Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

An Unkindness of Ghosts by Rivers Solomon

9 reviews

laguerrelewis's review against another edition

dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense medium-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

4.75

Rivers Solomon has a way of tugging you by the soul, pulling you into the world they’ve lovingly and painstakingly crafted. An Unkindness of Ghosts is many things: a rumination on faith & oppression, on the afterlife and our ancestor’s legacy, a story of survival and rebellion and forcing a space for yourself when the system denies it, but most of all, it is a good book. I cannot stress enough to heed the content warnings, but if you can stomach them, this book will reward you.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Death of parent, Child death, Classism, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Medical trauma, Torture, Grief, Hate crime, Pregnancy, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Slavery, Suicide attempt, Violence, Abortion, Alcohol, Sexual violence, Death, Medical content, Rape, Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual harassment, Confinement, Police brutality, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Child abuse and Transphobia

tigger89's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

5.0

This book was incredible. I've never met a protagonist quite like Aster: queer, neurodivergent, sharp in both manner and intelligence, and scarred by a lifetime of trauma but hell-bent on getting her way. The rest of the cast didn't disappoint either, with a varied collection of complexly-written and -motivated characters comprising both the heroic and villainous casts. Theo was an incredible supporting character. Again, complicated and frustrating, but I was so glad we got to meet him and even spend a chapter in his head. I would have liked to hear more from his point of view in fact, though I admit it wouldn't have served the plot any better. I just want more Theo, and I want him to be happy. It's a purely selfish desire. And no, there's nothing on AO3. I checked.

Anyway. There were a lot of ways this book could have gone wrong. The concept of "antebellum slavery recreated aboard a generation ship in transit" was ambitious, and I can think of few other authors who could have done it justice — N.K. Jemisin, perhaps? Jemisin wouldn't have done the character work in the same way though, so it would have been a very different book. I thought the level of scientific crunch was perfect for the story Solomon was trying to tell. The science seemed mostly sound to my layman's understanding(with the exception of the siluminium), but rather than taking on a starring role it formed the backbone that supported the main point of the story, which was about the society that relied on that science to survive.

My only complaint about this book is that the pacing gets a little weird in the last third. A lot of time passes, but the plot remains urgent, so there's some very weird time skips that leave the narrative feeling disjointed, even rushed at times. But this only brings the overall score down to maybe a 4.75, so I rounded it up. If you're someone who likes your sci-fi with science that at least puts up a pretense of being grounded in fact, but who still prefers a focus on character and society over hard scientific crunch, the style of this book would probably appeal to you. Just be mindful of the content warnings, as there's quite a lot of them and Solomon pulls no punches.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Homophobia, Misogyny, Slavery, Transphobia, Violence, Religious bigotry, Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, Police brutality, Racism, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Abortion, Blood, Classism, Death of parent, Child abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, Medical content, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, and Sexual content

Minor: Suicide, Alcohol, Pedophilia, and Pregnancy

nagev's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Homophobia, Abortion, Classism, Racism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Violence, and Confinement

Moderate: Pregnancy, Police brutality, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual violence, Bullying, Chronic illness, Medical trauma, Gaslighting, Fire/Fire injury, Death, Blood, Abandonment, Torture, Transphobia, Rape, Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual assault, Terminal illness, Vomit, Slavery, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, Sexism, Panic attacks/disorders, Murder, Misogyny, Medical content, Lesbophobia, and Grief

Minor: Ableism, Child abuse, and Alcohol

solenodon's review against another edition

challenging emotional tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Torture, Injury/Injury detail, Police brutality, Sexism, Sexual assault, Abortion, Child death, Death, Murder, Physical abuse, Medical trauma, Child abuse, Colonisation, Medical content, Racism, Religious bigotry, Misogyny, Ableism, Classism, Confinement, Death of parent, Grief, Rape, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Slavery, Violence, Body shaming, Mental illness, Self harm, Transphobia, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Excrement, Fire/Fire injury, Racial slurs, Gore, Homophobia, Pedophilia, Suicidal thoughts, and Lesbophobia

Minor: Alcohol

paperbrownies's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful sad tense 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

4.0

- lgbtqiap+, adult, sci-fi, dystopian, space gays, horror, makes you go ✨science ✨, ghosts, drifting through space, DIVERSE, 
- f|f
-rep: black intersex neurodivergent nonbinary woman mc, nonbinary woman sc (see author’s twitter thread), aroace sc and a casting of racially diverse and queer characters 

if i had to say anything about this book, then it would be: 
’talented. brilliant. incredible. amazing. showstopping. spectacular. never the same. TOTALLY UNIQUE. completely not ever been done before.’ 
this. this is my review!!! 

-cw: surgery, medical content, needles, transphobia, misgendering, alcohol, death of parent, systematic violence, illness, off-page and on-page suicide, brief mention of cancer, implied child sexual abuse, body horror, injury/injury detail, self harm, abortion, physical abuse, intake of bodily fluids, child death, fire, suicide, torture, confinement, police brutality, minor sexual content 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Suicide, Transphobia, Body horror, Self harm, Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Police brutality, and Violence

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Abortion

Minor: Cancer, Murder, and Sexual content

nytephoenyx's review against another edition

dark emotional tense 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? It's complicated

4.25

My favorite thing about Rivers Solomon’s An Unkindness of Ghosts is its easy inclusivity. Never does this book feel like its trying for token characters or to write a specifically “race” or “LGBTQIAP+” book. The individuals aboard the Matilda are who they are and I think that’s beautiful and it deserves top billing in this review.

While I cannot speak to the overall accuracy of this representation based on personal experiences, it flowed very well and read as quite genuine and normal in every way, which I loved. We have Theo, who is mixed and struggles with religion vs. desire. Giselle is Black. She faces her trauma every day. And Aster? Aster is also Black, neurodivergent, and certainly LGTBQIAP+ though I couldn’t pin down nonbinary vs. gender fluid vs. asexual… but you know what? It doesn’t matter. Aster was a little of all of these and so beautifully defied labels (though Aster does use the she/her pronouns, which Solomon shares early in the book). Even minor characters like Flick are given all their dignity and we know their pronouns are they/them.

An Unkindness of Ghosts tells the story of four different people, to my reckoning. Aster is our front-and-center protagonist, but we also learn Theo’s and Giselle’s stories, and Aster’s mother Lune Grey. All these characters are BIPOC and they are all oppressed in this worldship that so closely parallels the antebellum South. Each one struggles to navigate a system that is so strongly set against them. They fight on different levels and through different professions and pursuits. This book is painful to read – the violence, the torture, the sexual abuse. Solomon doesn’t shy away from sharing the worst of Matilda in full detail, and nor should they. Although An Unkindness of Ghosts is a dystopian science fiction… is it? The largest divergence between this book and our own history is the location: a ship, in space.

The writing is stunning, but reader, please proceed with caution. While I think it’s an important book and everyone should be aware of it, read it, and feel the pain of our history of slavery laid out so bluntly before us… it’s not going to be a safe read for everyone. Please please review the content warnings on my blog and on The StoryGraph before starting this book to steel yourself for the content to follow.

An Unkindness of Ghosts was immersive from the first moments, and aside from the astounding plot and character building, the world itself burst alive from the page. There is so much hurt in this novel, but the moments of beauty are there too, although much fewer. The dance of all the elements woven together seamlessly make An Unkindness of Ghosts a particularly impressive novel. My one disappointment was the non-excitement of the very ending. The book was running full speediest moments before, and the end fell a little flat for me.

I dearly recommend this book to anyone. It has some heavy adult moments so may be more of a longterm TBR item for younger teen readers. As an adult, this story made me ache and I will certainly be reading Solomon’s next book, Sorrowland.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body shaming, Bullying, Child death, Classism, Death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Gun violence, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Misogyny, Murder, Police brutality, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, and Homophobia

Moderate: Ableism, Domestic abuse, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Abandonment, Abortion, Alcohol, Pedophilia, and Religious bigotry

akblair's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Blood, Body horror, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Racism, Rape, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide attempt, and Torture

Moderate: Alcohol, Child death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, Sexual content, and Slavery

blockieran's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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

5.0

About 40 pages in I was close to quitting because it's very triggering. Fortunately I didn't. The story captured me and wouldn't let me go resulting in two nights spent reading instead of sleeping.

The representation is everything I want in one book. Labels aren't explicitly stated (mostly because they don't exist in this world) but there is a black queer intersex character who seems to be autistic and a trans character with OCD and they own my heart. I want to keep reading forever because it hurts to leave them behind.

Be warned: I thought this was mainly an adventure story with discrimination as a background setting. It's very much in your face though.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Ableism, Abortion, Blood, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Dysphoria, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infertility, Injury/Injury detail, Lesbophobia, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Religious bigotry, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, and Vomit

Minor: Alcohol, Cancer, and Drug use

darkmattersoybean's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Biphobia, Blood, Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Genocide, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Murder, Racism, Rape, Sexual content, Slavery, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic friendship, Transphobia, Vomit, and Violence