelling. The audiobook was amazing too, the narrator did a great job with all of the voices. Wonderful. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Murder, Grief, Death, Xenophobia, Cursing, Violence, Sexual assault, Injury/Injury detail, Gaslighting, Kidnapping, Suicide, and War

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Genocide, Rape, and Pregnancy

Minor: Police brutality, Racism, Incest, Abortion, and Outing

lady_sharp's review

adventurous dark reflective fast-paced

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

5.0

This was fun as hell. Mind the trigger warnings, but this is what science fiction should be, using the premise to dig at the flaws of society.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Homophobia, Suicide, Genocide, Xenophobia, Violence, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, War, Transphobia, and Misogyny

Moderate: Ableism, Racism, Injury/Injury detail, Acephobia/Arophobia, War, Physical abuse, Bullying, Pedophilia, and Rape

Minor: Abandonment and Body horror

Contains an on-page suicide, women being forced into the roles of breeding stock, in-depth look at cults, attempted grooming of a minor and a successful past attempt that resulted in the birth of a child, genocide, a forced kiss, and an attempted rape

waqupi's review

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Xenophobia, Sexism, Suicide, Misogyny, and Violence

Moderate: Sexual assault and Child abuse

Minor: Gun violence, Abortion, Racism, Homophobia, and Rape