Reviews tagging 'Genocide'

Golden Son by Pierce Brown

8 reviews

haley49's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

4.75

…I’m traumatized with that ending. What

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, War, Sexual violence, Death, Murder, Child death, Cursing, and Violence

Moderate: Slavery, Colonisation, Trafficking, Blood, Body horror, Vomit, Child abuse, Genocide, Torture, Classism, Excrement, Injury/Injury detail, and Physical abuse

Minor: Cannibalism and Rape

praaliine's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

where do i even start? golden son was really something, only one other book (series) has ever put me through an emotional wringer like this. every little detail in this book was worth paying attention to because pierce brown leaves no stone unturned. this was in no way a senseless science fiction, it really explored the tragedy of human nature and the relationships developed in this book were the most profound and complex i’ve ever read. there’s a big cast of characters and not one was irrelevant, pierce brown breathed so much life into the supporting characters that i cried at their pain.

Spoiler

i really love how Darrow, as hot headed as he was (rightfully so), remained self aware through it all, he’s broken, confused, (stupid)ly brave and gets ahead of himself way too much, yet he realizes this and isn’t afraid to say so.

I could go on all day about every single character, but i’ll stop here. it took me longer than i would have liked to finish the book, but that’s on me because i’m pushing through a slump. golden son was epic, i’ll always recommend it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Classism, Death, Death of parent, Genocide, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Slavery, Violence, War, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Cursing, Gore, Medical trauma, and Vomit

Minor: Alcohol

luxxltyd's review

adventurous challenging emotional tense 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, War, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Grief, Blood, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Genocide

Minor: Child death and Sexual content

theintrovertsbooks's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Classism, Cursing, Death, Murder, Toxic friendship, Body horror, Death of parent, Gore, Mass/school shootings, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Bullying, Physical abuse, Torture, Child death, Classism, Grief, Medical content, Rape, Sexual content, Slavery, Abandonment, and Kidnapping

Minor: Sexism, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Trafficking, War, Pregnancy, Sexual content, Rape, Hate crime, Mental illness, Cannibalism, Colonisation, Excrement, and Genocide

joshoonet's review against another edition

adventurous tense fast-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

4.0

• I had a bit if a hard time getting into this book, mostly because the feeling of having to read another ~1200 pages to finish the series was kind of daunting
• But then I ended up finishing the majority of the book in one day, so it was absolutely captivating!
• Almost as good as the first one, but of course higher stakes and more complicated politics
• Lost focus a bit during the big fighting bits
• Love how nothing is ever quite how it seems, everyone is scheming all the time
• Starting the third book immediately!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Gore, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, War, Gun violence, Classism, and Death

Moderate: Vomit, Cursing, Murder, and Kidnapping

Minor: Child abuse, Genocide, Torture, and Excrement

War and pretty much all the violent and gory stuff:

Spoiler

well, there's war breaking out. A shit ton of people die in quick or gruesome ways, sometimes it's described in detail, sometimes not.

Vomit:

Spoiler

a couple of times someone has to vomit after experiencing a lot of physical turbulence aka being jiggled around. It's gross, but not overly graphic.

Kidnapping:

Spoiler

a child is getting kidnapped by the main characters for a short amount of time. It doesn't get harmed and doesn't seem terribly disturbed by the while thing.

cami_stokes3859's review against another edition

adventurous dark fast-paced

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

3.5

Warfare, increased violence, character development, science fiction

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Gore, Violence, and War

Moderate: Classism, Injury/Injury detail, and Genocide

st_ender's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense fast-paced

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

4.0

I am amazed that so many things were put into this book. Like so many. Just rapid fire events. I mean I did have to go back to plot section of wiki to understand some parts and there being multiple settings across the solar system AND multiple new characters AND plot twists and betrayals AND the main character changing his goals like 10 times? It's like the author tried to avoid the sequel slump so much he just put his entire brain into making every sentence engaging and if you miss that one sentence you are done.
I did have fun tho, it was tense and it made me gasp and go wait whaaat out loud so I guess the aim was achieved. It was also very different than the first one in about everything but also less ender-y (don't worry the space school takes like a chapter) so I'm excited for the next one

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy, Murder, War, Classism, Death of parent, Slavery, Injury/Injury detail, and Genocide

Moderate: Alcoholism, Blood, and Trafficking

okays1331's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny tense fast-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I do not know how to explain this book. I repeatedly had to walk away to process the magnitude of what was happening. But then run back because I HAD to know what was going to happen next. I don't know when Darrow, Sevro, and the rest of the Howlers stole my heart, but I love them so much. Their charisma, their horribleness, their desperation to be something better, and their love for each other.

The space battles, the war, the strategy, the politics are all so well written and nail biting. The author does not pull punches. Brown has no problem murdering anyone on the pages making the battles so much more terrifying to read. There are parts where I honestly thought we were going to get a new main character. Still unsure if that might not be the case...

But my favorite part and the part that is so unexpected to me every time is the poignancy of moments where the author takes apart the characters. What is good? What is an acceptable cost? What is redemption? These books are a mirror held up to us to see ourselves and humanity. Some of my favorite moments are moments where Darrow is talking to his friends or his enemies about themselves and the society.

The ending! I am so upset.

Spoiler

Darrow makes a choice in this book to put his trust into the people he cares about gambling that that trust can change people and make them more than they are. It works. It's so beautiful when Sevro embraces him as a Red and as a brother or when Tactus turns back to him in tears when given a second chance or Ragnar chooses his own destiny instead of a life of slavery. Brown sets it up, so I sit in dread every time Darrow chooses to act like a human instead of Gold. But it works again and again and again until I started to truly believe that because of who Darrow is, he can get through to each of them and build a trust so unshakable it can withstand anything. Even when Mustang runs away from his reveal of the truth, I still believed she would come around.

Then Roque betrays him, kills their friends, and tells him they are not brothers because Darrow is a Red. My heart shattered into tiny tiny pieces. 

 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Cursing, Death, Murder, Slavery, and Violence

Moderate: Genocide, Racism, and Torture

Minor: Cannibalism and Sexual content