Reviews tagging 'Violence'

Before We Disappear by Shaun David Hutchinson

17 reviews

_lish_'s review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective tense medium-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? It's complicated

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Lesbophobia, Emotional abuse, Violence, Sexism, Murder, Child abuse, Homophobia, and Racism

garbutch's review against another edition

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Blood, Gaslighting, Torture, Domestic abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, Trafficking, Violence, Alcohol, Gun violence, Stalking, Child death, Confinement, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Vomit, Trafficking, Gun violence, Gore, Fire/Fire injury, Death of parent, Sexual harassment, Kidnapping, Stalking, Death, Child death, Slavery, Racism, Misogyny, Injury/Injury detail, Confinement, Child abuse, and Murder

akal's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious 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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Child abuse, and Torture

Moderate: Chronic illness, Racism, and Violence

silly_little_clown's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective 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

4.5

This book kept me engaged the whole time! I couldn’t finish the book in a shorter period of time because of life, but I think if I were given all the free time in the world I would’ve consume this book in three days max.
I love jack, wil, ruth and jessamy. I like their characterization and their growth towards the end of the book. It was really satisfying to see their relationships develop. The book is a bit open-ended(?) but I don’t really mind it since I think that fits the journey that they’re going to embark on more :D (however that doesn’t mean I would say no to a sequel or side story though haha)

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Violence, Physical abuse, Torture, and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail and Blood

Minor: Misogyny, Gun violence, Eating disorder, Stalking, Sexism, Homophobia, Racism, Lesbophobia, and Sexual harassment

bug_lightyear's review against another edition

Stopped reading at 68% (took me 23 hours at 70% speed) 

I enjoyed the budding romance between magician assistants but couldn't stand the child abuse anymore.

Interesting side character, the "sister" of one of the narrators, is a disabled girl using a cane to walk and is an engineer. 
Best friend of the narrator is a black lesbian woman. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Child abuse

kates_cat's review against another edition

emotional hopeful 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

4.25

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Confinement and Violence

ree_the_owlgirl's review

adventurous emotional lighthearted medium-paced

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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Self harm, Child abuse, Confinement, Torture, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Moderate: Death of parent, Homophobia, Sexism, Grief, and Racism

lilly_anne's review

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious sad 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? No

4.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Racism, Violence, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Homophobia, Blood, Gaslighting, Kidnapping, and Murder

Moderate: Alcohol, Misogyny, Death of parent, Sexism, and Cursing

Minor: Stalking and Vomit

meliflowers's review against another edition

adventurous dark lighthearted medium-paced

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

3.5

The writing (and narration) is done so incredibly well and the storyline is interesting albeit predictable. The ending was very surprising though, that I enjoyed a lot. The characters themselves felt very flat and one dimensional. There was little to no grey zones within the characters which made it a little boring for me at some times. However it's very inspiring how dedicated the author was about the setting and accuracies in his writing! 

Regardless of all that, it's a fun and cute read with an exciting setting (despite some of the horrific themes). 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse and Physical abuse

Moderate: Racism and Violence

Minor: Kidnapping

Although the abuse is very apparent in the story and actually fucked up, it's still a lighthearted story. Like the author doesn't really focus on the impact of all the abuse has on psychology and mostly focuses on developing the plot.

gemstonejasper's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful medium-paced

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

4.5

Warning: Please look at the content warnings before reading this book. There are a lot and they are fairly graphic. Now on to my review.

Was this book well written? No. Did it have good worldbuilding? No. Did I feel like I was in the early 1900s? No. Was it 100 pages too long? Yes. Could I predict the entire plot? Yes. But could I put it down? No.

I read this in three days (and it's around 500 pages). That's saying something because I have dyslexia and am a really slow reader. The story follows the love story of Jack and Wilhelm, the assistants to two rival magicians performing at the same fair in 1909. I personally think that's all you should go in knowing.

If I were a critic and rating this book solely on technical aspects, I would give it a 2.5-3 star rating. The writing is nothing special. It seemed like the characters repeated the same thing too many times. Therefore it could have probably been 100 pages shorter. I got immensely frustrated with every major character. It didn't even come close to making me feel like it took place in 1909 Seattle. I could predict the entire plot from a mile away (except for how exactly they defeated the villian).

That being said, I'm not a critic. I'm a general reader who picked up this book to be entertained. So I chose to rate it based on my enjoyment level. 4.5 stars. I can't pinpoint exactly why, but I really did enjoy this book and would read it again. I literally couldn't rip myself away. Maybe it was the two adorable queer romances. Maybe it was the magical feel of the world. Maybe I was genuinely terrified of the villian. Maybe I even grew attached to the two main characters and wanted to see them succeed.

There is one reason I'm not giving this a 5 star and that is because of a conscious choice the author made. The story takes place in 1909, meaning no person of color would have been treated as mildly as Ruth was treated by the white characters. There is also no way that the two queer couples (one of which is interracial) could have been out in the open without severe consequences. The author's note at the back of the book explains his reasoning behind this. He wanted to write a happy queer story. While I respect the decision he made, I also would not have chosen that direction myself. Because of this, I had a hard time immersing myself in the story. I had to take half a star for that decision.



2nd Reading Edit

I think I was too harsh in my first review. I don't think I was quite fair. During my first read-through, I read the physical book. It felt long and sluggish and like it was repeating things over and over. This time around, I listened to the audiobook and I think that's the way to go. The audio felt so much smoother and worked much better for me. That being said, the guy who voiced Wilhelm's chapters didn't feel right. He just didn't seem to match his personality. He was a good voice actor, just not quite right for Wilhelm in my opinion. The guy who read Jack's chapters matched pretty well

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Torture, Chronic illness, Gun violence, Homophobia, Kidnapping, Medical content, Racism, Child abuse, Death of parent, Sexism, Drug abuse, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexual harassment, and Violence