Reviews tagging 'Grief'

The First Sister by Linden A. Lewis

5 reviews

eegekay's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Grief, and Violence

caseythereader's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny 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 hard to summarize THE FIRST SISTER. It's set in a huge, complex galaxy with two factions at war with each other, and we see those two sides intersect throughout the book, through defections, strategizing, secrecy and more.
- This is one of those dual POV books where you're always eager to return to the action of whoever's storyline you're in. Both First Sister and Lito's stories were so gripping.
- There are a couple of great plot twists: even if you see them coming, this book is fantastically plotted.
- I feel like I am not doing this book justice, lol. It's great! Just hard to condense into an IG caption. If you love space opera and romance and discussing power and inequality through sci-fi, go get it! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Cursing, Grief, Alcohol, Blood, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Murder, Violence, and War

Moderate: Sexual content

forthesanityof1's review against another edition

adventurous dark inspiring mysterious reflective 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

Oh god did I love this book. The premise really caught me in the beginning and I love the way the author engaged with the world-building over the course of the book to build into the plot issues as well. The way the language with the names of the different races was created particularly stood out to me. The plot was super intriguing in a nice mix of political intrigue, war, and personal stakes that made it a page-turner. I loved the writing style along with the three perspectives utilized by the author. First Sister's POV was my favorite but Lito and Hiro's were also really well done. I also appreciated the overall queer-ness of the book and world. I like that the ending especially had a lot of impact with reveals about a certain character and what actually happened. If I wasn't exhausted, I could draw a lot of parallels to issues we see in our world with queer, women, and more specifically trans issues as well. I'm dying to get my hands on the second one once it's out in paperback. If there was one thing for me to criticize, it was that the pacing sometimes reflected the author's intention to set up for the rest of the trilogy in a way that was a touch obvious, but that's being super nit-picky. Also hoping for a poly relationship in the end, so fingers crossed.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Colonisation, Confinement, Cursing, Dysphoria, Emotional abuse, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Misogyny, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, Torture, Transphobia, and Violence

Mental illness specifically refers to the revelation that

the First Sister has DID or dissociative identity disorder due to her experiences and Lito deals with PTSD/flashbacks/panic attacks/reliving physical sensations

. I included tags about rape and sexual assault due to the

nature of the Sisterhood and the tasks they are expected to perform for those that want it regardless of the Sister's consent.

peachani's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Murder, Torture, Violence, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Sexual harassment, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Abandonment, Ableism, Bullying, Grief, Infidelity, Misogyny, Sexual content, and Transphobia

bookswhitme's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Grief, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, and Sexual assault