Reviews tagging 'Self harm'

An Unkindness of Ghosts by Rivers Solomon

79 reviews

ranjanireviewsreads's review against another edition

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Lesbophobia, Medical content, Misogyny, Sexual violence, Abortion, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Torture, Blood, Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, Vomit, Rape, Racism, Slavery, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Death, Violence, and Racial slurs

booksqworm's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

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

2.5

The book has potential but the writing style just did not work for me. I felt somethings were right on the nose and some things came out of no where. Has a lot of cool ideas but I think it could have been shorter. A lot of people would still love this book, but for me it was just a bit slow, cruel, and lacking excitement/plot. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence

Moderate: Sexual violence

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Sexual assault, Slavery, Suicide attempt, Violence, Death of parent, Excrement, Racism, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Child death, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Bullying, Lesbophobia, Blood, Rape, Abortion, Classism, Colonisation, Confinement, Death, Medical content, Suicide, Ableism, Self harm, Sexism, Torture, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Toxic friendship, Homophobia, and Mental illness

salemander's review against another edition

5.0

rivers solomon has such an incredible and heartbreaking and magical way with words. i’m gonna think about this book forever. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Classism, Grief, Homophobia, Suicide, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail, Self harm, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, Medical trauma, Racism, Slavery, Transphobia, and Violence

tifftastic87's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense slow-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

4.5

Beautifully dark and depressing. With a small light in the end. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Medical trauma, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Gore, Murder, Physical abuse, Racism, Self harm, Sexism, Confinement, Torture, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide attempt, Pregnancy, Death, Mental illness, Slavery, Suicide, and Abortion

Moderate: Lesbophobia, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Ableism, Cursing, Dysphoria, Rape, Pregnancy, Homophobia, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Sexual violence

Minor: Bullying

riverrliam's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective tense slow-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

4.25

This book is heavy on science terms, so be prepared to look things up! Some of the plot was confusing to me, but overall it was entertaining and a quick read. I liked all the queer representation. I love a dystopian story / escape for a better world and the setting was unique. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Dysphoria, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Hate crime, Homophobia, Medical content, Body shaming, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Classism, Death, Gore, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Bullying, Confinement, Mental illness, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, Rape, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Grief, Gun violence, Self harm, and Fire/Fire injury

dariusmortee's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad 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? Yes

5.0

I didn’t really know what to expect of this book but it was so good! It hit on so many important issues and the characters are super well written. 
I loved the narrator and the way she did all the voices. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Sexual violence, Rape, and Sexual assault

rcsreads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense 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? It's complicated

3.5

The space ship is a great analogy for being trapped in slavery, you can't run away into a vacuum. The actual science of this space ship though, is insane like it has a tiny sun with floors for growing crops round it that all require drastically different environments and you can see people on other floors and they're upside down. What? If you take the ship purely as an analogy and don't think about science then this is a really interesting way to write about slavery and trauma full of diverse, queer and neurodivergent characters. The A deck ruling class are the white, heteronormative colonisers and the rest of the alphabet of decks represent the various cultures that the West enslaved and colonised. The analogy is good but the actual plot of the story gets confusing. 
 The story of Aster learning about her mother through the journals she left behind started out so well and then kind of got lost later. We just dropped it for the middle of the book and then it reappeared at the end with a lot of solutions which clearly happened off page. 
 I could see why Giselle was there to show us the effects of trauma but i have no idea why she was Aster's friend, she seemed to hate her a lot and they had nothing in common apart from living on the same floor of the massive ship. I have no idea what the Lieutenants motives were, he was a cartoon villain who just decided one day that a random child was his nemesis and he was going to mess with her for the rest of his life.
 It was very readable and I enjoyed it but this review seems to think otherwise...

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Mental illness, Murder, Vomit, Medical content, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, Torture, Toxic friendship, Violence, Abortion, Blood, Body horror, Child death, Classism, Colonisation, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Lesbophobia, Bullying, Child abuse, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Death, Gore, Homophobia, Suicide attempt, War, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual assault, Adult/minor relationship, Gaslighting, Hate crime, Self harm, Sexism, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, and Stalking

greywolfheir's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Toxic friendship, Self harm, Suicide, Violence, Classism, Grief, Death of parent, Death, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Police brutality, Sexual violence, and Racism

jdianm's review against another edition

adventurous tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Transphobia, Violence, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Vomit, Medical trauma, Fire/Fire injury, Ableism, Colonisation, Sexual harassment, Self harm, Murder, Blood, Confinement, Death, Torture, Rape, Racism, Physical abuse, Dysphoria, Suicide attempt, Medical content, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Police brutality

Minor: Death of parent, Abortion, Gun violence, and Domestic abuse

dragon_s_hoard's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Fire/Fire injury, Hate crime, Police brutality, Pregnancy, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Abortion, Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Cancer, Chronic illness, Dysphoria, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Suicide attempt, Torture, War, Self harm, Sexual assault, Toxic friendship, Violence, Vomit, Classism, Death of parent, Drug use, Infertility, Abandonment, Ableism, Confinement, Lesbophobia, Murder, Racial slurs, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Child abuse, Child death, Colonisation, Gaslighting, Grief, Mental illness, Sexism, Stalking, and Terminal illness