Reviews tagging 'Gore'

The Light Brigade by Kameron Hurley

19 reviews

nekoshka's review against another edition

adventurous 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Violence, Vomit, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal death, Chronic illness, Mental illness, Suicide, Torture, Xenophobia, and Death of parent

Minor: Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, and Classism

vanamo's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, and War

Moderate: Suicide

Minor: Panic attacks/disorders and Vomit

spaghetti_noodle's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious reflective sad 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? It's complicated

4.0

This was a solid 4 star read. I started reading this in September of 2021 and finished in February of 2022, and throughout that time I was reading this book off-and-on. For that reason, I don't completely remember everything that happened and there were some parts of the book that were confusing to me. There's probably an underlying message that I'm not picking up on because my brain is fried from school work and stress, but I like the vibes. I would absolutely read this book again. I enjoyed it while I read it, and I think I would enjoy it even more if I read it consistently! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore and Violence

Minor: Sexual content

There are moments when the gore is described in just the right amount of detail that makes you realize how horrific the situation is. In regards to the sexual content: while it's present, it's not written in a lot of detail and it's not written in a way that really focuses on the arousal (nor is it meant to make the reader aroused). It's very matter-of-fact and Hurley doesn't linger on it. All of it is consensual. There was a quote on page 295 (around 83%) that really stuck out to me for how horrifying it was and I just needed to write it down because it really shook me. I had to stop listening to music when I first read this. TW for gore. Minor spoilers.

Logistics started encountering issues. That was how they put it. Our experience was different. A whole platoon from Tangine Company came back wrong. They dropped into the deployment field as a mass of contorted bodies, arms and legs attached to the wrong torsos, heads facing backward, spines made impossibly sinuous, feet twisted like claws, when they were recognizable as limbs at all. I didn't see them come in, but somebody put a bootleg recording, and I downloaded and watched a copy before the corp had them all purged--including the soldier who shared it. What shook me wasn't even the images as much as the sound. The grunting, sobbing mass of them, like listening to a squealing bunch of pigs in a pen destined for the slaughter.

The last two sentences especially stood out to me. Needless to say, I'm glad that I'm only reading this. If gore makes you uncomfortable, this gory incident isn't described for more than 2 paragraphs.

anxiousnachos's review against another edition

challenging dark slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes

3.5

This was a really cool concept: sci-fi war between Mars and corporations on Earth with soldiers who are turned into light to beam them across the galaxy, but sometimes that results in them experiencing the war differently. It raised such interesting questions around culpability in war, power structures, and how people can change cycles of violence. But the writing was a little detached for me and so I didn’t feel very strongly about any of the characters. But very cool premise! 

Content warnings: extreme and graphic depictions of war (inc use of both biological and chemical weapons), torture, blood/gore, violence (inc against civilians and children), death

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, and War

kelseyland's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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 "Starship Troopers but make it gayer" is up your alley, look no further than this book. A fast-paced, engaging and extremely entertaining page-turner. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, and Violence

Moderate: Torture

alina_leonova's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense fast-paced

• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

I can't even tell you how big an impression this book made on me! But let's start with the basics, as always.

Characters
The main character is Dietz, and since I wasn't sure about their gender until the end of the book, and I don't know if that was meant this way or I just missed it (i totally could have missed it), I won't reveal it here either, just in case. Dietz enlists in the army after losing their family to the Martian attack. They are a bitter but caring person who wants to protect the people they love. The character arc is very compelling, as the reader gets to observe the gradual change of Dietz's beliefs and goals as they discover more and more information about the war. There are also quite a lot of people they serve with, and sometimes I got lost as to who was who, but the author did a great job keeping track of them, considering the nature of the story.

Plot
The plot is so original and fascinating! It's non-linear, all of the events happen out of order as time travel is involved. It requires a lot of skill to pull off something like that, and Kameron Hurley did it brilliantly.

World-building
The world-building is done just right to be immersive. The world is ruled by six big corporations, and people are divided into a class system: citizens, who have the most privileges, access to health care and best living conditions, residents, who have only some of the privileges and ghouls, who basically have no rights. It's possible but extremely tough to move into a higher class, and joining the army is the only way for ghouls like Dietz. Citizenship is, in fact, belonging to a certain corp, not a country. The corps control access to information and posses advanced technology, the most impressive of which is probably their ability to turn people into light and send them anywhere in the world at the speed of light.

Impressions
I couldn't put the book down! There is so much in it that I liked: the plot twists, the complexity and ingenuity of its structure, the clever observations about human nature, the intimate first person narration, the flawed protagonist who gets a chance to grow, the criticism of some of the real-world issues, the originality. It's a great and well-written story, but what made it stand out most was the way it was told.

The book explores the meaninglessness and cruelty of war, poses the questions about inequality, class system, capitalism, exploitation, manipulation and brainwashing. It's gory, which I think is suitable for a story about war, and at the same time human connection and taking care of each other are a crucial part of it. I really enjoyed the author's style and her unique voice.

You might enjoy the book if you like military and time travel sci-fi, mind-bending thrillers, non-linear stories and don't mind gore / violence / death.

Check out my website about sci-fi by women and non-binary authors for book reviews, lists, interviews, short stories and more. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Gore, and Violence

hello_cori's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Gore, Suicide, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Torture, Vomit, and Death of parent

deedireads's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious 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

4.25

All my reviews live at https://deedispeaking.com/reads/.

TL;DR REVIEW:

The Light Brigade is an exciting, well-written smart puzzle of a sci-fi military thriller. That’s not my usual genre, but I really liked it!

For you if: Talk of aliens doesn’t turn you off a book.

FULL REVIEW:

“They said the war would turn us into light.
I wanted to be counted among the heroes who gave us this better world.”

“Military sci-fi thriller” isn’t my usual genre — in fact, “military” and “thriller” are usually anti-Deedi signals. But this one was nominated for the Hugo and people seem to really love Kameron Hurley, so I decided to give it a shot! I’m glad I did. Once I settled into it, I was totally sucked in — and VERY impressed, given that Hurley (successfully) used one of the most notoriously difficult devices in fiction. (Telling you what it is would be a bit of a spoiler, but trust me.)

The story is about a person named Dietz, whose family was killed in a mass attack and decided to join the corporate military (this world is fully ruled by a handful of powerful corporations). Soldiers are sent to the war on Mars to battle against the people who colonized it years ago and then went dark. They get there via “drops,” in which their mass is transformed to light and then reassembled. But then Dietz’s experience with the “drops” is…not quite what was expected. And, as you can imagine, neither is pretty much anything else, either.

One really cool thing about this book: the treatment of Dietz’s gender. There are only two moments, by my count, in which anyone genders Dietz. Otherwise, it’s left ambiguous. This works because in Hurley’s universe, gender norms are also not really a thing, nor are assumptions about sexuality.

It did take me a bit to sink into this book for two reasons: First, the talk of “aliens” and “martians” felt a little cheesy, but that’s probably because I don’t really read sci-fi as much. Second, the first 25% or so was really, idk, bro-ish? It was military training time. Lots of swearing and showboating and bodily functions. But once the training period ended, I fell RIGHT in and LOVED the rest.

Ultimately, this book was smart and masterfully planned/plotted, exciting and intriguing. A giant, fast-paced puzzle that was a pleasure to journey through. I really enjoyed it!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Violence, and Grief

grawlix's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense fast-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Vomit and Police brutality

Moderate: Body horror and Gore

Minor: Panic attacks/disorders