Reviews tagging 'Adult/minor relationship'

The Bright Lands by John Fram

13 reviews

ramintah's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Gore, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Sexual assault, Suicide, Fire/Fire injury, Homophobia, Murder, Drug abuse, and Gun violence

ashcrash's review against another edition

dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious 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

4.0

love the classic “horror lurking beneath a tiny town,” and it’s executed v well. characters are flawed but lovable and their relationships are real. think IT mixed with a gritty teen drama. a few too many characters to keep track of for my brain.

the ending was honestly very anticlimatic for me, and the main reason i didn’t give this a higher rating. as compelling as the beginning and middle is, it builds so much that when we actually get the reveal it isn’t as interesting as the fake outs and proposed theories we got earlier, which is sad.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Gore, Adult/minor relationship, Homophobia, Murder, Pedophilia, and Racism

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Addiction, and Toxic friendship

mr_cain's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious 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? It's complicated

4.75

This book has so many twists and turns, it's a beautiful maze. It had me sobbing at the end.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Death, Drug abuse, Violence, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Outing, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Cursing, Sexual content, and Grief

Moderate: Body horror, Car accident, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Homophobia

Minor: Death of parent, Suicide, Vomit, and Addiction

eegrasse's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Kidnapping, Sexual assault, Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Pedophilia, Suicide, Trafficking, Violence, and Vomit

thingquail's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Grief, Adult/minor relationship, Homophobia, Violence, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Rape, Murder, and Gun violence

hawkguyscoffee's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious slow-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

4.5

Even with it's slow start the story doesn't fail to make the reader intrigued about it's mistery and at it's climax definetly keeps the reader on their toes (my hands were quite literally shaking as I did). What's more, even if you think you won't, you ultimately fall in love with th characters and start cheering for them. The hard topics of racism and homophobia were, to my opinion, well tackled and even tho I have my criticism about certain plot points I do believe this is an important story that succeeds at talking about the kind of homophobia and toxic masculinity young men are subjected to in the world of American Football. What's more, I loved the dynamic between Joel and his brother that very much reminded me of the one I have with my own and I feel I will always carry their journey and characters in my heart (as well as the rest of the cast who, each for their own reasons, managed to make me fall in love with them too). 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Rape, Homophobia, Murder, and Suicide

Moderate: Bullying, Drug use, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Vomit, Violence, Hate crime, Racism, Drug abuse, Body shaming, Outing, Child abuse, Addiction, Sexual assault, Religious bigotry, and Pedophilia

juliezantopoulos's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious 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? It's complicated

3.0

I can respect that this is an own voices thriller/horror and appreciate it for that, but this wasn't for me. I understand the commentary on toxic masculinity, especially in sports and in the south. However, the "horror" in this book was not actually scary. I really thought I was getting a horror book and instead I got a murder mystery. I know this is an own voices book with a gay main character, but the use of queer slurs and homophobia was too rampant for me. Which is not to say it's not a reality, but I didn't want to read it....especially with the direction the book went! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gaslighting, Grief, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Racism, and Police brutality

rliedtke's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.75

 

This will leave you saying what the f***. I wasn’t really sure where it was heading throughout the book but I definitely wasn’t expecting exactly what we got. The climax is about 100 pages long which sounds crazy but it was pretty epic and still felt fast paced, I couldn’t put it down once that scene started. 

What I liked: multiple POVs, short chapters, the problems it discussed (homophobia, racism)

What I didn’t like: the writing felt mediocre to me and a few lines made me cringe 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Homophobia, and Violence

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Drug use, Sexual assault, and Racism

katelynprice's review against another edition

dark mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

3.0

I was really into the mood, atmosphere, and mystery of this book. The first 70% was really good, and then...it got weird. I realize that there is a social commentary going on here, but I am just not a fan of the execution.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse

Moderate: Sexual assault, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Death, Gore, and Homophobia

lizflynn's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

3.75

That was W I L D. The first 3/4 of the book is a really well-laid, suspenseful crime thriller, and then the last 1/4 twists and turns into some good ol fashioned horror and I loved the ride. This is definitely a step above the rest of the thrillers/crime fiction out there. There are so many well-done layers and secrets and conflicts and wow, I really hated that suffocating town of Bentley.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Homophobia, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Addiction