Reviews tagging 'Blood'

The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune

21 reviews

dillonsees's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted 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? It's complicated

5.0

This book is in my top 100 books of all time! It invites you on this journey with many fun and very lovable characters. Its reminds you it’s the little things like a button or a song, maybe a touch of someone’s hand in yours or even a dance with someone you care for. 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, and Classism

katelynndzindzio's review against another edition

adventurous funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted 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? Yes

4.75

Linus, a completely unremarkable man was tasked with an adventure. He just didn't know it yet. Breaking down his walls he fell in love, and not with just himself. 

"He thought of the life he had. How he could ever have thought it'd be enough. His thoughts were alll cerulean."-Linus

Linus found where he belonged. The children, though they didn't seem like it at times, found their home. Arthur found his other half. 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Blood, Death of parent, Abandonment, and Classism

kiwichill's review

adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted 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

5.0

A wonderful book about equality, acceptance and love.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body shaming, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Blood, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury

risaleel's review against another edition

adventurous funny hopeful inspiring mysterious 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: Child abuse, Fatphobia, and Abandonment

Moderate: Confinement, Emotional abuse, and Classism

Minor: Death, Forced institutionalization, and Blood

chelle22's review

adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Blood, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Murder, Cultural appropriation, and Abandonment

keelirae113's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring 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? It's complicated

5.0

This book is a love letter to everyone who has ever been made to feel that they don’t belong. You deserve a family who loves you just as you are, even if that means you have to go out and find them for yourself. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Ableism, Body shaming, Confinement, Death, Hate crime, Panic attacks/disorders, Blood, and Death of parent

mags_'s review against another edition

adventurous challenging funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted 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? Yes

3.5

I enjoyed this book, but found the dialogue rather stilted and preachy.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body shaming, Child abuse, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Racism, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Fire/Fire injury, and Abandonment

Minor: Animal death, Body horror, Gore, and Blood

fanboyriot's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

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

Read For:

Fantasy

Slow Burn

Found Family

Idiots in Love

Happy Ending

Think Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children vibes but kinda queer.  I just felt kinda neutral about it.  The humor was okay, the characters were okay, and the setting was kinda meh.  I just felt like I had to force myself to keep reading and if I didn’t already own the book I would have stopped.  Also, I thought there would be more queer rep to be honest so that was kinda disappointing.  Not to mention the fatphobia.

I wasn’t going to read this given the reviews I’ve been seeing recently, however, I already own the first two books so I figured I’d see if it was as bad as some of the reviews were saying.  And honestly, I just didn’t understand the hype about it.  Even not knowing what the book was based on it was barely a 3-star rating for me, it just fell flat to me.

However, learning that this was based on the Sixties Scoop and how the author decided to turn what was a cruel and tragic piece of history he read about on Wikipedia about how the Canadian government removed a bunch of indigenous children from their literal homes and away from their family only to be adopted to white, middle-class families and he then took that information and basically turned it into a happy little fantasy where the kids live not in an “orphanage” but a “home” like, dude, why?

This kind of thing is still something native people are dealing with and as a white person, it should not be something you’re involved in like this.  In America the Supreme Court literally is going to be voting soon on overturning ICWA so states can regain control to remove Native children from their homes and families, this isn’t just some fantasy.  This story could have been written way better and in a way that did romanticize trauma and make light of a literal genocide.

I just wouldn’t recommend this one.  There are some links on where I got my information from if you’re interested along with two reviews I think do a better job of explaining this than I did.

Links:

Source: https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A617930246/ITBC?u=uvictoria&sid=bookmark-ITBC&xid=0efbabda

Wikipedia: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sixties_Scoop

Helpful Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4032060130

Another Helpful Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3601407534

Rep: Achillean, Queer MC

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Genocide, Hate crime, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racism, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Religious bigotry, and Abandonment

Moderate: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Homophobia, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, and Classism

Minor: Animal death, Body horror, Death, Blood, Cannibalism, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury

natroze's review against another edition

emotional funny inspiring lighthearted fast-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Xenophobia, Religious bigotry, and Abandonment

Moderate: Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Panic attacks/disorders, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, and Abandonment

Not on content warnings list: adoption/foster system trauma and abuse. Note: most xenophobia and racism in the book is directed at mythical/fantasy being characters (fairies, shapeshifters, etc). Also of note: does fall into the “character of color turns into an animal” trope; the one character I recall being described as black is a shapeshifter who turns into a dog, who has also suffered some of the most realistic-to-life adoption system trauma/abuse.

baearles's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted 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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse and Xenophobia

Minor: Death, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Torture, Blood, and Fire/Fire injury