Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

Feral Creatures by Kira Jane Buxton

3 reviews

schnaucl's review

adventurous dark sad 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? It's complicated

4.25

I liked it.  I had a a little trepidation about Dee since I was afraid the introduction of an unchanged human might take away from the focus on the animals, and I think it does change the perspective, but it's still enjoyable.  

I see S.T. is trying to do the best he can for Dee, but boy is he an overprotective helicopter parent with unrealistic expectations.   Still love him though.

It was nice to see old friends, and I really enjoyed being back on home turf again.  A little strange there hasn't been a fire season yet.  Even if downtown Bothell is still relatively safe, I would imagine there would be fire in Canada, Oregon or California (or just Eastern Washington) that turned the sky orange.  Loved seeing Mcmenamins as the base of operations for the Bothell animals.

It was good to see the animals working together, although presumably that can only go on for so long what with the predator/prey thing.   

It was also interesting to see more of Echo.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Violence, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, War, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Death of parent

aardwyrm's review

adventurous dark funny tense fast-paced

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

3.5

There probably shouldn't have been a sequel to Hollow Kingdom. I read it. I enjoyed it. But I enjoyed it like I would a Patreon extra with fun character vignettes. ST is fun to listen to. The weird little interludes of the universe are inviting. But spending more time in this universe really exacerbates the ways it doesn't make any damn sense. I'm fine with a soft and stylized worldbuilding, but even the original didn't hold together in terms of basic continuity. Expanding the lore just makes all the nonsense stand out more. And a lot of the silliness of the first book (weird, tortured metaphors about evolution and cancer, sporadic gender essentialism, biological incoherence) starts to rankle after a while. Also, frankly, the damn books both need editors. Jokes, metaphors, and exposition are repeated. The emotional pacing is nonsense; redemptions and falls, reunions and forgiveness all turn on a dime, no lead up, no consequences. Scads of nameless mooks die while the world turns around the main characters. Even the main characters are plot puppets, making their choices often quite against established traits just to move things along. (Why is Ghubari a eugenicist now?)

If you liked the first one, you'll probably like this one, but you might like skipping it and just enjoying the effectiveness of the original remain unsullied in your mind.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Cancer, Child death, Confinement, Death, Fatphobia, Gore, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Injury/Injury detail

caseythereader's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful tense fast-paced

• 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? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Cursing, Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail