Reviews tagging 'Genocide'

Seven Devils by L.R. (Laura) Lam, Elizabeth May

11 reviews

gxbi's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, War, Xenophobia, Grief, Pandemic/Epidemic, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Slavery, Gore, and Torture

Moderate: Child abuse, Vomit, Blood, and Medical trauma

hanz's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No

3.0

There were some interesting elements to this book, but I found it was often difficult to distinguish the perspectives from each other. It was incredibly slow initially, but I enjoyed it more when the other characters were introduced. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Torture, Physical abuse, Death, Child abuse, and Colonisation

Moderate: Pandemic/Epidemic, Panic attacks/disorders, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Genocide

theuncannydani's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Xenophobia, Colonisation, Genocide, and War

Moderate: Classism, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Child death, Death, and Confinement

Minor: Panic attacks/disorders, Medical trauma, Cursing, Slavery, Medical content, Child abuse, Sexual violence, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Alcohol, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Torture, and Gun violence

nickoliver's review against another edition

adventurous emotional tense slow-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Colonisation, Murder, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Grief, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Violence, and War

Moderate: Death of parent

Minor: Torture

relin's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, Colonisation, Gore, Death, Child death, Death of parent, War, Child abuse, and Abandonment

Moderate: Slavery, Genocide, Stalking, Outing, Grief, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Eating disorder, Suicidal thoughts, Chronic illness, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Torture, Alcohol, Xenophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, Panic attacks/disorders, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, and Cursing

Minor: Transphobia, Kidnapping, and Addiction

allisonwonderlandreads's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny 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

4.0

Seven Devils features an undercover team of women seeking to bring down an empire and maybe go to a ball while they're at it. There's a great heist moment as well as battling in space, commandeering imperial ships, and investigating secrets be they hidden on backwater planets or in imperial palaces. This was a smooth, cinematic reading experience with snappy action scenes and the vivid, unfamiliar locales that make space operas so enticing.

All our leading ladies have their voices heard in this adventure. The POVs are distinctive and well-developed, providing insight into how each found the resistance and what wrongs the empire did to bring them to this risky endeavor. There's one pleasant sapphic romance just starting to blossom, but the majority is focused on the found family bonds that form among the crew. Each connection point is poignant and delivered convincingly. I also want to shout out the ace representation in Ariadne, hacker extraordinaire, genius, and absolute ray of sunshine. There's also a badass trans woman who I think we'll see more of in the sequel.

In terms of world-building, I think fans of the genre will find it light and approachable. The book makes use of science fiction standbys like AI and mental conditioning/brainwashing to add some further moral questions to the struggle against a massive, dominating imperial power. I look forward to seeing how the plot develops in the sequel, and I am excited to get to know the two late additions to the team much better. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Colonisation, Death, Death of parent, Genocide, Grief, Murder, Physical abuse, Xenophobia, Violence, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Abandonment, Blood, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Sexual harassment, Slavery, War, and Transphobia

breadwitchery's review against another edition

adventurous 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? It's complicated

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, Suicide, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Child abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, War, Torture, Mental illness, Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail, Confinement, Death of parent, and Child death

Minor: Cursing, Alcohol, Addiction, Sexual content, Rape, and Genocide

lycanhood's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, and War

Moderate: Colonisation, Cursing, Grief, Torture, and Xenophobia

starccato's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Death, Emotional abuse, Grief, Colonisation, Murder, Medical content, Gun violence, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Genocide, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Confinement, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Gaslighting, Blood, Body horror, and Slavery

Minor: Vomit, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Gore, Death of parent, Drug use, Alcohol, Torture, and Terminal illness

plumpaperbacks's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional 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

3.5

Though Seven Devils was my introduction to Lam’s work, I was excited to read it after reading and falling in love with May’s The Falconer trilogy. I’m not even a Star Wars fan, but I’ll read nearly anything if it’s sapphic. I haven’t read enough gay space books, and I had high hopes for this one. Unfortunately, it wasn’t as good as I’d hoped it would be.

I will say that I quite liked all of the characters. A few took longer to grow on me than others, but ultimately I was interested in each person’s story. May and Lam did an excellent job developing each character. They also did the found family trope—one of my favorites—justice. The dynamics between the characters in this squad were top notch. I especially liked the way everyone treated Ariadne as a younger sister, and the sweet romance that blossomed between two of the women in the gang.

My favorites in the squad were Eris and Ariadne. Both had extremely rough childhoods but in different ways, for different reasons, and I felt so bad for them. I admired their perseverance, as well as their dedication to both missions and their friends. I really want to give Ariadne a hug.

I also liked the world-building. Or should I say galaxy-building, since this is set in space? Anyway, May and Lam created such an intricate galaxy for their story to take place in. I enjoyed learning about the planets and species and cultures, even if the last two were scarce due to the greedy, vicious Empire. There was no info-dumping or confusion; everything was explained well, and fit together like puzzle pieces. This can be difficult with just one world, one planet, so achieving it in a book set on multiple planets is, in my opinion, quite the feat. Kudos to the authors for that.

This book’s downfall, for me, was the plot. Although the pacing was consistent and the first half of the story intrigued me, that intrigue was absent for most of the second half. I was able to predict all of the major events and reveals, with two, maybe three exceptions. None of it felt very original.

I thought this would be a five star read,
but I was wrong. The plot’s predictability was quite disappointing. If this had been a contemporary or a romance, it wouldn’t matter so much,
given that some books within those genres are a bit formulaic. But a science fiction? That’s a genre I always want to keep me on my toes, as is fantasy, and that sadly wasn’t the case here.

I’m not sure whether or not I’ll pick up the sequel when it’s released. While I’m curious about what might happen, I don’t know if I’m curious enough to read another 400+ page book, no matter how much I like the characters.

Representation

• sapphic protagonist with a prosthetic leg
• sapphic romance (f/f)
• queer characters (includes bisexual, asexual, and trans rep)
• some characters of color

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Blood, Gore, Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, Child abuse, Genocide, Gun violence, Violence, and Torture

Moderate: Body horror and Drug use

Minor: Panic attacks/disorders