Reviews tagging 'Racial slurs'

Truth of the Divine by Lindsay Ellis

25 reviews

annajfehr's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful sad 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Racial slurs, Rape, and Abandonment

bean_7088's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense slow-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

Oof... that was a rough one. 
Wanna be sad about the human race? Wanna feel fairly hopless? This one is for you!

It does end on a hopeful note... but like that hopefulness is somewhat undercut by the way the character speakin treated. 

This one had a lot of tense scenes I wanted to hide from. I had to stop a lot and explain what was going on to my roommate so I could get those jitters out. Like, a televised "discussion" between two different sides of the alien personhood debate. A hearing where unknown evidence comes up. 

Anyways, it was still really good. 

I'm not sure how I felt about Kaveh. And I'm not sure if it was how he was written or just his voice actor 😅 I'm sure the guy is normally fine, but the main voice actor Stephanie Willis is so incredible that switching to him is quite jarring. 

Waring that Cora goes through a lot, this poor kid traumatized over and over. And Stephanie Willis will make you feel it. Listening to Cora's Panic attacks was very distressing.

The ending left on such a wild note I am excited to see where the 3rd book will go. Now I just have to wait 7 months 🥲

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Police brutality, Islamophobia, Grief, Medical trauma, and Suicide attempt

Lindsay Ellis does a big Content Warning before everything starts. At least in the audio book.

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

moonspren's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Eating disorder, Gun violence, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Self harm, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Police brutality, Antisemitism, Islamophobia, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Addiction and Alcoholism

ling_prof's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Blood, Suicide attempt, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, Islamophobia, Medical trauma, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Forced institutionalization

softanimal's review against another edition

dark emotional tense fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Antisemitism, Islamophobia, Grief, Mass/school shootings, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Body horror, Drug use, Eating disorder, Genocide, Torture, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Car accident, Injury/Injury detail, and Deportation

annakait's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Racial slurs and Racism

Minor: Suicide

nelldiaz's review against another edition

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

5.0

This book builds of the first book and takes it further! I'm so excited for the rest of the series.  This book made me cry.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Eating disorder, Gun violence, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Islamophobia, Grief, Medical trauma, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Racial slurs

nicnels's review against another edition

challenging dark tense fast-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Islamophobia, Suicide attempt, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, and Abandonment

thepermageek's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny 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

5.0

If I could have given this review 11 stars I would have. 

Honestly this second in the Nouema series is far more complicated, nuanced, and fast-paced than the first Axioms End (and I thought that book was all of the same)!

Great for lovers of existentialism as it wrestles with issues of identity & consciousness (ie: “what constitutes personhood?”). 

Would also likely be appreciated by people interested in political intrigue and/or the conditions that give rise to authoritarianism. 

Finally this has one of the most accurate portrayals of someone living with PTSD that I’ve ever seen in a piece of fiction 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Racial slurs, Racism, and Xenophobia