Reviews tagging 'Child death'

Hollow Fires by Samira Ahmed

25 reviews

speterson47's review

dark emotional reflective tense

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes

3.5

Hollow Fires is a fast paced mystery filled with social commentary. The main character Safiya is part of her high school newspaper that is suddenly hacked following an article published by her. The backlash pushes Safiya into a whirl wind investigation that put her and her close friends in danger. In trying to solve the who done it in a murder and multiple hate speech incidents, not only will they learn about the criminals but also how far they are willing to go to stop it.    

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Hate crime, Violence, and Islamophobia

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Police brutality, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

xread_write_repeatx's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad 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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Hate crime, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, Antisemitism, Islamophobia, and Murder

Moderate: Cursing and Grief

aformeracceleratedreader's review against another edition

emotional sad medium-paced

4.0

Really enjoyed it. This made me tear up a little towards the end a few times. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child death, Death, Hate crime, Racial slurs, Racism, Xenophobia, Antisemitism, Islamophobia, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Car accident, Murder, and Gaslighting

stephanielee's review

challenging dark emotional inspiring sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Such a great book. Check the content warnings but I loved how the author pulled on real life events (names, locations, etc were changed) to really pull you in to how this is happening now. Still. Every day for black, brown and Indigenous folx. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Racial slurs, Racism, Antisemitism, Islamophobia, Religious bigotry, Gaslighting, and Classism

Moderate: Child death, Misogyny, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Car accident and War

revremishores's review

challenging emotional informative mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

What a fantastic read and timely story. This is our YA All Iowa Reads, and a perfect selection for this year. It deals with the online radicalization of teens into white supremacists through the lens of a murder-mystery thriller. It also delves into the nuances around truths, lies, facts, and alternative facts. The plot kept me engrossed and the social commentary was poignant.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

Moderate: Child death, Islamophobia, and Murder

Minor: Violence

clawclawclaw's review

dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, and Racial slurs

Moderate: Racism, Violence, and Murder

Minor: Hate crime, Antisemitism, Islamophobia, and Kidnapping

corriejn's review against another edition

dark emotional informative inspiring mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.75

YA novel about a teen in Chicago dealing with racist and Islamophobic incidents in her community. A bit true crime/mystery, a bit of teen romance, peer drama, struggles at school, etc., and lots of contextualizing situations within both real and fictionalized events in the rise of open right wing and xenophobic sentiments in the U.S. and social media. Some points made a bit "on the nose" but didn't feel too out of place for the genre.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Hate crime, Racial slurs, Racism, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Islamophobia, Grief, Religious bigotry, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Classism

Moderate: Violence, Police brutality, Stalking, and Gaslighting

Minor: Drug use, Antisemitism, and Injury/Injury detail

applesodaperson's review

emotional reflective fast-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? It's complicated

1.5

This book had some really important things to say in terms of racism and social commentary, but every character felt like a caricature, because real teenagers don't really act and speak like the characters.
Read from the Provo library.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death and Racism

winglesswarrior's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative 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? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Hate crime, Racial slurs, Racism, Xenophobia, Antisemitism, Islamophobia, Religious bigotry, Gaslighting, and Classism

kshertz's review

challenging reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

This author is exceptional. I read internment a while ago and this author just cuts right to the heart of all that’s wrong in America today, particularly when people who are not born in this country come here. I had no idea this was in any way based on a true story and it broke my heart. I wanted to believe high school students weren’t capable of this level of bigotry but clearly all white people are in the systematic racism. It’s so engrained. Read this book. It is so special and a voice we all need to hear. 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Body horror, Bullying, Child death, Death, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Racism, Violence, Xenophobia, Islamophobia, Grief, Religious bigotry, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, and Deportation