Reviews with content warning for War - This Gilded Abyss

Reviews tagging 'War'

This Gilded Abyss by Rebecca Thorne

7 reviews

takarakei's review

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adventurous mysterious 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? It's complicated

4.0

'submarines' more like a giant cruise ship underwater
a bit of sci-fi horror
environmental undertones
queer second chance romance!

Despite some photography inaccuracies which took me out of the story for a bit (totally a me thing)... this was super fun to read! I found the world building interesting and the mysterious plot kept me reading along! I've heard this was inspired by Bioshock? which makes sense. Audiobook is good too!

Downside is it's the first in a series and the next book isn't out yet :'( but I shall be continuing once that's out!

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n0elle's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.0

Lesbian enemies to lovers on a submarine with political scheming and a lot of death.

I am not quite sure about this. It was a quick read and everything happened so fast it was hard to put the book down. But at the same time it made everything feel rushed and superficial.
The world building was very sparse, so much that when religious lore was suddenly introduced it felt misplaced.

If you like entertaining fast paced books about adventures and murders on a submarine, set in a queer-normative world without having to think too much about the general concept then this is for you. If you’re looking for intricate world building and fleshed out characters then maybe this one is not for you.

Please check trigger warnings, this one is quite gory.

3 ⭐️ because of the lesbians and a wild ride of a story.

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building_a_bookdom's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional sad 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? It's complicated

5.0

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dancers_and_dragons's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Thorne does a stunning job of sweeping the reader along into this world, where mysteries run rampant and are unfolded as the pages turn. The tension and care and tumult between the characters was perfect to make me feel for them through each chapter, and the attention to detail brought things to life.

While I'd wished for a less ambiguous ending, I'm definitely bittersweet about finishing this book and I'm looking forward to the next installment of this series.

Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Death, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Murder, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Cursing, Medical content, Alcohol, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Religious bigotry, and Gaslighting

Sexual content:

Pages 247-261 on Kindle, unsure of the count on other devices (the first half of chapter 23) contains explicit sexual acts between the two main protagonists. All sexual acts are consensual, but do have a layer of trauma behind them, as they had a previous sexual relationship that ended sourly.

Colonisation/Xenophobia/War: The country the protagonists live in, Valkesh, is at war with another society, the Triolan. From what I can determine from how certain things are explained, these societies do not look different from each other or have different racial features, but they do hold animosity toward each other.

While Thorne does a good job of showing that not all members of either society are a monolith, this progress from their perspective is largely unhelped by the events of the book and there is little to no resolution. One of Nix's best friends is a Triolan, which is further describes under "Betrayal" below. But the Valkesh do hold an upper hand in the war between them and have limited tolerance to listen to alternate points of view besides Kessandra, one of the subarchs in the monarchy.

Betrayal:

One of Nix's squad, Leon, is a Triolan and is working against her and the Valkeshians as a double agent, even though she trained him up and mentored him. His betrayal comes as shock to her and is described with a significant amount of grief and concern. He does attempt to kill her near the end of the book.

Classism: There is a clear hierarchy between civilians and the monarchy, with aspects of wealth and privilege that are mentioned heavily throughout the book and occasionally used as a power play between characters. Emotional abuse/child abuse/confinement:

Kessandra, one of the main characters, does reveal that the primarch/head monarch has kept her confined for years, gaslighted her and the country about the illness they're investigating, and has attempted to kill her multiple times since she was young. While this is not explicitly labelled as abuse by anyone in the book, aspects of it are explicitly described.

Confinement: At various points, the main characters or side characters are confined in rooms for quarantine or in attempts to barricade themselves from others. Also, 90% of the book takes place in a vessel that is travelling beneath the ocean.

robin_reads's review

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious slow-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

A submarine disaster. A disease (and something more). Two ex girlfriends forced to work together to uncover this mystery. It’s tense, it’s emotional, it’s amazing and definitely worth the read.

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sunshine_oracle's review

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dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

Did you enjoy the cozy fantasy of Can't Spell Treason Without Tea and A Pirate's Life for Tea? Well, hold on to your butts because Rebecca Thorne's upcoming novel This Guilded Abyss goes in a completely different direction. There's nothing cozy to be found in this novel.

Instead, follow Sergeant Nix Marr on a special assignment aboard the Luminosity as personal security for Subarch Kessandra Marie Vendermere Biltean III. Luminosity is the travel vessel to the underwater city if Fall, it is the only way in and out.

Nix has been there before to the Ichoron mines outside of Fall along with Kessandra. Many soldiers do tours in the mines, and not all of them come back. This trip to Fall is different. Something -or someone- is attacking dive teams before they even get to the mines. And Kessandra means stop it. But before they can reach Fall, the attacks begin on Luminosity.

Prepare yourself for a journey deep underwater on an oppulant vessel filled with people going berserk. I am a wimp when it comes to horror and gore. But This Guilded Abyss made me the right level of uncomfy. Thanks to the content warnings page I knew exactly what I was getting into. I described it to a friend as soft horror, it didn't hit my upper threshold which is great and it didn't make me gag and have to DNF. But jeeze did it have me nearly crying several times. And getting weird shivers because of the idea of red eyes just lurking in the darkness. I enjoyed reading This Guilded Abyss and slammed through it in just a day. I can't wait to find out what's waiting for Kess and Nix in Fall.

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smarty007's review

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adventurous dark 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? No

5.0

After receiving an eArc of this book, I basically binge read it in one day. This is my honest review: I am hooked. I binge-read it in one sitting and still want more. Before I tell you why, quick recap what the book is about:
This story centers on Sergeant Nix Marr and the royal Kessandra (sorry, unlike Nix I can’t list all her titles properly). Nix is the protagonist and the novel is told from her POV. At the very beginning there seems to be bad blood between the two women, but Kess wants Nix’s help regardless and even though Nix is reluctant, Kess prevails and they embark on their mission together. And no one is prepared for what happens next.

Okay, so the first third of the book is a lot of world building and character set up, which feels like a bit of a slow start (compared to what happens after they embark), but it really pays off. Taking the time to set up the world, the characters and the story ensures that you as a reader have a rough idea of what’s going on and what’s at stake at all times. And it’s the reason why certain things in this book work as well as they do. Also, getting to know more about the characters and their relationships makes the fast paced action that follows even more enjoyable. Nix is an awesome protagonist and works well with Kess who starts off as an antagonist. There are a few interesting and notable side characters that support the story. The plot itself is detailed and blew my mind. You think you know where the story is going until you don’t. There are hints, there is foreshadowing, but the plot twist still lands incredibly well. The pacing is on point and the action is entertaining, for lack of a better word. As the author has cautioned many times, this is not a cozy fantasy, it’s an action-packed and bloody one, so make sure to check the trigger warnings. Long story short: I loved this wild ride and can’t wait for the second book.

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