Reviews tagging 'Blood'

The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune

15 reviews

mags_'s review against another edition

adventurous challenging funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective medium-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

3.5

I enjoyed this book, but found the dialogue rather stilted and preachy.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body shaming, Confinement, Racism, Abandonment, Forced institutionalization, Physical abuse, Child abuse, Fatphobia, Hate crime, Xenophobia, Emotional abuse, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Gore, Blood, Body horror, and Animal death

fanboyriot's review

dark slow-paced

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

Read For:

Fantasy

Slow Burn

Found Family

Idiots in Love

Happy Ending

Think Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children vibes but kinda queer.  I just felt kinda neutral about it.  The humor was okay, the characters were okay, and the setting was kinda meh.  I just felt like I had to force myself to keep reading and if I didn’t already own the book I would have stopped.  Also, I thought there would be more queer rep to be honest so that was kinda disappointing.  Not to mention the fatphobia.

I wasn’t going to read this given the reviews I’ve been seeing recently, however, I already own the first two books so I figured I’d see if it was as bad as some of the reviews were saying.  And honestly, I just didn’t understand the hype about it.  Even not knowing what the book was based on it was barely a 3-star rating for me, it just fell flat to me.

However, learning that this was based on the Sixties Scoop and how the author decided to turn what was a cruel and tragic piece of history he read about on Wikipedia about how the Canadian government removed a bunch of indigenous children from their literal homes and away from their family only to be adopted to white, middle-class families and he then took that information and basically turned it into a happy little fantasy where the kids live not in an “orphanage” but a “home” like, dude, why?

This kind of thing is still something native people are dealing with and as a white person, it should not be something you’re involved in like this.  In America the Supreme Court literally is going to be voting soon on overturning ICWA so states can regain control to remove Native children from their homes and families, this isn’t just some fantasy.  This story could have been written way better and in a way that did romanticize trauma and make light of a literal genocide.

I just wouldn’t recommend this one.  There are some links on where I got my information from if you’re interested along with two reviews I think do a better job of explaining this than I did.

Links:

Source: https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A617930246/ITBC?u=uvictoria&sid=bookmark-ITBC&xid=0efbabda

Wikipedia: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sixties_Scoop

Helpful Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4032060130

Another Helpful Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3601407534

Rep: Achillean, Queer MC

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Racism, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Fatphobia, Forced institutionalization, Genocide, Religious bigotry, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Death of parent, Ableism, Animal cruelty, Classism, Grief, Homophobia, and Violence

Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Body horror, Cannibalism, Murder, Death, Animal death, and Blood

natroze's review against another edition

emotional funny inspiring lighthearted 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? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Religious bigotry, Confinement, Xenophobia, Abandonment, Hate crime, and Mental illness

Moderate: Xenophobia, Confinement, Forced institutionalization, Fire/Fire injury, Panic attacks/disorders, Abandonment, Blood, Bullying, Body shaming, and Child abuse

Not on content warnings list: adoption/foster system trauma and abuse. Note: most xenophobia and racism in the book is directed at mythical/fantasy being characters (fairies, shapeshifters, etc). Also of note: does fall into the “character of color turns into an animal” trope; the one character I recall being described as black is a shapeshifter who turns into a dog, who has also suffered some of the most realistic-to-life adoption system trauma/abuse.

baearles's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse and Xenophobia

Minor: Death, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Blood, Physical abuse, Torture, and Hate crime

sarahec's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring tense fast-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Bullying, Abandonment, and Confinement

Minor: Blood and Child abuse

amberrenfrey's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Physical abuse, Forced institutionalization, Abandonment, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, and Genocide

Minor: Body horror, Homophobia, Violence, Animal cruelty, Blood, Confinement, Cursing, Alcohol, Cannibalism, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

isaaah's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Child abuse, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Blood, Body horror, Cannibalism, Gore, Grief, Hate crime, Murder, and Violence

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death of parent, and Self harm

julesadventurezone's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny inspiring lighthearted medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fatphobia and Body shaming

Moderate: Colonisation

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Misogyny, Child abuse, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Hate crime, Murder, Physical abuse, Animal death, Blood, and Homophobia

the_greywarren's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful lighthearted mysterious relaxing sad medium-paced

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

5.0

V. E. Schwab described this book like getting wrapped in a warm, gay blanket, and going into this book it was exactly what I needed. It was warm, it was comforting, it was jarring, it was uncomfortable, it was like lying on a cloud or dancing with rainbows. It was so vibrant. The shift from the scenes in the city to the scenes in Marsyas felt like switching from black and white to a world of technicolour. The character creation was beautiful, and watching them blossom over the course of the book felt like I was watching something wonderful happening before my very eyes. 
I don’t feel like I can give this book a more solid review. It was perfect. It was a feeling more than a thought. I loved every moment of it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism and Abandonment

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Physical abuse, Abandonment, Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, Cursing, Domestic abuse, and Hate crime

faranae's review against another edition

funny hopeful inspiring reflective relaxing slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body horror, Confinement, Death, and Mental illness

Minor: Bullying, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Blood, Body shaming, Cursing, Death of parent, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Abandonment, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Alcohol, and Fatphobia

The book handles a wide range of potentially difficult topics with the lightest and gentlest of touches, so I think most of them will not pose a problem. However, Lucy's a bit morbid and has "spiders in his brain", and these elements recur frequently. There is a past confinement incident that is described in some detail towards the end of the book, but it is softened by

Spoiler

knowing the person it happened to has already mostly healed from that trauma.