Reviews tagging 'Death'

Ascension by Jacqueline Koyanagi

7 reviews

talonsontypewriters's review

adventurous hopeful medium-paced

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

2.0

super conceptually fun, but ends up overthrowing a coherent, well-paced plot, consistent three-dimensional characters, and clear worldbuilding for themes and vibes most of the time. probably a good time for someone, but unfortunately not me

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Death, Genocide, Blood, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Ableism, Body horror, Confinement, Eating disorder, Gore, Violence, Medical content, Death of parent, and Classism

Minor: Sexual content, Terminal illness, and Xenophobia

the_vegan_bookworm's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful 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? No

3.75

I LOVED the premise. I loved that it was a queer, Black, polyamorous and disabled love story. The anti-capitalist critiques in the story's themes were great.

This being said, the leads had no chemistry and every character besides Alana fell flat for me. I would have loved to see more complex character development to support the romance.

I look forward to reading other books by this author, as it was a great debut.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Death, Eating disorder, Genocide, Grief, and Death of parent

tessisreading2's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional fast-paced

• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

An interesting, gripping science fiction read with an emphasis on found family and a through-line of WLW romance... and then it all got weird. The science fiction plot ended with a deus ex machina (after getting bizarre with some weirdness that was not foreshadowed at all), and the romance was hard to root for given that

one MC was in a polyamorous relationship but initiated a romantic relationship with the other MC without telling her as much; while the other MC knew that the first might be in some sort of relationship with someone else but didn't ask questions because she was so infatuated

. That doesn't describe the start of a healthy relationship to me. 

That said, the book is so unusual in the genre/subgenre; I wish there were more like this, that paired challenging science fiction with a romantic through-line and really worked at their characterizations.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Eating disorder, Sexual content, and Grief

Moderate: Death and Death of parent

Minor: Violence

obviousthings's review against another edition

I liked reading about a main character with a chronic illness, but I found the narration to be way too melodramatic. Alana is quick to say things like "The sound tore through the wall of silence, shattering my nerves" when she's mildly startled, for example. It takes all the impact out of scenes that should be impactful.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Ableism, Chronic illness, Death, Eating disorder, and Death of parent

madamenovelist's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional inspiring reflective 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Blood, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

switchywitchsitch's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful inspiring 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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Chronic illness, Death, Eating disorder, Grief, Death of parent, Colonisation, and Classism

Moderate: Genocide, Terminal illness, Violence, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

caseythereader's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Death, Eating disorder, Genocide, Gun violence, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, and Murder