Reviews tagging 'War'

Durch das große Feuer by Alice Winn

312 reviews

marmaladereads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

Beautiful. Literary. Utterly devastating account of war. Winn wove an absolutely gorgeous tale of how the naive and poetic Ellwood and the angry and stoic Gaunt are transformed by the trauma and brutality of war. 

This book makes you feel a lot of things. It's filled with love and hope and poetry amid some of the most terrible destruction and gore and the constant drumming of death. Winn manages to strike an incredibly delicate balance of never sugarcoating the brutality, with no character being safe or protected from it, and at the same time giving us just enough of a hopeful undertone that it never feels like trauma porn. 

The character development, war accounts, and love story are all masterfully woven throughout. This is definitely a book I'll be coming back to again and again.

Seeing Gaunt find true clarity and friendship during the war at the same time as Elly is utterly broken by it is possibly as devastating as the constant and rather gory accounts of deaths. It feels incredibly honest that no one comes out unscathed from this book, both physically and mentally, even the characters we come to care for the most.

I love that Winn found a way for Elly and Gaunt to be together in the end in a way where they didn't have to hide, despite the time period. After all they'd been through, I think they deserved at least that, though I would call their ending bittersweet at best.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide, Violence, Alcohol, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Antisemitism, Death of parent, and Pandemic/Epidemic

beccss_bookshelf's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring sad 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? No

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Sexual content, Medical content, and Medical trauma

pjthom's review against another edition

dark emotional sad 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? It's complicated

5.0

Just glorious. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Gun violence, and War

mlander's review against another edition

dark sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Suicide and Blood

hannahduda's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Blood, Excrement, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , War, and Injury/Injury detail

emlibe's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide, Antisemitism, Medical content, and Classism

Minor: Alcoholism, Bullying, Child death, Homophobia, and Outing

pitsikakku's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Homophobia, Mental illness, Violence, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Bullying, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Suicide, Antisemitism, Grief, and Classism

Minor: Death of parent

beate251's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative 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? Yes

3.5

This book is about World War I and two privileged gay British soldiers quoting poetry at each other when they are not reading Adam Bede and Thucydides, whoever he is. Weirdly, their whole class somehow seem to be gay or at least experimenting.

We all know the horrors of war, there is nothing new here. It is well-written, and I was interested in the characters, but almost everybody died!

Hated the women who gave white feathers to young men they perceived to be cowards. They had no idea.

This is a heart wrenching and brutal debut novel well worth your time.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, and War

Moderate: Body horror, Bullying, Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Suicide, Blood, Antisemitism, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, and Classism

santsu's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes

4.5

Todella hyvä kirja suomennosta myöten. Kaunista kieltä, taidokasta kerrontaa, kiinnostavat hahmot - siis sen verran hyvä kirja, että tuon enempää en osaa sanoa tai lisätä. Aika rankka lukukokemus, mutta olen iloinen että luin.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and War

maregred's review against another edition

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body horror, Gore, Homophobia, Xenophobia, Blood, Grief, and Classism

Minor: Racism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Death of parent, and Toxic friendship