Reviews with content warning for Sexual violence - Rainbow Black

This was more bleak than expected, and it was missing some of the dark humor and campness from the first few chapters. Still, I simply could not put it down. Full of intrigue and court room drama, it's more a grim coming-of-age than a thriller for sure.

I wish there was less "and that's when my life was about to get much worse" and more trust that the story was unfolding just fine on its own. But the writing went down ever so smoothly, and I will be keeping my eye on what else Thrash writes.

However, setting your book in the 90s is not an excuse to use the R slur over and over. It was quite unnecessary.

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nervousleigh's review

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I thought this was going to be VERY different than it is, I was absolutely not in the right headspace for this book. I expected it to be heavy based on the subject matter, but it is so much more intense than it seemed like it would be - and it’s only going to get worse, based on other reviews I read after getting through the small bit I did. Frankly, I feel misled about the tone, and although I may have eventually chosen to read this if I’d known what it would be like upfront, I think I’m going to leave this one firmly behind me.

Content warnings are just from the 10% I managed to get through, there may be more content later in the novel.

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breanneporter's review against another edition

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adventurous dark funny mysterious medium-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

3.5

Hmm! This was a weird one that I mostly liked. Rainbow Black follows our protagonist and narrator, Lacy Bond, starting in the early 90s, when she's 13, as her parents are swept up in the satanic panic of the time and accused of (and tried for) performing satanic sex acts on the young children that attended their daycare. From there, things somehow only get worse.

Obviously it's quite dark, darker than I'd realized it'd be, and while I was quite engaged for the first two parts, I did find my interest waning a bit in the third (and final) part, where I felt like it was dragging on a bit longer than necessary, especially given the narration style, which frequently hinted at what was going to happen (or at least the spirit of what would happen) long before we got there chronilogically. There stopped being surprises/plot twists after part 1, which surprised and disappointed me, as I was hoping for another gasp-worthy moment that never came. It's very gay, with both a cis and a trans lesbian as main characters, which I loved, but it was often just so bleak and often the ways that characters acted and the things they said felt too horrible and ridiculous than could be believed. There were a few different developments that I felt were introduced and then didn't go anywhere interesting (

like the first lawyer disappearing and sending that weird cryptic note and book?? What??

), which was frustrating, and I'm honestly just not sure what to take away from this. Is it a love story? A journey to self-forgiveness? I do feel like the protagonist's inner voice was more self-punishing than I felt she deserved, and I think that's what I was meant to feel, but in that case the ending was more than a bit of a letdown. Anyway, it was an interesting read but wouldn't be my top recommendation; will keep an eye out for more from this author, though!

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hannabee's review

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challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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