Reviews tagging 'Gun violence'

The Call by Peadar Ó Guilín

4 reviews

ribbenkast's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional informative tense fast-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

4.0

Immediately, I was very interested by the premise of this book. Right from the start, although the subject matter is quite dark I was having so much fun reading it. However the book took a little while to convince me it was not only fun but also clever and good. The ending was worth it though.

The premise: 25 years ago Ireland got cut off from the rest of the world and now every teenager at one point in their live gets "called" and transported to the Grey Land/the fae realm where they have to survive being hunted for sport by vengeful sadistic Sìdhe/fae is amazing. This premise has also major implications for how society will shape itself around this conundrum. A good example is that we follow a physically disabled main character who got polio as a young child because there weren't any vaccines. That's good world building and I'm so happy to read some good disability rep.

This is also where the book gets a little bit frustrating sometimes. You can tell O'Guilan is a good world builder. I'm willing to bet they've written up a Lore Bible and a many page document about the history of the Sìdhe and how the Irish society and its politics as it's currently functioning within the book. However all this clever world building is mostly hidden within throwaway lines from random characters in favor of showing of the teen drama. 

The book has some of the most creative body horror I've seen in a while. However, in a lot cases the scene fades to black to soon. Afterwards the body horror is only described as "terrible" by the other characters without further details. I understand that the author was probably going for "nothing's worse than your own imagination" trope, but I do think O'Guilan missed and excellent opportunity to show just how sadistic and twisted the Sìdhe are. 

Both of these issues could've been resolved by making the book 30-50 pages longer. And I would've gladly read it. I'm picking up part 2 soon. 7.8/10 - 4/5⭐

P.S. It's horror, please check the trigger warnings and take care of yourself! 

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breedawnwriter's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad fast-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

4.75

Wow. This book was INCREDIBLE. I read it in two sittings because I literally couldn’t put it down.

This book is not for the faint of heart, since the content is both disturbing and mature, but I’d still recommend for older YA audiences.

If you like The Hunger Games, disturbing fae, boarding school stories, forbidden romance, and otherworldly cat-and-mouse games, you’ll love The Call. 

Just make sure you read the trigger warnings first!

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ssc1109's review against another edition

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adventurous dark tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

Four stars because I genuinely enjoyed this ride along Irish folklore with a sick, demented twist. I am excited to pick up the second book!

Only reason it's not five stars is because we don't really dive into the characters much. While it's not a deal breaker for me, I felt very much like a reader instead of immersed into the book and their characters. So it made it difficult to mourn the characters. 

This book is definitely not for young teens. There is heavy cussing, sex, sexual assault, death, so much death, gun violence towards the end and a lot of mutilation. Nothing is gory, but it's definitely twisted. 

Would likely pick this book up again in a few years. 

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mermaidsherbet's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0


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