Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

Scythe by Neal Shusterman

41 reviews

purstiltski's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Self harm, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Religious bigotry, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Torture

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.

---

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

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.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Emotional abuse

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

Minor: Suicide

lindseyathome's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-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? It's complicated

3.75

It was very good but some parts were tough to get through just because of the mood I was in. That’s why I don’t regret listening to the book, I definitely got sucked in towards the end and now want to read the next one. But the subject matter is heavy and I think I need to be in the right head space to get through the next one.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, Medical content, and Murder

claireltravers's review against another edition

adventurous emotional tense fast-paced

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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Mass/school shootings, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Suicide, and Murder

Minor: Eating disorder, Fatphobia, and Death of parent

ambibambi's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious 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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Violence, and Mass/school shootings

Moderate: Suicide

Minor: Bullying

stwriter92's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny 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

[Review Incoming]

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Murder

Moderate: Child death, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Medical content, Kidnapping, Mass/school shootings, and Medical trauma

a_cera_t0ps's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful reflective fast-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

5.0

Very obviously part of a series. It's like watching season 1 of a very well tied together show; you need to keep reading. And Neal Shusterman does a very good job of making you want to.

The book looked at the inherent fault in the concept of a utopia: to be flawed is to be human. To live is to one day die. To love is to risk losing.
In a perfect world, humanity ends up desensitized and stagnant. There are no big emotions, no real wants, and no true progress. Life is boring. The only thing that's still human, ironically, is found in the most horrific, inhumane act someone could commit. Humanity barely lives, and the rest just live to die. To kill. To "glean," as a shiny, perfect, desensitized world would prefer to call it.

The book has a refreshing take on the future. It believes that, if we were to cure death before fighting our way into space, we would never leave. We would grow comfortable in safety, and seek vanquish any attempts to jeopardize it. It was interesting, and I felt it was realistic.

Neal Shusterman shows just how bad humanity is. True humanity leads to the worst of the worst worming their way into power every time. True humanity values themselves over morality. True humanity is ignorant and judgemental. True humanity, simply put, is dangerous. Yet, I we strip mankind of its sin, we are left with nothing worthwhile.

The plot is well connected. It wraps enough of the story up to have a clear, clean plot while still establishing conflict to be dealt with in the following books.

The characters well fleshed out nicely. The ones that were meant to be likeable were wonderful. The antagonists were scary. If not in a thriller/horror way, in a philosophical way. You didn't want them to win, but the threat of their success was just too real. Each response to the conflicts were clever. Nothing was too predictable to be enjoyable or too convoluted to be good storytelling.

The Shustermans are amazing, as always <3

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Bullying, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Religious bigotry, and Injury/Injury detail

reka111's review against another edition

emotional informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense 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? It's complicated

5.0

My greatest wish for humanity is not for peace or comfort or joy. It is that we all still die a little inside every time we witness the death of another. For only the pain of empathy will keep us human. There’s no version of God that can help us if we ever lose that.

I started this book thinking I wouldn't like it anyway, but look at me, I'm here and I love it. There was simply a moment - maybe because of the music playing in my ears - but something clicked and I decided it would be 5 stars, it would be all and in the end I didn't regret it. 

Cintra grew very close to my heart — as did Rowan — and it just hurts so much that she had to go through so much to get the peace of mind she deserved. I also loved Madam Curie, honestly, she had a calm personality who respected death and did not use it for punishment.

Their love with Faraday was just tragic, but still so cute, oh my goodness.

Their relationship with Rowan was complicated to say the least, but in the end they found each other back, even when everything was doomed to deteriorate. They are not average, so much has to be left and this is not accompanied by ordinary love. 

The plot was difficult to start at the beginning because it was necessary to absorb and understand a new world structure, but in the end it sucked me in, the idea itself is simply phenomenal and even believable. The pace may be a bit slow, but maybe it just seemed like it was a long book. I loved it anyway, it was a really creative and exciting read, and I can't wait to continue.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Murder

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Violence, and Fire/Fire injury

rachel_anne_krauz95's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad 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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Classism