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Reviews tagging 'Blood'

Friday Black by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah

26 reviews

kyarabereading's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? N/A
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

5.0

I think Adjei-Brenyah does a good job of mixing in commentary of very real social issues with very absurd elements of fantasy. It's those crazy twists that each story has that really drew me in as a reader and helped me want to find the meaning behind each story. The book covers really dark topics that make you want to put the book down because they can be hard to stomach, but Adjei-Brenyah's writing style is so beautiful and haunting and interesting that I couldn't bring myself to do so. Also, some stories shine more than others, but I think that's expected of any short story collection. Overall, this was a very enjoyable read, and I will definitely be reading it again. 
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hpfan9501's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective tense 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

5.0

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kimsbookedtoday's review against another edition

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dark tense fast-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? It's complicated

5.0

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horizonous's review against another edition

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The collection opens up with a gut punch of a story called "THE FINKELSTEIN 5" and I highly recommend it, beyond that I was more or less completely lost, or in the case of "LARK STREET", repulsed. To me that story striked me as blatantly pro-life with a teenage couple who decides to have an abortion and the two aborted foetuses coming back to guilt-trip the guy for a night.. After that I kept reading because I thought there must be something more to this collection with all the praise it gets, but when I couldn't even get through its titular story I decided, this wasn't for me.
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danteandvirgil's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny sad medium-paced
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.0

A strong collection of short stories. Characters all seem to be dealing with grief in some form, be it a person now lost, a life once lived, an emotion once felt. My favorites include "The Hospital Where" and "Through the Flash". 
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rosesofthespring's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.5

As with most collections of short stories, these were very hit-or-miss for me. They range from magical realism to complete sci-fi, with quite a bit of variation. I appreciate that  Adjei-Brenyah was not afraid to get experimental and strange. 

Unfortunately, the last story now exists in my worst nightmares and intrusive thoughts, so reader discretion is advised.
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