Reviews tagging 'Alcoholism'

Lady Hotspur by Tessa Gratton

3 reviews

amcgeewrites's review

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful tense slow-paced

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

4.0

 It took me an entire year to read this book, which was incredibly long and broken into three big sections which I treated as their own novels. It may not take you that long if you like your works on the denser side, however, and I am glad I stuck with this book. If you like Shakespeare or The Outlaw King but want it to be gay, I can recommend. My only critique of this story is that, despite the fact that there is very clear dialogue about the pervasiveness of killing your gays in narrative, no man gets what I would call a happy ending in this book, and the body count for queer men is very high. Overall I wouldn’t say that this was per se the book for me, but it’s a very good book and I would pay good money for it to be a movie. Like serious money. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Homophobia, Mental illness, Violence, Lesbophobia, and War

While I think all the content was handled well, you still spend a lot of time in it, specifically in suicidal ideation and alcoholism, as well as forced hetero-sex for a character who did not feel that attraction. (The sex itself is not explicit, but it does loom for most of the book.)

laurajones's review

adventurous sad tense medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Murder, Pregnancy, and War

Moderate: Cancer, Homophobia, Sexual content, Grief, Death of parent, Lesbophobia, and Abandonment

Minor: Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Domestic abuse, and Miscarriage

caidyn's review against another edition

adventurous emotional reflective 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

4.25

I decided to give this book another try. Not as good as Innis Lear, but I still enjoyed it and how the themes mirror the first book well while making their own thing.

Thank you Tor Books and Edelweiss for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

DNF at 51%

The long and the short of this book is that it felt like a poor Henry IV retelling.

The characters are all genderbent and most are queer. But it's a queer story that's full of angst about not being allowed to be who they are. Important story and themes to look at, but it felt tiring for me because that's how a lot of queer stories are. That kept annoying me and pulling me out of the story. I prefer reading happy queer books, where people are largely accepted and loved for their queer selves.

Then, the genderbending didn't feel well planned. I was so confused about who all the characters were and kept trying to put my knowledge of the Shakespeare play into it, but figured out real fast that I was confusing myself even more. I was getting more and more lost by what was going to happen in it.

All in all, I was lost and this just isn't as good as The Queens of Innis Lear. If Gratton does more Shakespeare retellings, I'll try another. I could even try this one again, so long as I'm more familiar with the play.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Cancer, Death, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, and Alcohol