Reviews tagging 'Colonisation'

Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston

85 reviews

dannothedino's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Mental illness, Emotional abuse, Outing, Alcohol, Grief, Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, and Sexual content

Moderate: Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Death, Death of parent, Addiction, Alcoholism, and Biphobia

Minor: Sexual harassment, Genocide, Classism, Cancer, Colonisation, Rape, and Sexual assault

chaos_and_chapters's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted relaxing 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? Yes

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Outing, and Homophobia

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, and Cursing

Minor: Death, Sexual assault, Colonisation, Violence, Animal cruelty, Classism, Death of parent, Genocide, and Sexual violence

sirenricobooks's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted relaxing fast-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Outing, and Sexual content

Moderate: Classism, Alcohol, Cursing, and Death of parent

Minor: Colonisation, Drug abuse, Grief, Addiction, and Incest

undecidedpersonality's review

adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Outing, Cursing, Grief, Homophobia, and Alcohol

Moderate: Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Death, Racism, Sexual harassment, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Death of parent, and Sexual assault

Minor: Biphobia, Child abuse, Transphobia, and Colonisation

annahamburger's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Outing, Biphobia, Cursing, Homophobia, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, and Classism

Moderate: Xenophobia, Addiction, Alcoholism, Abandonment, Toxic relationship, Alcohol, Bullying, Grief, Racism, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, and Confinement

Minor: Rape, Pedophilia, Cancer, Colonisation, Drug abuse, Gaslighting, Ableism, Drug use, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Adult/minor relationship, Death of parent, and Sexism

another_dahlia's review

• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Biphobia, Death of parent, and Homophobia

Moderate: Addiction and Colonisation

lipstickitotheman's review against another edition

lighthearted fast-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

3.5

If you ignore the absolutely unhinged political dynamics and assumption, it's not a bad romance! The scene transitions can get confusing and are often pretty rough, especially as an audiobook. The characters are super cool and super interesting, but oh wow the sociopolitical world this book lives in is almost painfully naive.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Outing, Homophobia, and Grief

Moderate: Sexual content

Minor: Cancer, Sexism, Classism, Sexual harassment, Alcohol, Biphobia, Colonisation, Death of parent, and Racism

btg's review

emotional funny inspiring fast-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

4.5

I genuinely just want to turn around and read this book for the first time again. Alas, since we have yet to invent time travel, I'll say this -- McQuinstin created an incredibly heartwarming, relatable novel about coming to terms with your own queerness and what it means to build a legacy. I absolutely cherish Alex and Henry, who are realisticly portrayed as normal boys in difficult situations and so clearly make each other better. Their love story is adorable and sucks you in -- I legitimately could not put it down. If you like queer love stories mixed with a bit of political intrigue, do not skip this one.

Do note that this novel has even more sexual content than a typical romance novel -- if you're uncomfortable with reading sex scenes, you'll be skimming a couple of chapters. That being said, I want to applaud McQuinston on so easily integrating the emotional and physical relationship between Alex and Henry. It was very clear from the beginning that although the boys are VERY physically intimate, their emotional intimacy is given just as much importance.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Sexual content, and Panic attacks/disorders

Moderate: Death of parent and Terminal illness

Minor: Sexual harassment, Adult/minor relationship, Addiction, Alcohol, Colonisation, Alcoholism, Racism, and Sexual assault

bubbly_lara's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted 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? No

5.0

All the stars 🌟 this story, these characters have my whole heart. Rereading this one after having watched the film (loved it, btw) was even more precious. I can't even count the times this made me tear up on my commute to and from work, how I cried so much. I've read this every year since first reading it in 2021 and this will now be my annual August tradion. Can't recommend this book enough and obviously can't even write a coherent helpful review. JUST GO READ THE BOOK ALREADY!

History, huh? Hell yes, they made some!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Outing, Alcohol, and Cursing

Moderate: Drug use, Drug abuse, Colonisation, Death of parent, Homophobia, Biphobia, Cancer, Classism, and Grief

Minor: Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, and Sexual violence

sammyelliott_'s review

emotional funny hopeful 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, and Outing

Moderate: Biphobia, Cursing, Panic attacks/disorders, Homophobia, Alcohol, Cancer, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Classism, Cultural appropriation, Forced institutionalization, Rape, Confinement, Cancer, Bullying, Deportation, Drug abuse, Genocide, Stalking, Sexual assault, Gun violence, Colonisation, and Hate crime