Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

Blue-Skinned Gods by SJ Sindu

21 reviews

hazmur's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative reflective 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

4.0

I wanted to give the book 5 stars cause I really enjoyed the main plot line, but it had many issues that brought it down. It introduced characters that had very small parts in the books and didn't leave any meaningful impact yet had so much potential. The last act is super underwhelming it focused to much on

the band element rather than what that made kulki feel, they briefly mention kulkis new job but never develop it further or show the track he would have to start on to get there.

 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Mental illness and Sexual assault

Minor: Cancer and Death of parent

racheloddment's review against another edition

challenging emotional 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Suicide, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, and Alcohol

Moderate: Cancer, Drug use, Homophobia, Misogyny, Sexual content, Transphobia, Blood, and Vomit

dourdino's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Self harm and Suicide

caseythereader's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad slow-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? Yes

4.25

Thanks to Libro FM for the free copy of this book.

 - BLUE SKINNED GODS takes its time unraveling it's story, but my goodness, is it worth it. This book is beautiful, enraging, heartbreaking, joyful, and so much more.
- Even when I thought I knew exactly where Kalki's story was going, there's a major plot twist I did not see coming.
- The audiobook, narrated by Varun Sathi, is an immersive experience. I felt like I was right there in Kalki's head, trying to work everything out with him. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Gore, Infidelity, Self harm, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Cultural appropriation, Alcohol, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Sexual content

emzireads's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Religious bigotry, and Death of parent

ahliahreads's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad medium-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? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse and Suicide

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Cancer, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Gaslighting, and Alcohol

keatynbergsten's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Misogyny, Self harm, Suicide, Grief, and Death of parent

miki_fourinterests's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad fast-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death, Cancer, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Infidelity, Misogyny, Suicide, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Stalking, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

spinesinaline's review against another edition

challenging reflective 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

4.5

Thanks to Legend Press for an e-ARC! Find my full review at  spinesinaline.wordpress.com

This was very, very good and I loved how the story just so slightly shifted and revealed where we were headed as we got further in. Even the subtle aspects of the book, like what each section title ultimately represents, are so important to the story and our ultimate understanding of it and I loved these little nods that we discover throughout! So many of my thoughts are related to the latter half of the book so I’ll refrain from sharing too much to avoid spoilers but if anyone’s read it and wants to chat, let me know!

I was definitely not prepared for the twist, though of course we have hints of ‘what the heck is going on’, but the power of this writing comes not only from the author’s surprise in this twist but the implications of what these new discoveries will mean for Kalki’s sense of the world. Ultimately the book moves from a curious and fantastical story of a child god, to exploring more worldly concepts with Kalki as our eyes and ears.

The book is told almost primarily chronologically but there are a few moments within chapters where we’re suddenly in the present day with Kalki as he reflects back on his story. While I do like having this additional context of his current knowledge and hints of where he ends up, the present day moments were so infrequently mixed in, and usually within a flashback chapter, that it felt an odd change of the flow of the story.

The ending is where I have more issues, which of course I’ll keep vague to avoid spoilers. I was prepared to leave the book with many unanswered questions, which felt very realistic in how people’s lives progress, but the ending then hints that there are even more hideous secrets being kept. Except that after all these hints, we just get more of the same so the scene felt rather pointless, and then the book ended very abruptly.

This is still a book I’ll be thinking about long after I’ve put it down but I wish it could’ve embraced being open-ended more. I also really appreciated that the author ends with a land acknowledgment and includes many recommendations on Indigenous authors to check out.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Suicide, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cancer, Confinement, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Vomit, Car accident, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

kylieqrada's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative 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

3.0

A solid 3 star read. This book was fascinating. We follow Kalki, a boy born with blue skin who is believed to be, and is raised as, the 10th and final incarnation of the Hindu god Vishnu. I learned so much about Hindu beliefs and culture through this book, and found that the author was able to convey the faith in a very multi-faceted way. The characters were so diverse and not treated in a tokenistic manner whatsoever, but rather woven into the story organically. I would be interested in Own Voices reviewers' take on the treatment of transgender characters in the story, although from my limited perspective, I thought the discussion of their history in India was handled fairly well. I enjoyed the narrative style that the story was told in, with Kalki looking back from the future and telling the story to the reader. With all of the intense abuse that takes place throughout the beginning of the story, this perspective gives some sense of hope that Kalki will make it through. While I did enjoy the latter portion of the story, seeing Kalki interact with his cousin and new friends in America, I didn't particularly like the way things wrapped up, and actually found myself imagining alternate endings. Overall, I think that while this book is very strong for the first 2/3 or so, the ending leaves something to be desired, and could have gone in a number of more satisfying directions. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Ableism, Cancer, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, and Death of parent