Reviews tagging 'Child death'

Dune Messiah by Frank Herbert

17 reviews

wickedgrumpy's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

What a tone shift from the first book!  Honestly this one kind of went off the rails into unhinged territory in the second half.  It was a very slow political machination start and then it turns into everything falling into place depending on who did the better job at plotting and scheming...  Absolutely wild.  I don't know how I feel about it fully but I'm going to think about it for a long time.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Ableism, Addiction, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Body shaming, Child death, Confinement, Deadnaming, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Genocide, Incest, Infertility, Infidelity, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Abortion, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Colonisation, Dysphoria, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

owenwilsonbaby's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective medium-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

3.5

‘I live in an apocalyptic dream. My steps fit into it so precisely that I fear most of all I will grow bored reliving the thing so exactly.’

Why was the end of Paul’s arc so filler-y? Some great character beats but this took me so long to read and frequently lost me along the way. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Child death, Incest, Infertility, Violence, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail

randirush's review against another edition

adventurous dark reflective medium-paced

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

3.75

*3.5-3.75ish 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Violence

Moderate: Genocide, Pregnancy, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Child death, Incest, and Infertility

annikathereader'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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Death, Incest, Infertility, Suicide, Grief, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, and Fire/Fire injury

hellsjerome's review against another edition

sad slow-paced

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

2.75

Unfortunately I just found it a slog. Too much rambling philosophy.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Genocide

Minor: Child death

trvs49's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.5

This is a more philosophical, character-driven entry in the Dune series. The elements of adventure, new worlds, and sci-fi take a back seat to the intense character interactions, politics, and schemes. Paul's struggle for control over the universe and the events of the world is the main focus and is highly engaging throughout. Suspicions, schemes, plots within plots, and the reality of a universe ruled by Paul with his Sister at his side as pseudo-gods all culminate in a fantastic narrative with a satisfying end.

Paul's character development is impressive and genuinely satisfying, and it stays true to the character. However, where this book lacks is in the writing of the female characters, which is considerably weaker, although Alia does present as a really cool, complex character. The incest stuff and the age gap between her and some of the characters, as well as the stuff about her dad being her lover, are not necessary, in my opinion.

Also, Irulan just being super in love with Paul, although it is alluded to early in the book. I feel it doesn't get enough build-up and attention to make it understandable and believable, especially since she is supposed to be Bene Gesserit but throws away all her loyalties after he dies.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Incest, Infertility, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Grief, Suicide attempt, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Injury/Injury detail

monserrot's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense fast-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? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Death, Blood, Abortion, and Cultural appropriation

aileron's review against another edition

adventurous challenging reflective slow-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Infertility, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Death, Incest, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Colonisation

Minor: Ableism, Child death, Genocide, Religious bigotry, and War

lqne's review against another edition

mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• 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: Infertility, Pregnancy, Colonisation, and War

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Incest, and Religious bigotry

Minor: Addiction, Child death, Death, and Torture

emilywemily6's review against another edition

challenging mysterious slow-paced

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

3.75

Herbert’s writing is tough to get into; I feel like there was so much he was trying to say, but he was so vague about it that I missed his message. I liked that this book was a lot of political intrigue. I also feel like the length was perfect. I really wish you learned more about the events immediately after Dune though. The time gap made it hard to feel invested in where the characters are now, a decade later. Though even though it had been a bit since I read Dune, I still remembered enough to get back into this world without too much trouble. I think this book has more merits in being reread over and over again.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Infertility, Racism, Pregnancy, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Addiction, Violence, and War

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Child death, and Sexual content