Reviews tagging 'Blood'

Sanctuary by Paola Mendoza, Abby Sher

11 reviews

paigereitz's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad 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

5.0

Damn. This book was intense and hard and important. A near-set dystopian future in which Americans are chipped and undocumented immigrants are hunted by the government. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Xenophobia, Death of parent, Deportation, Police brutality, Death, Racism, Trafficking, Child death, and Hate crime

Moderate: Blood and Sexual assault

bookcaptivated's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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? No

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Deportation, Gore, Gun violence, Xenophobia, Child death, Death, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexual harassment, Violence, and Blood

Moderate: Confinement, Racial slurs, and Vomit

Minor: Rape, Sexual assault, Animal death, Slavery, and Torture

melmoony's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative sad 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

3.5

Non-spoiler synopsis: We follow Vali, a sixteen-year-old girl who is undocumented. The government is very anti-immigrant and in a dystopian future all residents are tracked by a microchip on their wrists. Vali and her mom get fake ones implanted, but her mom’s tracker malfunctioned one day in the past. With turmoil starting at the California/Mexico border, the government doubles down and decides to start going after all undocumented folk. Vali, her mom and her younger brother (a citizen himself) are forced to find sanctuary and safety when things begin to affect her local community and the country as a whole.

This story was heartbreaking and tragic. This reads like a young adult book but there are moments in the story that are quite intense and somewhat graphic. The struggles Vali and her family go through are not new, many people suffer from having undocumented status. What’s scary about this story is that though it’s a dystopian story, it could honestly become real life very easily.

Not only does Vali have to deal with the trauma of her dad being deported, but once the specialized police force start hunting and taking away undocumented people in her neighborhood, she flees only to have her mom’s tracker not work and they take her mom! She managed to escape, but got close to being taken thanks to the lady sitting next to her on the bus, seriously why open your mouth lady?! At the end of the book, she does get to make it to California with her brother (CA seceded from the US & became a sanctuary state for immigrants) but she’s not happy. The ending felt very bleak because she said she would never feel good until they help the others taken into interment camps back in the US. She also thinks she saw her mom in one at the CA/Arizona border?! But we don’t see her finding her mom after that or rescuing her. Quite sad.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Deportation, Blood, Body horror, Child death, Death of parent, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Confinement, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Police brutality, and Racism

Minor: Drug use and Sexual assault

tania_mybookishsecret's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective 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

4.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Deportation, Xenophobia, Police brutality, Child death, Racism, and Death of parent

Moderate: Rape

kshertz's review against another edition

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? Yes

4.75

I loved this book. It’s dystopian but just barely. The genius is in just how not far out in the future it feels. People who are not born in America being marked and tracked, forced to try to get to California for Sanctuary. It so clearly connects you to the main characters and you root  for everyone. It breaks your heart over and over again. But it’s so important. I wish I could make everyone read it. Especially my students from conservative households. The empathy is essential. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Police brutality, Trafficking, Blood, Child death, Deportation, Genocide, Sexual assault, Abandonment, Body horror, Death, Death of parent, Forced institutionalization, Hate crime, Violence, Xenophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, Racial slurs, and Rape

rinku's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative sad medium-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

3.0

Sanctuary was such a different book than I expected it to be. Being tagged as a dystopia, I thought it would be more like a classical YA dystopia. Instead, it was a much more contemporary book talking about the struggles of so-called illegal immigrants. In this aspect, the book was good, but the writing itself was lacking at some points, so I couldn’t give more than three stars. 

The general dystopian setting had so much potential, but this potential was barely used. Vali, her mother, and her brother live in a future America where so-called illegal immigrants like themselves are being persecuted. This setting was so creepy since it was not too unrealistic, just like the escalation of the situation which forces Vali and her family to flee. While trying to escape, their mom gets caught by the deportation unit and Vali and her brother are on their own. 

Around 80% of the novel thus just consists of them fleeing from their home and trying to find their way to California. Most of this was just so depressing, hopeless, and probably depicted the struggles of immigrants quite well. Besides this, Vali’s feelings are portrayed so well. Some parts were a bit over the top with the bad guys and also

Vali fell in love with Malakas way too fast

. At least,

they arrive at their destination in the end. It would’ve been so depressing if they died while trying

. I also wasn’t the biggest fan of the writing itself. At many points throughout the novel, there’s just too much telling, like about Vali’s past or the ending. Additionally, there were not many descriptions, so it wasn’t very vivid. 

Like I’ve said, I see what kind of story Sanctuary was trying to tell and I appreciate the authentic insight into the topic. Nevertheless, if the storytelling had been better, I would’ve given a better rating as well. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Police brutality, Xenophobia, Blood, Child death, Deportation, Gun violence, and Racism

Moderate: Death of parent, Murder, and Violence

Minor: Rape and Slavery

theoceanrose's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad 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? It's complicated

4.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Death, Racism, Xenophobia, Grief, Child death, and Blood

caitlink's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

I was so happy that Vali and her brother finally got to California. I was just wondering throughout the book will at least they make? And they did.

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood, Racism, Violence, Murder, Grief, Xenophobia, and Rape

vegjeri's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad 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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Death of parent, and Racism

Moderate: Police brutality

Minor: Vomit, Sexual assault, Blood, and Slavery

happilyeveralli's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful sad tense slow-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

4.5

I can't describe how much I love subtle dystopias. Sure, the Hunger Games is an almost-masterpiece, but sometimes I just want a dystopia that feels so much like our world that it makes you shake in your boots. That's what Sanctuary is. It feels like a nightmare—far from our world, but sadly not unreachable. Listening to the book also gave it another layer of emotion. I cried and laughed with the characters; felt their joy and pain. It's very likely and basically impossible that I'll ever experience anything like the main characters, but I could only hope that in their world, they end up just fine. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Violence, Blood, Child death, and Death

Moderate: Trafficking