Reviews with content warning for Rape - To the Warm Horizon

I would never recommend this book for someone who wants something ligh-hearted, because it just brushes up so lightly on some really dark things, you would just be peacefully reading about this cute queer romance in an apocalyptic setting then BAAM SURPRISE ATTACK its a rape scene, a gun shot, an act of violence...
Nevertheless it was an easy read, quite short, the type of book you would read to get back to reading but that only applies if dark, violent texts are your thing, I also want to mention something that I didn't like is (spoiler alert pls)

When Ryu was going to/getting raped by her husband and she mentioned how she never really gave consent or enjoyed her sex life with him before the plague I didn't like how the author still portrayed her like she loved him and has an emotional link with him because somehow as a reader it could make sex without proper consent okay with linking those two images, I could maybe understan if she wanted to portray how an abused person could be under the charm/ brainwashed by their abuser but it didn't seem to be the case since she never developed in any of the subjects too much nor did she gave them that much importance mentioning rape and sexual violence like a casualty, actually the world building of the story felt really messy in general like she started or wanted to start something but didn't have enough pages to do so, she touched up a bunch of subjects ranging from ableism to domestic violence, feminist issues in korea/the world, exploitation in capitalism, bullying, domestic violence, marital rape... but never dived in any of them always getting back to the main track wich was the queer romance
It felt like a fancy presentation for our meal wich was the queer romance (stan dorie and jina best girls <333)
Personally I love having morally ambiguous to plain horrible characters wich is why i appreciated every one of them even thought none of them had that much depth or personality, they had potential but we didn't get to see it, but the only I regret was Joy I would have loved to hear more of her, even though I somehow understand that she may have symbolized silent pain and people who suffer from depression without anyone knowing, her suicide was so unexpected that I can understand it's meaning (at least how I interpret it)
In this book I also saw how way brainwashed ppl and how different positions change our perspective like the dad told Jina that her getting raped and exploited was nothing, she should just endure it, it was her participation to war, so maybe it reflects how us ppl in privileged positions may not see how others suffer (just like palestine, syria, Afghanistan, ukraine...), we would just move on with life and let them battle for survival and even ask them for accountability and give them the same talk as jina's dad
So overall I did like the flow of the authors writing, the translation was also quite nice (thank you very much soje for your work)
And I just loved the diversity of the characters so much, the romance was so cute jina and dorie are now my fav couple and I just loved having this cute random queer couple like without any weird sexual references or voyeurism or fetishizetion.
I also want to add that this book felt more like a statement than anything, it's like the author was screaming to us "YEAH THIS IS THE APOCALYPSE BUT LOVE CAN STILL EXIST, ITS AN APOCALYPSE BUT LOOK A LESBIAN COUPLE IS JUST RANDOMLY EXISTING HERE WITHOUT THE STORY HAVING TO BE ABOUT LESBIOPHOBIA/ LESBIAN STRUGGLES", idk how to put it into words but it just felt like the author wanted to show a normalized cute queer relationship without it having to be all around queer trauma and pain but just a different type of pain, the story centred the trauma and suffering of the characters around different subjects but never their sexuality, and I just enjoyed that fact so much.
So yeah I would definitely recommend this story, but please be careful since it's definitely NOT a light read.
Thank you Choi Jin-Young for delivering such a great book.

Content Warnings

amrud's review against another edition

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dark sad

3.75

Content Warnings

originalsillyboy's review against another edition

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dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

This was one of the best books I've read in a while. I truly feel that it's worthy of a five-star rating.

The translation was beautiful and the prose affected me on a deep emotional level. Considering current events, reading this in early March '22 was quite a powerful experience.

The multiple POVs added depth to the story. I felt that the characters were pretty diverse with regard to age, ability, and sexual identity. Despite the novel's short length, I was highly invested in (most of) the main characters' storylines. Dori and Jina's love story is the focal point of the novel, and that they found each other amidst such darkness and pain was beautiful (though their relationship felt rather rushed). Gunji and Joy were also very intriguing to me --

I just wish we'd heard more from their perspectives, particularly Joy.

Overall, this was a compelling and beautifully written novel that provoked a lot of powerful thoughts and emotions for me. I would absolutely read it again.

Content Warnings