ktdakotareads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Bullying, Grief, Confinement, Physical abuse, Slavery, Torture, and Violence
Moderate: Sexual assault and Infertility
qqjj's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Slavery, Torture, Rape, Grief, Violence, Body horror, Confinement, Gaslighting, Physical abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Death, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder
emelynreads's review against another edition
- 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? No
4.0
Graphic: Slavery and Physical abuse
Moderate: Vomit, Violence, Torture, Confinement, and Body horror
Minor: Rape
caseythereader's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
- LET US DESCEND takes the framework of Dante's INFERNO and applies it to the story of a young enslaved girl. As you might expect, this book is dark and often horrific read, but in Ward's hands the story gives us both the beauty and the pain of Annis, the people she encounters, and the landscape she inhabits.
- This book is a study in the many forms grief can take, both on personal and community-wide levels, born both out of pain and love.
- Personally, I wished for a little more detail on the spirits Annis encountered, but that might just be the sci-fi/fantasy reader in me, I always want more there.
Graphic: Confinement, Death, Gore, Alcohol, Animal death, Grief, Blood, Rape, Slavery, Child abuse, Child death, Death of parent, Excrement, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, Vomit, Physical abuse, Violence, Trafficking, Pregnancy, and Suicidal thoughts
willa_rose15's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- 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
Graphic: Grief, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Slavery, Trafficking, Death, Pandemic/Epidemic, Pregnancy, and Racism
renskunk's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Confinement, Forced institutionalization, Physical abuse, Racism, and Slavery
Moderate: Sexual assault
Minor: Incest
This is a book that honestly details the lived realities of enslaved people in the United States and all of the abuse and trauma that was inflicted through the institution of slavery.