Reviews tagging 'Grief'

The City Beautiful by Aden Polydoros

20 reviews

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

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

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

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

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Content Warnings

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

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

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

rey_therese07's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Xenophobia, Antisemitism, and Murder

Moderate: Death, Pedophilia, Rape, Grief, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Homophobia, Sexual assault, Suicide, and Religious bigotry

xoodlebooks's review

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Hate crime, Racial slurs, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Antisemitism, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Genocide, Stalking, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Child death, Homophobia, Pedophilia, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Police brutality, and Medical content

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. 

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Content Warnings

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

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

Minor: Physical abuse