Reviews tagging 'Eating disorder'

Truth of the Divine by Lindsay Ellis

28 reviews

softanimal's review against another edition

dark emotional tense fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Antisemitism, Islamophobia, Grief, Mass/school shootings, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Body horror, Drug use, Eating disorder, Genocide, Torture, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Car accident, Injury/Injury detail, and Deportation

frahhn's review against another edition

dark tense slow-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

3.0

Very torn—I liked the introduction of a second POV because Cora can grate on me, sort of feel like she is Bella Swan-esque. After two books I thought I would have a better sense of who this character is, but in book two she’s been through so much trauma that dealing with that is the focus rather than further exploring the character and encouraging her growth. The character herself expresses a total inability to know herself so maybe it’s fully intentional and I just don’t like it! That said, I think this was the better ending between the two books, and I’m really hoping the next book will have major growth for Cora and Ampersand (Jude), or if not, that the tragedy of being too alien to each other is played out meaningfully. Going back to the dual POV, I was pretty torn about the relationship that develops—I liked Kaveh a TON and then felt more meh once romance and sex was involved, but not enough to be unmoved by the really devastating development towards the end of the book. I really loved the introduction of Nic and his and Kaveh’s relationship throughout the text. I think Nic is my favorite character in the series yet, and I’m really curious to see how addiction will be handled in the third book, with Kaveh’s words and lessons in mind. Nit picky stuff, I need the word existential to stop being in the text (lol sorry! I feel the same about GRRM’s use of jape) and also sometimes the application of modern terms and modern discourse are jarring to me—I know the alt-right has existed forever with journalists and more covering them forever but I would have appreciated slightly different terms/adjacent terms for some of the contemporary phenomena happening in an alternative, earlier time that obviously serves as a comment on ours—Takes me out of the narrative a little, and I even often agree with the politics. I think it would then work a little better for the purposes of an engaging science fiction novel in addition to being contemporary political commentary—which of course informs any book fiction or not—but I think working well as both the novel and the commentary is what makes a classic? Anyway, hoping the next book goes full “I <3 My Monster Boyfriend” per a piece of LE merch :) and that Cora’s dad gets some supervillain-esque send-off akin to Who Framed Roger Rabbit.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Death, Eating disorder, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Grief, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Forced institutionalization and Islamophobia

hamstersinmypantsters'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? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide

Moderate: Addiction and Xenophobia

Minor: Alcoholism and Eating disorder

nelldiaz's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense 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? It's complicated

5.0

This book builds of the first book and takes it further! I'm so excited for the rest of the series.  This book made me cry.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Eating disorder, Gun violence, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Islamophobia, Grief, Medical trauma, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Racial slurs

claremcg's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

3.0

Still interested in the world and the bigger questions this book raises, but overall it wasn't as strong as Axiom's End. The plot felt more aimless and contrived at points and the alien characters less completing. The biggest drawback for me was how dark the content matter got, and how uncritically much of  it was presented. The reading experience was so dark I almost gave up reading at multiple points.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Eating disorder, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Antisemitism, Dementia, Kidnapping, Grief, Suicide attempt, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail

tbrnichols's review against another edition

dark emotional sad 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? Yes

4.0

Very different than the first book, but not necessarily worse, felt like the bond between the characters was much more fleshed out, though partially through the book being a bit less plot focused. A good look at panic and PTSD in an atypical setting. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Eating disorder and Suicide attempt

Minor: Sexual assault and Forced institutionalization

pizzasprite's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

3.0

I have strongly conflicting feelings about this book.

It a took a while for me to get around to reading this one, since the plot of Axiom's End was so heavily based in American politics, which I am completely uninterested in as a non-American. However, Truth of the Divine does a better job exploring the international implications of first contact than Axiom's End did. The first half of this book was, well, divine - I was extremely interested in the relationship between Cora and Ampersand, and the urgency of resolving the main political conflicts continued on from the first book. I thought Kaveh was a much-needed different perspective to contrast Cora's limited viewpoints. I think that telling the story of first contact from a journalist's POV much more interesting than from a "militarist" perspective. I also loved Nikolas! The alien culture that Ellis has fabricated is truly fascinating, I almost wish this series was all about aliens with no human characters. The way Cora's PTSD and panic attacks were depicted were equally heartbreaking and sympathetic. This book depicts mental illness more earnestly than anything I have read recently. 

The second half of the book is much weaker. The tension between Cora and Ampersand dissolved completely, since Ampersand is largely absent beyond Act 2. The sexual relationship between Cora and Kaveh made me so, so, so uncomfortable. It felt very gratuitous and came out of nowhere, almost like an editor insisted on their romance. In the author's notes, Ellis mentions that Kaveh used to be two characters, and you can definitely see that in the writing. There were many instances in which I felt like I could not continue reading, because their age difference and unbalanced power dynamic made me feel that uncomfortable. Early on, it's established that Cora feels very lonely, and needs another human to talk to: if Kaveh had remained her friend/mentor, this dynamic would have been perfect. However, the fact that they begin sleeping together makes their bond feel extremely creepy and toxic. This makes it difficult to "root" for Kaveh as a protagonist.  I wish the book focused on the relationship between Ampersand and Cora, especially since their romance is alluded to early in the book. I suspect/hope this will be explored more in the next book. 

I will probably read the next book in the series, to ultimately see what happens to Ampersand. But this one definitely left a foul taste in my mouth. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Rape, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Grief, Suicide attempt, Murder, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Ableism, Addiction, Eating disorder, Racism, Sexual content, Xenophobia, and Islamophobia

Minor: Misogyny

jjreads331's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Of all the places I thought this series would go, this was not it, if I'm being honest. And I am so happy to have been surprised. I'm excited to see what comes next, even if I'm still reeling a bit from this entry into the series.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Confinement, Eating disorder, Gun violence, Hate crime, Racial slurs, Police brutality, Antisemitism, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Abandonment, and Colonisation

cappuccino136's review against another edition

dark emotional tense

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

4.0

This second book delves deeper into the human and amigdalyn characters and especially looks at mental health. Content warnings for self-harm, suicidal ideation, PTSD, panic attacks, and eating disorder. It also gets deeper into politics and rising fascism. The author gets more explicit in dealing with the politics around extra-terrestrial intelligent life coming to earth and connecting that to the anti-immigration movement, white supremacy, etc. This does not flinch away from the darker side of humanity and how politicians enflame and manipulate that. This was a tense and emotional read. It is not relentlessly bleak, but there is not much optimism. The ending packs a punch.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder, Panic attacks/disorders, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Self harm

pineapplesurvivor's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Medical trauma, Abandonment, and Classism