Reviews tagging 'Mass/school shootings'

Secera by Dan Sociu, Neal Shusterman

133 reviews

aprilb_reads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious reflective 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Mass/school shootings, Suicide attempt, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Toxic friendship and Classism

bookiesncreme's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Blood, Mass/school shootings, Suicide attempt, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

kailiyahknight's review against another edition

dark hopeful 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: Body horror, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Police brutality, Mass/school shootings, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Child death, Torture, and Death of parent

breewriteback's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

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

5.0

omg that was such a good book.

going into this story, i hoped i would like it considering how interesting the synopsis was, and i have to say i was not disappointed. from complex characters to a wonderfully compelling plot, this book had me hooked.

something i really enjoyed about the book was the fact that in between each chapter, there was a journal entry from a scythe. it gave us more insight about the personalities and morals of different scythes. 

also the ending was fantastic. for the first time ever, i predicted an ending “twist” and oh my god did it make the ending all that more enjoyable. especially because my prediction was very much wishful thinking.

i was so happy when citra punched rowan in the face. i hoped something like that would happen, where one of them would give the other immunity so that they wouldn’t be able to glean the other, but the additional element of citra using the punch as payback was hilarious.

i definitely expected this book to be around a 4-star read, but i enjoyed the reading experience so much it can’t be anything less than 5-stars. lets hope the next books are just as good!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, and Mass/school shootings

Moderate: Gun violence, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Suicide

deepcurvesahead's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Suicide, Mass/school shootings, Suicide attempt, and Murder

oxian_d's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad slow-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

This book was too depressing for me, opening old wounds, reliving the past again and scarring old scars deeper than a knife could. At first it was mysterious but then it got too predictable and worse boring along the way. I yawned many times I could count. Although some topics do open for questions as life and death is at hand. None will truly know when one hasn't experienced real death. So again this is quite different but not my cup of tea.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Bullying, Confinement, Gun violence, Hate crime, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, Mass/school shootings, Medical trauma, and Alcohol

latashman's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

4.5

I found this book to be an interesting look into what a future could look like if humans had infinite life spans. I wish there was a little more political intrigue, but I'm hoping it will be in the next book now that their apprenticeship is done. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, and Blood

Moderate: Torture and Mass/school shootings

cup__of__stars's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

1.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mass/school shootings and Murder

Moderate: Body shaming, Child death, and Fatphobia

ashleymg99's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.25

A friend recommended this book and I was really pleasantly surprised by it. I thought I knew where the plot was going, but there were several twists I genuinely didn’t see coming and each time I LOVED the direction it took the story in. I don’t want to elaborate too much, but I’ll put some of my favorites under the spoilers tag.

1) Citra and Rowan being pitted against one another, where only one can live. This was my original “oh, there’s the twist!” Moment. 
2) Rowan killing Scythe Goddard & co. I really thought he was going to be the Big Bad.
3) Faraday wasn’t murdered, he faked his own death.

One thing about Scythe is, there’s quite a lot of talk of death, dying, and killing. So you’d think the book would be quite dark. But it’s NOT, and that’s so interesting to me. It’s a topic we all try our hardest to avoid thinking about, but Shusterman really digs in, especially though the journal entries, to explore what it means to be, essentially, immortal. 

I’m so excited to read the second book, I’ve been struggling all year to find the motivation to read and this has really reinvigorated me in a way other books haven’t. I can’t wait to see what twists and turns the story takes in the next 2 books. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Mass/school shootings, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

beachybookstack's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

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

4.5

Once the world gets detailed out in structure and technology, it takes a bit for the characters to move along their paths. Some of the plot points were somewhat jarring and sped things up as they occured. I'd say it gets good after you hit the 50% mark. I do find the ending satisfying and open-ended enough to continue reading the series soon. I think that both Citra and Rowan are relatable main characters in different ways, neither feels too OP. Their mentors create very different emotional landscapes for them to navigate as they learn to gleen the population--whether by ethics or enthusiasm.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Mass/school shootings, and Murder

Minor: Suicide