Reviews tagging 'Genocide'

Posol by Neal Shusterman

31 reviews

ciao_potatoes's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional inspiring mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• 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, Genocide, Grief, and Fire/Fire injury

smiley_ari's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Genocide, Hate crime, Suicide, Religious bigotry, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Grief

anaguana's review against another edition

adventurous 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Genocide, Suicide, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Torture and Transphobia

ozshark's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark reflective slow-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

4.25

This is a truly amazing series - "All rejoice!"

As with all of Neal Shusterman's books that I have read so far, it is thought provoking as well as compelling reading. I found the time jumps in the early part of the story disconcerting and confusing, maybe partially because I was reading this via audiobook than a physical volume. I think this volume was the most philosophical of the three, as Shusterman considers what it is to be human, and what it means to have a purpose. We even get an insight into Goddard's mind and a glimpse at the justification he gives to himself for his actions. He appears to genuinely believe he is doing the right thing, and not just for his own selfish gain.

The Toll focuses much more on the Tonists than the previous two volumes, and we see Shusterman's contempt for organised religion shining through. The way we see various Tonists respond to, distort and analyse the "teachings" of the Toll is a justified barb at some aspects of organised religion, but leaves no room for genuine response to truth. 

Other issues are raised along the way. Through Goddard, he also pokes fun at despotic leaders... 
“We're exploring the possibility of building a wall to stem the exodus."
"Don't be ridiculous," Goddard said. "Only idiots build walls.”
The corruption of wealth, power and greed. Pride. Gender and whether it is important. Euthansaia. I don't agree with all Shusterman's conclusions, but I appreciate their inclusion in the story.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Violence, and Religious bigotry

ishouldbereading's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective slow-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

4.5

,,We are imperfect beings. How could we ever fit in a perfect world?"

THIS BOOK IS SUCH A MASTERPIECE. I wish I could give it 5 stars but, alas, I didn't like one thing so it's not possible. This book will make you feel every single emotion you have. It will make you cry. It will make you scream. It will make you laugh. It's the perfect ending to a perfect trilogy, where every subplot is explored and explained perfectly (except I still don't quite understand what happened on Mars) and just the way this book makes you feel is so amazing. I loved almost every single character (which says a lot, since this almost never happens).

AND ROWAN AND CITRA GOING TO SPACE AND ROWAN SCREAMING AT CIRRUS AND JUST THE LOVE HE HAS FOR THIS GIRL MY HEART CAN'T TAKE IT. I also loved what Rand did to Goddard/Tyger that was fantastic and I must say, in the first book I didn't like Rand but in this book I absolutely love her and Greyson's character development is just so *mwah*

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Genocide, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Suicide and Blood

Minor: Cursing, Gun violence, Hate crime, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

truffletree's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Genocide, Blood, Kidnapping, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Body horror and Cursing

Minor: Suicide

emilycollins0910's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide and Violence

Moderate: Physical abuse and Blood

hannahr's review against another edition

adventurous dark reflective tense medium-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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Genocide, Gun violence, Racism, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Religious bigotry, and Murder

honeybadger11492's review against another edition

adventurous dark slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Genocide, Hate crime, Violence, Kidnapping, Mass/school shootings, Religious bigotry, and Murder

its_van_vulpen's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious reflective 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Violence, Blood, Grief, and Murder

Moderate: Torture and Religious bigotry

Minor: Suicide

The first half of the novel was fairly confusing as the story was constantly skipping throughout the timeline. If you are not a fan of multiple perspectives, this is not the book for you as we are not only given the perspectives of the major characters, but also of random side-characters that are only minimally relevant to the story I did really enjoy the social commentary on real life politics and religion present throughout the novel.

The character of Greyson Tolliver as The Toll and the Tonists perception of him shows how supposed religious figures and miracles can, in reality, just be regular people and misunderstood events.

*Minor Spoiler Ahead* The main romance in the novel was a little unbelievable to me as the two characters spent relatively little time with each other not only in this book, but in the whole series. Despite that, I'm not a particularly picky person so it personally doesn't bother me and I liked the two characters together.