Reviews tagging 'Gun violence'

Truth of the Divine by Lindsay Ellis

51 reviews

friemesis'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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Xenophobia, and Suicide attempt

blakeisslaying's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Eating disorder, Genocide, Gun violence, Hate crime, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Police brutality, Grief, Suicide attempt, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

bl2012's review against another edition

adventurous emotional tense fast-paced

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

4.0

Can't wait for the next installment!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm and Violence

Moderate: Gun violence and Xenophobia

Minor: War

The US goverment and military is prominently featured

and is largely but not exclusively the antagonist or main obstacle to our heroes. Other prominent enemies include white supremacist militias

bean_7088's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

Oof... that was a rough one. 
Wanna be sad about the human race? Wanna feel fairly hopless? This one is for you!

It does end on a hopeful note... but like that hopefulness is somewhat undercut by the way the character speakin treated. 

This one had a lot of tense scenes I wanted to hide from. I had to stop a lot and explain what was going on to my roommate so I could get those jitters out. Like, a televised "discussion" between two different sides of the alien personhood debate. A hearing where unknown evidence comes up. 

Anyways, it was still really good. 

I'm not sure how I felt about Kaveh. And I'm not sure if it was how he was written or just his voice actor 😅 I'm sure the guy is normally fine, but the main voice actor Stephanie Willis is so incredible that switching to him is quite jarring. 

Waring that Cora goes through a lot, this poor kid traumatized over and over. And Stephanie Willis will make you feel it. Listening to Cora's Panic attacks was very distressing.

The ending left on such a wild note I am excited to see where the 3rd book will go. Now I just have to wait 7 months 🥲

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Police brutality, Islamophobia, Grief, Medical trauma, and Suicide attempt

Lindsay Ellis does a big Content Warning before everything starts. At least in the audio book.

gennyloves's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Islamophobia

emilb's review against another edition

adventurous challenging 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Death, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Xenophobia, Antisemitism, Islamophobia, Grief, Suicide attempt, and Murder

Minor: Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, and Kidnapping

meremeth's review against another edition

adventurous challenging 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

5.0

I've never read a book where I've felt so heartwrenchingly seen in a character. So awkward that she's the character everyone else seems to find excruciating to read! 
Untreated PTSD is a debilitating experience, it turns you so disfunctional. It felt nice to read a character that is actually experiencing the effects of the serious trauma she went through in the first book. (Rare for sci fi!!) 
Also, I genuinely felt politically challenged by this book. It guides you through some really interesting political thought.
I can't wait for the next book, I'm so desperate for more from this series. This one's a definite improvement on the first book, which makes sense as it was a debut! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Self harm, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Hate crime, Kidnapping, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Forced institutionalization, and Antisemitism

beccaand's review against another edition

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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Xenophobia, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Racism, Sexual content, and Islamophobia

Minor: Alcoholism, Eating disorder, and Forced institutionalization

kanonkita's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad 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? Yes

4.75

Very well written. I had some issues with the slow pacing of the first book in this series that I felt this one largely managed to avoid. Some aspects of the main character were a bit grating at times, but in one sense that was the point. She was struggling with trauma and mental health issues related to that, and I think Ellis did a good job portraying how these things can make someone difficult to deal with or be around. 

That being said, maybe avoid the audiobook unless you really enjoy listening to tremulous female voices shouting "No no no" over and over again ever few minutes. The computerized sound effect that was put over the Amygdalans' voices in the audiobook could also be grating at times and made it difficult to hear them if there was any background noise while I was listening.

Overall, I would recommend it, but do pay attention to the content warning Ellis provides at the beginning of the novel. 

Also, a note that I have not seen this book listed as LGBTQ+ in many places, which I can only chalk up to bi erasure. Cora is bisexual, and it seems unfair that this gets overlooked just because she has a heterosexual romance, especially given that it occurs alongside her very queer relationship with an alien who only uses he/him pronouns out of convenience.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Antisemitism, Islamophobia, Mass/school shootings, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

eatyourphone's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious 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

enjoyable, i liked the change in tone from the first book. will probably read the next when it comes out though some of the beginning and middle sections are already leaving my brain

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Self harm, Suicide, Violence, and Xenophobia

Minor: Sexual assault