Reviews tagging 'Violence'

The Union by Leah Vernon

4 reviews

miranda226's review

adventurous medium-paced

• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.5

3.5 ⭐️ I thought the premise was interesting and it was a decent YA dystopian novel. Some parts reminded me strongly of the hunger games, so I think fans of dystopian YA will overall enjoy. 

Both main characters are somewhat anti-heroes, complicated and naive. I struggled a bit with the plot - it felt like there were too many things to tell what was the main climax - but that could be partly because it’s the first in what will be a series. The fighting scenes felt jarring at times - I could see this being adapted as a TV series or movie, for all its abruptness, the writing was descriptive and painted a scene that I think might be better captured onscreen than in a novel.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Drug abuse

Moderate: Vomit

Minor: Sexual assault

gallivantingsushi's review

adventurous challenging dark sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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

I got this through Amazon first reads and I appreciate they showcase a diverse group of authors, and the premise of a society by and for people of color intrigued me immensely. However,

I was immediately shocked to find that society was based on not just racist and oppressive, but actively genocidal premises, and leaves us rooting for the mainly-white rebellion? It seems a strange choice for an author of color to make.

Also, given how the novel clearly intends to explore race politics, I'm shocked that it doesn't even mention what happened to Asian, Latinx, and especially Native people during the building of the Union.

Aside from those two big questions I also found the plot jumpy and somewhat illogical, and the characters one dimensional. I think Saige and Avi were intended as foils (strength/weakness, traumatized/pampered) but to me they read more like two sides of a complete person. Which made it extra weird that in this "story of friendship" the protagonists don't meet for half the book, and then don't really like each other.

Overall interesting and good enough to finish, but I was hoping for more. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Injury/Injury detail, Police brutality, Physical abuse, Violence, Trafficking, Genocide, and Death of parent

Minor: Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Addiction, Drug use, Toxic relationship, and Vomit

kshertz's review

adventurous dark emotional sad tense 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? No

4.0

A fascinating look at the dystopian future where the darker you are the higher up in the elite class you are. 

It’s interesting to see absolute power corrupting absolutely even in this future. Too many loose ends at the end for me to give it a super high score but I definitely couldn’t put it down and enjoyed the book and themes immensely.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Drug use, Gaslighting, Murder, Slavery, Blood, Colonisation, Gore, Classism, Police brutality, Violence, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, and War

arthur_ant18's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful tense medium-paced

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Racism, Gun violence, Genocide, Gore, Drug use, Violence, Slavery, War, Police brutality, and Classism

Moderate: Rape, Torture, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Confinement, Deportation, Cursing, Abandonment, Sexual violence, Child abuse, and Grief

Minor: Pregnancy, Vomit, and Fire/Fire injury