Reviews tagging 'Grief'

This Gilded Abyss by Rebecca Thorne

5 reviews

building_a_bookdom's review against another edition

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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Cursing, Gore, Gun violence, Pandemic/Epidemic, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Grief, and Murder

Moderate: Mental illness, Medical trauma, Genocide, Confinement, Fire/Fire injury, Medical content, Police brutality, Vomit, War, Alcohol, and Body horror

Minor: Toxic relationship and Addiction

dancers_and_dragons's review against another edition

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

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

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

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

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. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Death, Blood, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and War

sylsbookcorner's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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? It's complicated

5.0

Oh my GOD this book grabs ahold of you from the start and doesn’t let up til the final sentence! I am emotionally destroyed and I need the sequel immediately! Rebecca has a way of writing characters that you immediately fall in love with and this book is no exception, Nix and Kess are complicated, messy, and I ADORE them. This book had everything, it has suspense, action, horror, spice, and one hell of a cliffhanger. I can’t wait for the second book!! 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Violence, Gore, and Death

Moderate: Vomit, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, and Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Fire/Fire injury

cozybooksandgoldenembers's review

adventurous dark emotional 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

This is one of the best books I have read all year. 

“This Gilded Abyss” is part sci-fi, part fantasy, part horror, and part thriller. The relationship between Nix and Kessandra is excellent. They have immaculate chemistry, but also are able to see and point out the flaws in one another without pulling any punches. The action is swift and fast paced. And the last 8-10 chapters had me on the edge of my seat. It took twists and turns I never expected. I literally said, “WTH?!?!” multiple times. I feel like I am rambling at this point, but I’m afraid if I say more, I’ll give too much away. I will say to read the trigger warnings and be aware of them. If you are a fan of things like the video game/tv show “The Last of Us” and are looking for a book that has those vibes? Pick this up when it releases. 

This Gilded Abyss by Rebecca Thorne releases on June 6, 2023. I received this book as an ARC. You can preorder this book on Barnes and Nobles (paperback and ebook) and on Amazon (ebook). 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Mental illness, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Cannibalism, Classism, Death, Medical content, and Panic attacks/disorders