Reviews tagging 'Violence'

Thirst by Marina Yuszczuk

22 reviews

veridae's review

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Sexual content, and Blood

Moderate: Chronic illness, Gore, Terminal illness, Violence, Medical content, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

allymute's review

adventurous dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Thirst exquisitely builds its environment - Buenos Aires in the novel's two timelines is so rich and realized. Much of the novel's emotional conflict lies in women's morally questionable obstinance in a world that requires their obedience. The mingling of violence and sex is hubristic, fun, and nasty. I wish there were more of those scenes!

My main qualm with the structure of this novel is that the women meeting feels rushed. A little more time with them together would've been more satisfying. This is still an exciting, sexy, and sad novel. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content and Violence

Moderate: Suicide attempt

lupitagonzalez's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense 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

4.5

I loved this! A Gothic vampire novel featuring queer women, set in Buenos Aires and spanning centuries. My only criticism is that the final part of the novel in which the two women meet unfolds very hastily and ends rather abruptly. I wish there would've been more development in their relationship, but maybe that was the author's intention? I would still highly recommend it! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Murder

Moderate: Sexual content

Minor: Suicide attempt

junejunejulyjuly's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Gore, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Cannibalism, Stalking, Murder, Abandonment, Colonisation, War, and Pandemic/Epidemic

raisinreads's review against another edition

reflective

3.5

I had really high expectations for this based on the blurb and that it had basically all of my favorite tropes (vampires, sapphics, loneliness, yearning) but uh that's on me, my bad. it was okay. i do love vampires and people being gay though

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Death of parent

Minor: Suicide attempt

nini23's review against another edition

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Gore, Terminal illness, Medical content, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Misogyny, Sexism, Violence, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, and Murder

30something_reads's review

dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.25

 Death had come to inhabit my body. It was a possession, not a visit. 

I'm still trying to figure out my full feelings about the ending but overall, this was gorgeous. The narrative structure was really compelling- I could not stop reading!
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A sweeping journey from the Old World to modern day Buenos Aires, this story is told in two parts from two very different women. 

The first half of the narrative is told through the eyes of a centuries old vampire as we follow her journey from her violent conception and across the world to Buenos Aires for a new beginning. 

The second half is told through the eyes of a modern day woman in Buenos Aires as she navigates her career, motherhood, and the inevitable loss of her own mother to a terminal illness. 

Two seemingly unconnected stories slowly begin to intertwine in a haunting, obsessive tale about grief, female agency, and desire.
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All of the dark, gothic, sapphic vampire vibes that I was hoping to get out of AEoM- I got them here. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Grief, and Murder

Moderate: Terminal illness

Minor: Confinement, Sexual content, Medical content, Suicide attempt, Abandonment, and Pandemic/Epidemic

savvylit's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective fast-paced

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

5.0

I absolutely loved Thirst. This fast-paced novel includes all of the best vampire tropes. Best of all, these tropes are included in ways that wink at the genre rather than seem played out. The unnamed vampire at the center of the story is as alluring and fascinating as any vampire fan could hope! Furthermore, readers are allowed to witness immense changes in the city of Buenos Aires from a resident who watched it all from the shadows. I love that Thirst is historical fiction without being dull or overwrought.

The novel is divided into two parts: the vampire's perspective & the perspective of her eventual liberator, Alma. Both women are complex, sensual, and occupied by death. I enjoyed each of their narratives and, especially, when the two women finally get close to one another.

Thank you @netgalley and @duttonbooks for the advance reader copy of Thirst in exchange for my honest review! All thoughts and opinions are my own.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Pandemic/Epidemic

readingwithsierra's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes

4.5

This was the femme vampire story I have been waiting ages for. I really enjoyed this book and the author’s writing style, it felt very immersive and was super entertaining to read. 

This book is told from two timelines with two POVs, and each POV highlights the pain, loneliness and anger each woman felt. The two story lines do come together eventually and it was really fun to see how it would play out, especially as a reader knowing the background information from the first part of the book. 
I will say the tone shifted immensely between the two storylines and could have benefited from a dual storyline told alongside each other. Reading the first half of the book kind of set the tone that I would be reading a vampire novel about how she survived centuries as a monster, but then we get to the second half of the story that felt very anticlimactic and a little disjointed. Both women are dealing with massive amounts of grief and telling their story’s alongside each other could have built up the climax a bit more. 

Overall, I thought this was pretty good. I love vampires, I love lesbians, and I love unhinged women, what more could you want?

Thank you NetGalley and Dutton (Penguin Group) for this E-ARC in exchange for an honest review. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Blood, and Death of parent

Moderate: Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Medical content, Suicide attempt, and Murder

grassluvr22's review against another edition

dark emotional sad fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Blood, and Death of parent

Moderate: Terminal illness