Reviews tagging 'Gore'

Truth of the Divine by Lindsay Ellis

22 reviews

claremcg's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

3.0

Still interested in the world and the bigger questions this book raises, but overall it wasn't as strong as Axiom's End. The plot felt more aimless and contrived at points and the alien characters less completing. The biggest drawback for me was how dark the content matter got, and how uncritically much of  it was presented. The reading experience was so dark I almost gave up reading at multiple points.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Eating disorder, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Antisemitism, Dementia, Kidnapping, Grief, Suicide attempt, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail

pourrir's review against another edition

dark 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

3.5

Hard to tell if I liked it better than the first one. The writing was a little less annoying, but still had the issues of being repetitive, over dramatic/ explanatory. Cora was annoying, which is her usual state and spends the whole book having little to no agency, reacting to events around her, and crying. It almost got to the point where it felt like satire gone wrong with the sub-plot of

Kaveh being her sugar daddy and making life decisions for her, guaranteeing she did not make a SINGLE decision that was not prompted by his actions

. I also did not buy into the main romance of the story. The story was dark and less interesting than the first contact seen in the first book. In addition, the writing suffers from extremely confusing scene/time changes when listening in audio format, which I must assume is helped through formatting in the physical copy but just shows sloppy writing. I am disappointed they didt bang, and will be reading the third book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Antisemitism, Islamophobia, and Suicide attempt

hanarama's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense medium-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

4.25

Book at a glance:
• Human/alien relationship
 • Polyamorous
 • Early 2000 alternate history
 • First Contact
• CWs: attempted suicide, suicidal thoughts, self harm, toxic relationships, mental illness, panic attacks, gun violence, racism, Islamophobia, death 

Several months following the events of Axiom’s End, Cora is suffering from ptsd. She has panic attacks, depression, and night terrors. She relies on Ampersand for support and medication. She struggles to relax and to pull her mind away from what happened with Obelisk. 

Meanwhile the American government struggles to determine how to treat the aliens, politically. A growing conservative movement is pushing for a Third Option, that would treat the aliens as people, but with "different" rights than humans. Kaveh, a investigative journalist and immigrant fears that this will open the door to stripping humans of rights. When another alien makes landfall, Cora and Kaveh are thrown together and must fight for the humanity of extraterrestrial beings. 

I enjoyed Truth of the Divine more than I did Axiom’s End. The expanded cast helps to flesh out the world building. Kaveh and Nikola's friendship helps to drive the plot. And Kaveh provides a much needed dose of idealism and optimism to the story. Cora's mental illness is portrayed realistically, to painful effect. Her relationship with Ampersand is written as increasingly toxic for both characters, and as he has been her only support system, both characters seem set for a downward spiral. Without Kaveh for hope and levity, the story could easily have been too bleak. 

Though Ellis writes compelling internal narration, she flounders with dialog. When not about the aliens, the fate of humanity, and other heavy topics, the characters often feel stilted and forced. I found myself cringing at the dialog more than a couple or times, it felt so awkward. 

Despite this, Ellis knows how to set high stakes. The story is steeped in political issues. Though set in an alternate recent past, the story draws on today's most pressing issues of human rights. While I felt that Ellis wrote a good sci-fi that evokes human rights issues and the looming climate crisis, it may feel a little too on the nose for some readers. By pulling inspiration from real issues, I felt that the story was given a greater sense of gravity. 

The ending hits hard. That she gives Kaveh the last chapter felt particularly important to me as it seems as though the series appears to be moving towards bleaker territory. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Islamophobia, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Medical trauma, and Suicide attempt

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

bigofheartdumbofass's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense 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

Incredible, harrowing book. Left me begging for more. Characters were even better written than the first book. Overall this book is better than Axiom's End while still building upon previous ideas beautifully.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Suicide attempt, and Murder

Moderate: Eating disorder, Hate crime, Islamophobia, Kidnapping, and Toxic friendship

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

erynlasbelin's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Cursing, Death, Genocide, Gun violence, Hate crime, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Xenophobia, Police brutality, Antisemitism, Islamophobia, Grief, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Abandonment

Moderate: Alcoholism, Gore, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

balfies's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional funny reflective 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

4.5

The sequel to Axiom's End which I read last year. Lindsay Ellis is my fave video essayist, and her second novel, Truth Of The Divine, delivers. 

The promise of the series - an alien first contact story set within post 9/11 Bush administration (well, now the Cheney administration for them) - continues to interrogate how American militarism, conspiracy, exceptionalism, and immigrant cultures react to the warring factions between intergalactic asylum seekers.

Must reiterate - I am not big on sci fi or fantasy usually, but I make an exception for Lindsay, in part because I wanna support her but mostly because she's an excellent, witty writer and I trust her voice.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Eating disorder, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Antisemitism, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, and Murder

Moderate: Eating disorder, Racial slurs, Dementia, and Religious bigotry

glenfleskie's review against another edition

adventurous challenging reflective medium-paced

• 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

4.0

Got this from a giveaway! I mostly liked it, though I wasn’t a fan of the romance. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Gore, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Xenophobia, Suicide attempt, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism, Racial slurs, Toxic relationship, and Antisemitism