Reviews tagging 'Death'

The City Beautiful by Aden Polydoros

44 reviews

lanid's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror and Antisemitism

Minor: Animal death, Child death, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Racism, Rape, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury

moonytoast's review

challenging mysterious medium-paced

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

3.75

This book and Ava Reid’s The Wolf and the Woodsman have really opened my eyes to the existence and beautiful complexity of Jewish fantasy and stories infused with Jewish mythology. In The City Beautiful, Alter Rosen is possessed by the dybbuk of a close friend, who was one of a number of young Jewish boys disappearing or dying under mysterious circumstances under the shadow of the 1892 World’s Fair in Chicago. (It admittedly suffers from one of my bookish pet peeves—first person narration in a historical setting—but I will be forgiving in this case because of how well I enjoyed the story.)

Perfect for fans of Aiden Thomas’ Cemetery Boys and Roshani Chokshi’s The Gilded Wolves, The City Beautiful has proven itself to be a great addition to the budding young adult historical fantasy genre and cemented my interest in Polydoros’ future works. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Hate crime, Violence, Blood, Antisemitism, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Child death, Gun violence, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Grief, and Death of parent

Minor: Homophobia and Injury/Injury detail

nniikkaa's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective tense fast-paced

• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Antisemitism, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Rape

paracosim's review

dark mysterious 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

4.5

It’s very rare for me to find books like this where the main characters are Jewish, let alone queer Jewish men like myself. This was an absolutely delightful read with fantastic writing, great characters, and high-stakes. I read it half-and-half on audiobook and with a physical copy, and while the audiobook narrator wasn’t my favorite (he sounded a bit too anxious lol), hearing the Yiddish and Hebrew words aloud was really nice and he did some fabulous character voices. I’m looking forward to what Aden Polydoros has in store next! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Hate crime, Blood, Antisemitism, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Gun violence, Pedophilia, Rape, Violence, Xenophobia, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Alcohol

cemeterygay's review

challenging dark

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

5.0

I cannot recommend this book enough. It is a wonderfully haunting story about antisemitism and Jewish culture at the turn of the 20th century. I had such a deep emotional investment in these characters. I think this book was so well paced and the elements of Jewish folklore, history, and storytelling were so well integrated into the plot. This book was so deeply emotional and I was very invested in the mystery/thriller element so deeply.

While I think more people should read this book, please take the content warnings very seriously.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, Antisemitism, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol

Additional CW: off-page but descriptive grooming/pedophilia plotline, grief over parent, hallucinations, suicide mention, self-harm, non-consensual drug use

criticalgayze's review

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Of the four books from the Young Adult category I have read or am reading for the 2022 Lammy Awards, this one is my favorite. It's like Cemetery Boys with a more balanced plot and like Before We Disappear with greater historical accuracy. The writing is taut and suspenseful, the plot is well-structured and well-rooted, and the characters are well-developed (an underrated quality in Young Adult literature).

My only qualm with the book is one of tonal consistency. The main character, Alter, is supposed to be a relatively recent immigrant with an emerging grasp of the English language. While I get that he is intelligent in his grasp of concepts in Yiddish and Romanian, he often uses big English vocabulary words that would seem out of his current linguistic grasp. One could make an acceptable argument that Polydoros is providing a "translation" of mental thoughts from Yiddish to English, but this still seems inconsistent with his expansive use of Yiddish terminology. it was a small gripe that can be easily ignored, but it was enough to keep the novel from fully clicking with me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Blood, Antisemitism, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child abuse, Confinement, Rape, Sexual assault, and Fire/Fire injury

bookenbee's review

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Hate crime, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Blood, Antisemitism, Death of parent, and Murder

caidyn's review

dark emotional medium-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? Yes

3.0

At some points I really enjoyed this book. At others, it was kinda meh. But I did like it and I'm glad it's out there! We need more Jewish books that aren't about the Holocaust. There are other interesting times in Jewish history.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Hate crime, Homophobia, Antisemitism, Grief, Murder, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Sexual assault

kirani's review

adventurous challenging emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I don’t even know where to start on this review because this book is EVERYTHING! It’s beautifully written, it kept me on the edge of my seat, it made me laugh, it made me cry. It’s queer, it’s Jewish, it’s fantasy, it’s historical, and it’s in Chicago! I really don’t know how to explain it but I *saw* myself in the characters and I love when I can connect to characters, so I was immediately hooked. Also I will think about

“I love you!” “I love you, too, that’s why I have to let you go.”

for the rest of my life. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Gun violence, Hate crime, Racial slurs, Blood, Antisemitism, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Gore, Homophobia, Misogyny, and Vomit

Minor: Pedophilia

The racial slurs tag is for antisemitic slurs. There is also a fair bit of internalized homophobia.

ashleycmms's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional informative lighthearted sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Drug use, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Rape, Sexual violence, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Police brutality, Antisemitism, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail