Reviews tagging 'Death'

By Way Of Sorrow by Robyn Gigl

5 reviews

stormplains's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Deadnaming and Transphobia

Moderate: Death and Violence

Minor: Racism and Police brutality

Transphobia, deadnaming, and misgendering surrounding the main characters is a major part of the novel. The author handles this tactfully, and the portrayals of people who “just don’t get it” are realistic. That said, if you are not in the headspace to navigate that, that’s okay. Spoiler and major transphobia warning:

part of the plot involves the murder of a transgender sex worker, who is a friend of Sharise. The death happens off-screen. There are no graphic descriptions.

readthesparrow's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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? No

3.5

A pretty decent legal thriller! Though there were some sticking points for me (it was very clear the author doesn't speak AAVE and there was a lot of summary instead of narrative in the second half), I still overall enjoyed the book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Deadnaming, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Transphobia, Violence, Grief, and Stalking

Moderate: Confinement, Death, Vomit, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Pregnancy

talonsontypewriters's review against another edition

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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.0

Intriguing format and overall plot, and the author's background in law grants the story a lot of believability (though it does get somewhat cliche at some points). However, the writing style is very dry -- lots of telling and repetition, which dampens the action and any emotional impact, and the dialogue is very scripted and impossible to distinguish between most characters, with the one exception being a grimace-inducing attempt at AAVE from a white author. The characters are pretty flat in general, and a lot of the suspense is also mitigated by scenes expanding on the antagonists' motivations and plans in detail. Definitely some strong commentary on the legal/justice system and violence against trans people, especially trans women of color, but unfortunately not as compelling a read as I had hoped. Still, it is a debut, so I may still check out more of Gigl's writing in the future.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Confinement, Deadnaming, Death, Gun violence, Hate crime, Transphobia, Violence, Medical content, Stalking, Murder, Outing, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Homophobia, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Police brutality, Fire/Fire injury, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Cancer, Child death, Drug use, Racial slurs, Suicide, Vomit, Islamophobia, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Alcohol

joey1914's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Deadnaming, Death, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Sexual violence, Transphobia, Violence, Medical content, Murder, Pregnancy, and Outing

forgottenangstycharacter's review against another edition

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Confinement, Deadnaming, Death, Hate crime, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Transphobia, and Police brutality