Reviews tagging 'Sexual violence'

The City Beautiful by Aden Polydoros

14 reviews

writefromthepage's review

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challenging dark emotional funny informative mysterious reflective slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

Had a lot of potential, ultimately it didn’t deliver. The pacing would jump from being dead slow for chapters at a time, speed up super quick for a few pages, and then return to the slow pace. It wasn’t done in a natural shift either It felt like right when action started happening, it was abruptly cut off. It was strange to say the least. And the writing felt very dry overall? Which made it really hard to get into the story and connect with the characters, especially Alter and Yakov. Alter felt like character traits rather than a developed character, and Yakov had barely any substance to him. The book never showed us how strong their friendship was, just told. Which really made me think why Alter cared so deeply about him. The one character exception though was Frankie. He was very interesting and developed. But also bizarre since he obviously had more time and care put into him than the main character himself. I will say the reveal of who’s been behind the murders is heartbreaking and handled well. The threat was very real. And when the book focused on the slow possession of Alter’s body, or his relationship with Frankie, was where the book really shined. There was good things in this book, but overall, pretty disappointing. 
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lisafrancine's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes

3.5

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xoodlebooks's review

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adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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melaniereadsbooks's review

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dark mysterious tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Thank you to Netgalley and Inkyard Press for an arc of this book.

When Alter's roommate ends up dead during the World's Fair in 1893 Chicago, Alter knows that it wasn't the accident the police are claiming it was. A string of deaths and disappearances of young Jewish boys are cropping up over the city. To make matters worse, ever since his friend's death, Alter has been experiencing hallucinations and black outs that leave all-too-real marks on his body. He is determined to find out what really happened and put his friend's spirit to rest.

Wow, this book was mysterious and tense throughout! It took me a little ways to get into it, but once I did I was completely addicted! Alter is such a sympathetic character and I loved following his point of view as he discovered what was really going on in the City. I also....I am in love with Frankie. I'm sorry, but he is perfect. He is like.... a slightly-less-traumatized Kaz Brekker but also gay. Yup. I'm in love.

The prose in this book was beautiful and I truly loved it!

Pub Date: Oct 5
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