Reviews tagging 'Sexual content'

Truth of the Divine by Lindsay Ellis

37 reviews

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

momo916's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

Ellis covers a lot of ground in this book, from PTSD to the very nature of human society. The tone is, of course, much darker than the first book, but it feels appropriate given the escalating stakes and the unavoidable trauma incurred by the world she has created. This book was much harder for me to finish than the first was, laden as it is with grief, loss, and a staggeringly disappointing view of humanity (or at least the United States) it paints. I recently described this series as the nexus of Phantom of the Opera, aliens, and social commentary, but that comment absolutely indicates more brevity than is accurate. It is all of those things, that is true, but this whole journey is laced with such complexity and darkness that it feels incomplete. It is very well done, cynical as it is.

My only true gripe is that, while their presence was appropriate given the circumstances, some of the social commentary quips were a little on the nose. Granted, their absence would have been notable, so I'm not sure if this is just me being nitpicky. Though this is not at all indicative of poor writing or storytelling, I also did at times get a bit annoyed at Cora

for her pigheadedness and myopic pursuit of reunification with Ampersand at all cost, especially since it did eventually cost her the man she loves

.

I have rated this book 4.75 stars because I reserve a 5 star rating for books that I would immediately read again. This doesn't necessarily mean that I think the other books I have rated at 5 stars were better than this one.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Death, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism and Racism

gwendolynaudrey_reads's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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

4.5

Much darker but also more compelling and interesting than the first, this book takes a big departure in tone from the first. It is extremely page turning, once again never allowing the reader to really breath. You learn much more about the main character's trauma and struggles in agonizing detail. Toxic relationship dynamics take front and center stage in this one, and dark themes of self harm, suicidal ideation, and human nature are put under a microscope. We learn much more about the aliens introduced and mentioned in the first, but the more we learn, the more questions the reader has. Very imaginative and entertaining, I could not put it down.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, and Abandonment

Moderate: Islamophobia

robbie's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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

3.75

Boy, this one was a big downer for me!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Racial slurs, Sexual content, and Suicide attempt

Racism is clearly depicted as being communicated by racist characters, not the author. The author lists a more full content warning at the start of the book.

alrauna's review against another edition

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

4.5

I know the book is about what it means to be human, but I just want an alien to call me dear one.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Racial slurs, Sexual content, Police brutality, and Islamophobia

Minor: Alcoholism

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

sincerelylogan's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual content and Suicidal thoughts

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

bookgirl's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

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

2.0

This book was a let down as a sequel. I’m here to say it:

I really think she should have fucked the alien.

The best thing about this for me was the new alien nikola. That dude is nuts and I loved him. He didn’t give a fuck about anything or anyone. I just really missed ampersand in this book. Bummer. Also I can’t remember anything plot wise that happened (I finished it two months ago) whereas I can remember much of the first book. Will read the third book but expectations have been lowered. Would NOT read again

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content

Recurring painful sex that is technically consensual but the pain is not communicated to the man

kelpiebooks's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Sexual content, and Suicide attempt