Reviews tagging 'Adult/minor relationship'

The City Beautiful by Aden Polydoros

4 reviews

novella42's review

challenging dark mysterious reflective sad 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

3.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Vomit, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Child abuse, Homophobia, Child death, Hate crime, Grief, Blood, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Violence, Gun violence, Death, Antisemitism, Racism, Fire/Fire injury, and Sexual violence

clovelatte's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative 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? No

5.0

Damn. This book dealt with so much pain and violence but the characters are wonderful and I was tense the entire time hoping they would make it through. You absolutely MUST check the content warnings. Things are rough. But also so good. Love these boys. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Antisemitism, Blood, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Mass/school shootings, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, Pedophilia, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Sexual content, and Sexual violence

anniereads221's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Antisemitism, Body horror, Child death, Hate crime, Murder, Racial slurs, and Violence

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual assault, and Xenophobia

Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Medical content, and Suicide

kayladaila's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-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? Yes

4.5

I received an advanced reader copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review. The City Beautiful is a Jewish, gay, YA horror mystery set around the Chicago World’s Fair. It was a bit of a slow novel at the beginning, but did eventually pick up speed. All of the characters were well developed and came from different but historically accurate perspectives. I’m personally not a fan of horror, so parts of this were a bit much for me, but that doesn’t make it any less of a great read. The Jewish representation was phenomenal and I hope it comes across well to nonJewish readers. My favorite thing about this book is that it was able to be a gay historical romance with absolutely no homophobia. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Antisemitism, Blood, Body horror, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Grief, Hate crime, Murder, Racism, Racial slurs, Religious bigotry, and Violence

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Genocide, Gun violence, Pedophilia, and Rape

Minor: Physical abuse