Reviews tagging 'Confinement'

Truth of the Divine by Lindsay Ellis

8 reviews

kanonkita's review

emotional reflective sad tense medium-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

4.75

Very well written. I had some issues with the slow pacing of the first book in this series that I felt this one largely managed to avoid. Some aspects of the main character were a bit grating at times, but in one sense that was the point. She was struggling with trauma and mental health issues related to that, and I think Ellis did a good job portraying how these things can make someone difficult to deal with or be around. 

That being said, maybe avoid the audiobook unless you really enjoy listening to tremulous female voices shouting "No no no" over and over again ever few minutes. The computerized sound effect that was put over the Amygdalans' voices in the audiobook could also be grating at times and made it difficult to hear them if there was any background noise while I was listening.

Overall, I would recommend it, but do pay attention to the content warning Ellis provides at the beginning of the novel. 

Also, a note that I have not seen this book listed as LGBTQ+ in many places, which I can only chalk up to bi erasure. Cora is bisexual, and it seems unfair that this gets overlooked just because she has a heterosexual romance, especially given that it occurs alongside her very queer relationship with an alien who only uses he/him pronouns out of convenience.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Antisemitism, Islamophobia, Mass/school shootings, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

seullywillikers's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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

4.0

This was much darker than "Axiom's End," and as such, a bit harder to read. I love the premise of Extraterrestrial personhood being debated on the American political, and world stage. The new characters were interesting and I really got invested in them. Towards the end, I was feeling like "okay geez, how much more is there actually" but I'm pleased with where the ending takes us. I'm hoping there's another installation in this series.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Confinement, Gore, Racism, Islamophobia, and Deportation

Minor: Alcoholism, Eating disorder, Genocide, Infertility, Forced institutionalization, Police brutality, and Abandonment

chaoticnostalgia's review against another edition

emotional inspiring tense fast-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, Gun violence, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Xenophobia, Suicide attempt, and Murder

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Gore, Suicide, Grief, and Alcohol

Minor: Confinement and Blood

jjreads331's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Of all the places I thought this series would go, this was not it, if I'm being honest. And I am so happy to have been surprised. I'm excited to see what comes next, even if I'm still reeling a bit from this entry into the series.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Confinement, Eating disorder, Gun violence, Hate crime, Racial slurs, Police brutality, Antisemitism, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Abandonment, and Colonisation

kharlan3's review against another edition

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Eating disorder, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Antisemitism, Kidnapping, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, and Forced institutionalization

Minor: Alcohol

wrzlprmft's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense fast-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, Eating disorder, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Islamophobia, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body horror, Hate crime, Sexual content, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, and Murder

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Confinement, Genocide, Infertility, Torture, Vomit, Police brutality, Antisemitism, Dementia, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and War

banrions's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective medium-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

3.0

I wavered back and forth for like the last three min if I was gonna put this as a 4 star book or a 3 star one. Honestly, it’s a 3.5 for me either way, but ultimately, I think I rounded down because, though once I sat through and read it, I absolutely was powering through and not wanting to stop for long periods of time, I was also often frustrated with what I was reading.

This book took a slightly different turn partway through and added a secondary POV that at first, I was annoyed by, and then INFURIATED BY because I just wanted to get into cora’s head again, and then, I ended up really thinking it was a smart narrative decision, and THEN the final passage of the book nailed me flat and I think that I will be thinking about it for a while.

(This is not going to be a very coherent review, as if mine ever really are lol. That’s not what I do here, I just vent some emotions about the book into a void).

I think I’ll be thinking about a LOT of this book for a while.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Alcoholism, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, Racism, Toxic relationship, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Religious bigotry, and Abandonment

sugarpal's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense

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

4.5

Very happy to have won a giveaway for an ARC of this book! I hoped the sequel would be better, and I’m glad to say that it was. (Also, I freaking adore the cover.) 

 

Though it certainly won’t be to everyone’s taste, I found Truth of the Divine to be very well executed, and extremely thought-provoking. (Think: Ender’s Saga by Orson Scott Card, but with a non-homophobic author.) This book is much better than its predecessor Axiom’s End, but it’s very different too: much denser; more political, philosophical, and personal; far less focused on action, although there is still some in there. There are new aliens, new humans, new conflicts. One thing’s for sure: though there’s some humor in here, this is not a fun book. These characters go through some shit (CW: trauma, PTSD, suicide, self-harm). Ellis is far more concerned with the philosophical and political implications of aliens coming to call than she is with happy endings. 

 

Much of the improvement from Axiom’s End, though, is because to me the characters were much more interesting. In Axiom’s End, Cora didn’t seem to have much of an arc; the focus was on the development of her relationship with Ampersand. In this book, however, she has more of an emotional journey, and her complicated relationships, especially with the new character Kaveh, are well depicted –– in that they left me feeling very conflicted, as I’m sure Ellis intended. (She does not sugarcoat things.) Speaking of, I really enjoyed reading Kaveh’s perspective alongside Cora’s. Not only does he have a refreshing and entertaining voice, he also has a unique viewpoint on both Cora and the aliens. I always enjoy seeing contrasting perspectives on the same characters. But be warned: I wouldn’t call them likable. Ellis’s characters are all deeply flawed, which in my book is one mark of a skilled writer. 

 

These books are fundamentally about people’s relationship to the alien, whether that’s between groups of humans or between interplanetary peoples. These relationships are defined by conflicts of values, of beliefs, of power. Yet Ellis still treats her alien characters with as much empathy as she does her human ones, giving them individuality and depth. Her discussion of how to apply ‘human rights’ to non-human persons, who happen to have an enormous technological advantage, was fascinating. And I found her exploration of how America would react to the arrival of extraterrestrial refugees to be depressingly realistic. 

 

I think the ending fit, and it left me sure the next book will be even bigger and better than the last. It’s been a few days, and as with Axiom’s End, Truth of the Divine is sticking with me. I’m definitely going to be picking up the third book when it comes out! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Death, Gore, Racism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Grief, Suicide attempt, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail