Reviews tagging 'Child death'

The Actual Star by Monica Byrne

6 reviews

cdc95's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

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

1.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Terminal illness, Incest, Death, Child death, Sexual content, Violence, Gore, War, Death of parent, and Self harm

Moderate: Colonisation, Xenophobia, and Genocide

ceilidhwilliams's review

challenging informative mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Blood, Self harm, Sexual content, Death, Incest, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder

beccaand's review against another edition

adventurous challenging mysterious reflective slow-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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Self harm, Incest, Sexual content, and Blood

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail and Child death

Minor: Terminal illness

caseythereader's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny slow-paced

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

5.0

Thanks to Harper Voyager for the free copy of this book.

 - Wow, how do I even review a work like THE ACTUAL STAR? This book is a massive undertaking, telling the stories of three sets of people in three timelines each a thousand years apart. We watch as their stories braid, repeat, differ, and merge.
- I saw elements of Ursula LeGuin, Octavia E. Butler, Simon Jimenez, and more from across decades of sci-fi and fantasy literature in this story.
- I felt deeply invested in each timeline, and was on the edge of my seat as the stories came together. It’s quite a feat to make a slow paced, 600+ page novel a page turner.
- Story aside, the writing is fantastic, too. Beautifully written, with the recurring elements never becoming too heavyhanded. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Incest, Infidelity, Self harm, Violence, Cursing, Drug use, Murder, Sexual content, Child death, Death, Blood, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, and Alcohol

Minor: Terminal illness

nikichem's review

adventurous emotional informative reflective tense slow-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

5.0

I finished this book and immediately started to reread it. I loved it so much but once you know how it ends you want to go back and enjoy all the Easter Eggs. I have been recommending this book like crazy. In each of the first three chapters, there were things that were shocking. I loved the ending. I loved the beginning and I loved the middle. I am not writer; I am a reader and this is the 1st book I can recall starting to read it again as soon as I finished it the 1st time. If you like speculative fiction, Slipstream, Science-Fantasy, Genre Blending, Visionary, Historical check this out it will change the way you view humanity. This book gave me Octavia Butler vibes and it also reminds me some of Cloud Cuckoo Land only based in Belize and with a span of 2000 years (1012 to 3012).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Incest, Sexual content, Torture, and Abandonment

Moderate: Violence, Child death, Gore, Physical abuse, Blood, Classism, and Death

Minor: War, Classism, Cancer, Terminal illness, and Religious bigotry

aclaman's review

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective 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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood

Moderate: Child death, Terminal illness, Suicide, Sexual content, Murder, Incest, and Death