Reviews tagging 'Violence'

Even If We Break by Marieke Nijkamp

18 reviews

rosesandstuff's review

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

4.75

I wish we had more of the murderers perspective,

Spoiler

the look into Liva’s mind really made the book for me

Spoiler

but overall this book made me so happy and tense and I loved it

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Chronic illness, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Homophobia, Transphobia, and Ableism

Minor: Car accident

bradley's review

dark emotional hopeful mysterious tense 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Suicidal thoughts, Addiction, Child death, Mental illness, Car accident, Death, Drug abuse, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Transphobia, and Violence

Moderate: Hate crime, Ableism, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Grief, and Toxic friendship

beesreadingshelf's review

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Murder, and Addiction

stuckinatimeloop's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Ableism, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction and Toxic friendship

hctown's review

adventurous emotional mysterious fast-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence, Ableism, and Transphobia

aqulia's review

adventurous fast-paced

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

3.5

Even When We Break was a fun book to read, but I'm not sure Nijkamp intended that.  I loved that there was an autistic character, because characters with autism are really rare.  The trans and nonbinary representation was great, too.  The interactions between Molly, Finn, and Ever where great, and I love how Nijkamp explored all of the characters flaws.  And their game sounded super fun! The death traps, while rather silly, were fun to read.

However, this book has some major flaws.  First, some of the POVs sounded too similar.  Molly's was distinct, but Liva and Carter's often sounded similar.  This problem was worse between Finn and Ever.  I actually had to flip back to the beginning of the chapter to differentiate the two.  Second, figuring out the killer was way to easy.  You can guess before the group starts their game, and figuring it out after the death is trivial.  The killer's motivation for committing the crimes was rather non-sensical, and beating the killer felt too easy.

In short, if you are looking for a tense book that leaves you guessing who the killer is, this is not for you.  However, if you want to have a good time with the book version of an 80's slasher b-movie, Even When We Break is the book for you.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Murder

Moderate: Transphobia, Self harm, Addiction, and Hate crime

Minor: Ableism, Car accident, and Fire/Fire injury

longlost's review

dark mysterious reflective tense slow-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

3.0

wow the villain of this book is a real piece of shit huh

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Classism, Death, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Stalking, Toxic friendship, Violence, Ableism, Blood, and Confinement

Moderate: Ableism, Addiction, Car accident, Drug abuse, Drug use, Suicidal thoughts, and Grief

Minor: Transphobia

puttingwingsonwords's review

dark emotional reflective tense fast-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Blood, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Murder, Violence, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Bullying, Ableism, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, and Transphobia

Minor: Animal death and Animal cruelty

mydearwatsonbooks's review

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence, Toxic friendship, Panic attacks/disorders, and Addiction

Minor: Bullying, Transphobia, Suicide, Grief, and Car accident

baponthecob's review

dark hopeful mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.0

I really wasn't connected to the friend group as a whole, but as individuals, Ever was my favorite and I related the most to Maddy. I really did not care about Carter at all, and I hated Liva with a passion. Her head was so far up her own ass that she could probably taste her breakfast. I understand that she was conditioned to be that way by her parents, but at some point she is responsible for her own actions, especially when her friends wanted to help. Finn was done so dirty by her. I got tired of her classism and ableism so quick. Also transphobia??? Really out of left field. Like she is a cis straight rich white girl out here belittling her queer, trans, and disabled friends who are not as well off 😟 and then had the audacity to say she still cared about them 😟 and that they made her do what she did bc they tried to be more than they should 😟 please get some help
And after all that, we've got Ever still feeling bad. They have so much compassion for everyone else and I love them for it, but they really need to care about themself too :( and that's where  the book takes us at the end. Freshly realized morals, taking one step at a time, all that cheesy shit.
Overall, I liked how this book discussed friendship and how some things may not last. The main message at the end was a little bittersweet but still hopeful. But it was just VERY in-your-face, which really took me out of the story.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Blood, Drug abuse, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, and Violence

Moderate: Car accident, Chronic illness, Ableism, Fire/Fire injury, Suicidal thoughts, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Hate crime, Self harm, and Transphobia