Reviews tagging 'Animal cruelty'

Pod by Laline Paull

30 reviews

miada001's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual violence, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Rape, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Excrement, and Drug abuse

julesreadsstuff's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.75

I found it a little slow and complicated to get into initially but then once the pace picked up it was exciting and devastating and I didn’t want to put it down! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Gore, Child death, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Grief, Death of parent, Excrement, Murder, Rape, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Sexism, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Slavery, Torture, and Violence

pinkfluffygoat's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective tense medium-paced

• 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Rape, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Death of parent, and Animal death

bethtrigg's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative reflective sad 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Rape

Moderate: Blood, Sexual assault, Bullying, Death, Sexism, Sexual violence, Death of parent, Drug use, and Violence

nimrodgrrrl's review

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Animal death, and Animal cruelty

withlivjones's review

challenging dark sad slow-paced

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

4.0

An excellently-crafted story of belonging and survival in the face of ecological crisis, from the perspective of marine life. Paull does a fantastic job of bringing the ocean to life and making every character seem so… human? It’s also super clear how badly the climate crisis has affected the oceans and their wildlife, and Paull doesn’t sugarcoat this at all - don’t go into this book thinking it’s going to be a whimsical story about dolphins because it’s sooo dark. Beautifully written with a lot of emotion - the only thing I didn’t like was that the romance (although I wouldn’t even call it that) at the end felt really rushed to the point that it didn’t make a lot of sense character-wise, it would have been better with a couple more chapters dedicated to developing the relationship between the characters. Other than that, though, I loved it! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Child abuse, Child death, Addiction, Animal cruelty, and Death of parent

andreanneveillette's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.5

“Pod” wasn’t a fun read. It was brutal and violent and I found myself avoiding picking it up because it made me anxious and depressed. That being said, it is brilliant and absolutely necessary. It takes an amazing writer to turn talking dolphins into such a heart-wrenching story. The animals in “Pod” are anthropomorphised, sure, but they remain, at their
core, animals and that makes for a very different and interesting read. It’s unapologetic in its condemnation of the destruction of the oceans by humans. I have never read a book that made me feel the distress pollution and climate change are creating so acutely. It’s an uncomfortable experience, but it’s the type of book that needs to be read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty and Sexual assault

ainoiisa's review

dark emotional sad

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Rape, Blood, and Fire/Fire injury

bunnyreads2's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-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? No

5.0

Before starting it, I was worried it would try to do what The Bees did for me and fail, but it managed to do the same concept yet in a whole new and fascinating way. I got immersed into it just as much, learned so much and got emotional just like I did with the bees. Just wow!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Sexual violence, Rape, and Violence

The warnings are still important but FYI, it’s all about animals, not humans, so the anatomy is different, etc.

bookbinbaby's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark hopeful informative reflective sad 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? It's complicated

4.0

This is a story of our times, it will haunt and inspire in equal measure, it felt like 'Game of Thrones' meets 'Seaspiracy' for me. Brutal. Reflective. Memorable. The characters are each very interesting in how they are individually and where they interact with each other. Holds a mirror up to how we take and overpower the natural world and don't appreciate the fine balance of mother Earth and are selfish as a race and unnecessarily cruel. Laline Paull and how she is able to draw readers in to a world and society we would recognise but populate it with cetaceans and other sea fellows just amazes me and is a talent that is as unique as it is captivating deserves a lot more recognition.  I'll be reading Bees by her next, and will appreciate the natural world even more in an entirely different way than I ever did before. Powerful.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Addiction, Rape, Misogyny, Grief, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Physical abuse, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Domestic abuse, Death of parent, Bullying, Cannibalism, Child death, Colonisation, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Abandonment, Addiction, Animal death, Blood, Panic attacks/disorders, and Suicidal thoughts