Reviews tagging 'Gun violence'

Illuminae by Jay Kristoff, Amie Kaufman

55 reviews

sarahsbooklife's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Body horror, Blood, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, War, Genocide, Death, Violence, Gore, Death of parent, and Gun violence

Moderate: Gaslighting, Confinement, Mental illness, Death of parent, Child death, Medical trauma, and Medical content

Minor: Cursing, Confinement, Misogyny, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Colonisation, and Fire/Fire injury

thecasualbooknerd's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Aurora Rising’s darker, grittier cousin. 

Wow, am I glad I decided to read this at a not-so-stressful time in my life. Going into this almost blind, only knowing that it’s sci-fi and in an interesting format, I was surprised at how dark it was—maybe this view is influenced by the fact that I’m reading it right as we’re coming out of a pandemic. Regardless, it is a adrenaline-pumping, gripping story that is excellently paced and expertly crafted. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Genocide, Violence, Gun violence, Blood, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Suicide, Death, and War

Minor: Injury/Injury detail and Fire/Fire injury

asexualandriod's review

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.25

As a scifi novel, this book was amazing! The technology was explained to the perfect degree (not too little detail or too much detail). It brought up interesting moral questions. There was a twist at the end that surprised me, but also made sense! I liked the stakes of the narrative, it wasn't like a lot of scifi narratives where you know in the back of your head that they will survive. The format of the book (a post-events dossier) left the option of any character dying at any point.

So, you're probably asking, why the 3.25?

The characters, oh god the characters. The character we follow the most, Kady, is so painfully flat. And her relationship with Ezra is bland. You're supposed to believe that their romance is driving the narrative—the reason Kady makes most of her decisions—but I can barely believe they even like each other. This book, like many of its peers, fell into the trap of putting romance in a book that really didn't need romance. Kady and Ezra's relationship was extremely un-compelling, but I was able to kind of shrug and say, "Yeah, okay, whatever." to their romance, and focus on the scifi elements and unique story medium. Which isn't a good thing in terms of writing. 😅

However, the rest of the story is compelling enough to compensate, so I do want to read the rest of the trilogy. The espionage and secrets have me hooked. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Grief, Gun violence, Murder, Suicide, Blood, Death, Gore, and Violence

Minor: Confinement and Death of parent

nicole_rietveld's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Mi s-a părut foarte creativ modul în care a fost creată această poveste, dar nu m-a ajutat să mă conectez în vreun fel cu personajele. Povestea este prezentată sub forma unui dosar cu email-uri, conversații și rapoarte. S-a simțit lipsa descrierilor și a narațiunii deoarece aș fi vrut să aflu mai multe despre modul în care trăiesc personajele în spațiu. 

Se pune accentul destul de mult pe povestea de dragoste dintre Ezra și Kady. Cei doi au fost destul de plictisitori pentru mine, la fel și discuțiile dintre ei. La început, mi-a fost dificil să deslușesc toate prescurtările cuvintelor în engleză din conversațiile adolescenților. Apreciez că au fost create realist, dar mi-au dat bătăi de cap. Acțiunea a început să devină interesantă abia atunci când a apărut AIDAN în peisaj și de atunci nu am mai putut să las cartea din mână. AI-ul e fascinant ca personaj, iar multe dintre deciziile pe care le-a luat sunt controversate. Aș putea citi o serie întreagă doar din perspectiva lui. 

Mi s-a părut foarte ciudată faza cu șefi care își împușcau subordonații sau colaboratorii la orice dezaprobare. Nu există nicio lege aici? Finalul nu m-a lăsat în suspans, dar având în vedere că formatul facilitează citirea rapidă a cărții voi continua seria.
 

Nu știu cât de adevărată e fraza asta, dar mă pune pe gânduri:  dificultățile de încredere în oameni apar atunci când sunt abuzați în copilărie de figuri de autoritate. Faza cu virusul mutant mi-a amintit de corona :)).

Citate:

I HAVE NO HANDS TO HOLD HER, NO ARMS TO SAVE HER. I CAN ONLY WATCH. < ERROR > AND PRAY.

you deserve every star in the galaxy laid out at your feet and a thousand diamonds in your hair. You deserve someone who’ll run with you as far and as fast as you want to. Holding your hand, not holding you back.

“THE UNIVERSE OWES YOU NOTHING, KADY. IT HAS ALREADY GIVEN YOU EVERYTHING, AFTER ALL. IT WAS HERE LONG BEFORE YOU, AND IT WILL GO ON LONG AFTER YOU. THE ONLY WAY IT WILL REMEMBER YOU IS IF YOU DO SOMETHING WORTHY OF REMEMBRANCE.”

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Death, and Violence

cait's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny inspiring mysterious sad tense fast-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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Minor: Violence, War, Body horror, Confinement, Colonisation, Death, Death of parent, Alcohol, Gore, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Murder, Blood, Child abuse, Grief, Medical trauma, Mass/school shootings, Mental illness, Police brutality, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

birdy's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense slow-paced

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

4.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Murder, Violence, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Stalking, Suicide, Terminal illness, Blood, Death, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Genocide, Torture, Body horror, and Child death

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Gun violence, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Medical content, Confinement, Cursing, Death of parent, War, and Medical trauma

Minor: Gaslighting, Domestic abuse, Sexual content, and Child abuse

laurajones's review

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Genocide, Gore, Terminal illness, Ableism, Mental illness, Misogyny, Medical content, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Violence, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Gun violence, and Mass/school shootings

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Self harm, Sexual harassment, Suicide, Body shaming, and Gaslighting

Minor: Domestic abuse, Child death, Cannibalism, and Child abuse

serenfletcher_reads's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

So exciting. The format of this book  makes it very accessible, especially for the sci-fi genre. I found the main characters loveable and was moved by the twists that kept coming. I've never read anything like it and can't wait to read the next book in the series! 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

Moderate: Death of parent, Grief, Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Violence, and Murder

Minor: Suicide and Gun violence

chronicpessimist's review

adventurous emotional funny tense medium-paced

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

3.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gore, and Death

breadworm's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Mass/school shootings, Murder, and Violence

Moderate: Child death, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Genocide, Medical content, and War

Minor: Car accident and Panic attacks/disorders