Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Gemina by Amie Kaufman, Jay Kristoff

23 reviews

anjh's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny lighthearted mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

even tho i’m not a fan of sci fi i enjoyed this as much as Illuminae, though i found this more confusing than i did the first book, and even that was hard to understand imo. i found myself having to constantly check the Illuminae wiki to check and verify details and confirm who people were and what things were as not much was really explained well in the book. one of those things where you kind of just have to figure it out for yourself. 

aside from the confusion of the book, i absolutely loved the artworks and visuals and paired with listening to the audiobook while reading this was like reading a sci fi movie. the graphics are so creative and continue throughout the whole book making it really immersive and massively contributing to the reading experience. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Genocide, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Cancer and Chronic illness

peachani's review against another edition

adventurous dark inspiring tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Death, Gore, and Blood

Moderate: Child death, Cursing, Gun violence, Violence, Excrement, and Murder

Minor: Addiction, Drug use, Grief, Death of parent, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

sarahsbooklife's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny 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? Yes

5.0

I loved this book. I thought that I wouldn't like it as much with it following new characters (to start with anyway) but I ended up loving them. 
It's the same nail biting, highstakes, tense sci-fi survival story as the first. Just over a much shorter period of time, days and hours instead of the months in the first book. 
Just as amazing as the first book if not better!😁

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Blood, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Drug use, Genocide, Gun violence, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Animal death, Gore, and Grief

sarahsbooklife's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny 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? Yes

5.0

I loved this book. I thought that I wouldn't like it as much with it following new characters (to start with anyway) but I ended up loving them. 
It's the same nail biting, highstakes, tense sci-fi survival story as the first. Just over a much shorter period of time, days and hours instead of the months in the first book. 
Just as amazing as the first book if not better!😁

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Blood, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Drug use, Genocide, Gun violence, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Animal death, Gore, and Grief

kathrynleereads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious tense fast-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? It's complicated

5.0

No matter how many times I read it, Gemina never ceases to amaze me. Amy Kaufman and Jay Kristoff's abilities to foreshadow, create lovable characters, create truly hatable characters, delve into science as well as science fiction, and keep every single detail straight while doing it are completely unmatched.

It's always a gamble when you're talking about a second book in a series with completely different characters. For many readers, including myself, the characters are one of the driving factors that get me to pick up a book. 

Having fallen in love with Kady, Ezra, and AIDAN, I was shocked to find that I was immediately as drawn into Gemina as I had been to Illuminae, despite the completely new cast of characters. 

The Illuminae Files will forever be one of my favorite series.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Drug use

itsbumley's review against another edition

challenging dark tense fast-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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Drug use, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Self harm, Violence, Blood, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

jessi_c's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful tense slow-paced

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

4.25

Exciting follow up to Illuminae! Enjoyed the continuation of biological terror mixed in with man-made hunts. The last 80 pages will keep my head spinning for the next 48 hrs. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug use, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, Grief, and Murder

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

Minor: Gore and Death of parent

multiverse

laurenevlyn's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional 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

4.25

These books somehow manage to be innovative in an area that is thousands of years old. The Illuminae series is groundbreaking, funny, emotional, dark, imaginative, and incredibly well made. My only issue in reading this book was the transcription sections. I fully understand and see the value of their inclusion (and I adore how they’ve managed to make a lovable character just from the way the transcriber describes the videos), but it threw off the rapid pace that I had grown accustomed to from the chat logs and AIDAN. Other than that, this was absolutely incredible.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Chronic illness, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, and War

Minor: Medical content and Grief

marsh_mall0w's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Violence, and Blood

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Chronic illness, Drug use, Grief, and Death of parent

Minor: Child abuse, Genocide, and Suicide

stardust_heidi's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny informative inspiring mysterious sad tense fast-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? No

5.0

OH. MY. GOD. I think it's gonna take the rest of the day for me to catch my breath after this one. Holy SHIT. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail