Reviews tagging 'Sexual content'

El año de gracia by Kim Liggett

45 reviews

emilywemily6's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

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

4.0

This book was a lot and I am still sifting through my feelings. It felt like a mix of The Handmaid’s Tale, Lord of the Flies, and The Hunger Games. This story was gruesome and the oppression the women are conditioned for within this society is horrendous. Unlike The Handmaid’s Tale, this book was more bizarre and less relatable to our current day, definitely leaning more towards horror than pure dystopian fiction. There was a lot of mystery inherent to the plot since no one in the community talks about what happens during the grace year, and I think my lack of knowledge about the book beyond the synopsis helped me enjoy the reading experience more. There were a lot of twists and turns and I really didn’t know where the book was headed! I really hated reading about the magic/madness of the girls in the enclosure and almost DNFed because I was very unsettled and frustrated with the behavior. This book was also pretty gorey. The romantic subplot was sweet and wholesome but I wanted more depth/deeper connection between the characters; they seemed to jump from trusting each other platonically to becoming intimate. The last 50 or so pages broke me. This book also uses a lot of ambiguity, which was intriguing yet sometimes frustrating. I really liked the realistic approach at the end where the girls supported each other in public for the first time, and while the world was the same, the girls and women were not. A sequel would be really fun to read to see how this world changes overtime! Revolution doesn’t happen in an instant. Lots of interesting themes that make this a great discussion book for YA and adults alike, though some of the author’s choices seemed to be more for shock value than for furthering the plot. Reading about sixteen year old girls was also not my favorite because these are the worst sixteen year old girls I have ever heard of.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Child abuse, Child death, Murder, Sexual harassment, Stalking, Trafficking, Bullying, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Blood, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Suicidal thoughts, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, Gore, Grief, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Classism, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Transphobia, Violence, Suicide, Death, and Self harm

Moderate: Medical content, Ableism, and Sexual content

Minor: Infertility

unicornofthesea's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Gaslighting, Bullying, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Gore, Classism, Suicide, Death, Sexual content, Sexism, Religious bigotry, Physical abuse, Murder, Mental illness, Confinement, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Vomit

Minor: Animal death and Fire/Fire injury

cjreadstoomuch's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy, Sexism, Misogyny, Bullying, and Death

Moderate: Violence, Religious bigotry, Suicidal thoughts, Injury/Injury detail, Gaslighting, and Forced institutionalization

Minor: Outing, Lesbophobia, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, and Sexual content

caitlyn_kittle_kinnick's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Blood

Moderate: Torture, Violence, Adult/minor relationship, and Murder

Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Sexual content, Pregnancy, and Kidnapping

ann_the_imp's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Suicide, Vomit, Blood, Bullying, Murder, Death, Emotional abuse, Violence, Confinement, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Grief, Hate crime, Infertility, Sexual content, Excrement, Toxic friendship, Animal death, Pregnancy, Sexism, Addiction, Infidelity, Lesbophobia, Drug use, and Emotional abuse

booksbyjess__'s review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Bullying, Blood, and Addiction

Minor: Sexual content

logsbooklog's review against another edition

dark emotional fast-paced

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

3.25

there’s a lot i liked and an ok amount i didn’t. the beginning is rough, parts of the middle feel shallow, and the ending rings a bit hollow, but the breathless pace and tense scenes work well and a lot of the individual moments made me shiver. i’m left wanting more both positively and negatively.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Gore, Misogyny, Bullying, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Child death, Death, Physical abuse, Domestic abuse, Pedophilia, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Homophobia, Excrement, and Vomit

readingwithmeredith's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense fast-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? It's complicated

4.0

Dark, heavy, dystopian, but so thought provoking. This definitely isn’t the book for everyone and I would be slow to recommend it as an actual YA book but if you could handle the graphic nature of the Hunger Games then you could handle this one. Definitely a story that will stick with me for a while and the author’s interview in the audiobook and discussion questions in the physical book really made me stop and reflect on this book more than I would have. Really reflecting on this took it from a 3 to 4🌟 book. 

I will say I don’t feel like this is the best written book and I feel like it could have benefited from some more editing and refinement and it could have been a 5🌟 dystopian read. But definitely a fascinating story that is going to stick with me for a while. 

Themes reminiscent of Handmaiden’s Tale and Hunger Games but also a completely new story in my opinion. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Confinement, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Murder, Suicide, and Violence

Minor: Sexual content

tays_books's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Misogyny, Murder, Pregnancy, Blood, Death, Child death, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide, Violence, Sexism, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Child abuse, Excrement, Drug use, Homophobia, Infidelity, Sexual content, Stalking, Pedophilia, Animal death, Cannibalism, Animal cruelty, Lesbophobia, Domestic abuse, Sexual violence, and Vomit

Minor: Alcohol, Fire/Fire injury, Incest, and Infertility

mozimmerm's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

YA dystopia. Very disturbing at times, very moving at others. Romantic and terrifying and bizarre. 

Wow, I’m still reeling from the ending. That was unlike anything I’ve ever read, and it was very interesting. I never knew where the story was going to go. It always surprised me. I definitely said “oh wow” multiple times while reading this 😅

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Violence, Blood, Bullying, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, and Vomit

Moderate: Animal death, Cannibalism, Death, Alcohol, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Gaslighting, and Pregnancy

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Kidnapping, and Sexual content