Reviews tagging 'Suicidal thoughts'

Some Desperate Glory by Emily Tesh

16 reviews

nikshelby's review

DNF — I only made it to the Content Warning. Some other day I may be in the mood for rape, suicide, abuse, forced pregnancy (and I don’t know what else)…but today is not that day. 

It’s highly rated, and came from recommenders I listen to. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide

30something_reads's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense fast-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

3.5

Maybe? Maybe lower? Maybe higher? Idk. I need to think on it.

There were some really interesting and exciting things happening in this story. It took turns that I was not expecting and really enjoyed. And it was compulsively readable. Emily Tesh has a great pen. 

But I also think the author maybe took on too much with only surface level resolutions for all of it. The -isms and -phobics were off the charts and I don't necessarily think all of them were handled appropriately. (An d by that, I mainly mean the way racism is discussed. It definitely feels like a white woman wrote it in that regard.)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Homophobia, Misogyny, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Transphobia, Violence, Xenophobia, Pregnancy, Outing, and War

Minor: Bullying, Cursing, Rape, Abortion, Death of parent, Colonisation, and Classism

ka_cam's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious reflective sad 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? Yes

4.5

Fans of Le Guin and similar will enjoy this- the world building reminded me of the Hainish cycle but more queer. A lot of reflections on what is humanity, war, redemptive suffering and violence, revenge, and how fascistic militarized groups make meaning out of suffering and grievance to cause more suffering. Was very engaging, page turner. Best not to think too much about the physics!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, and War

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Racism, Rape, Blood, Abortion, and Colonisation

emily_mh's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

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

5.0

I read this book on a friend’s recommendation and honestly bless her, because it was phenomenal. It’s the kind of story where I had no idea what was going to happen next, and I mean that in the best possible way. Every time I would be like “ah, it’s this trope”, and then pages later Tesh would flip everything on its head. I was sooooo invested and truly hooked by this fresh, original approach.

The plot was not the only mind-blowing thing about the book. It was also packed with existentialism, posing questions such as: what choices in the past lead us to our current reality? Are there certain outcomes which are inevitable in every reality? Who gets to decide what is for the “greater good” - who gets to even DEFINE the “greater good”? I love when books pose these ethical and philosophical questions and then the whole narrative is an exploration of them. Some may be answered, some may be left open, ultimately beyond the scope of the story to answer. But in every case the reader is challenged to consider things they may never have before.

Tesh also tackles extremist indoctrination as a main theme, as MC Kyr (along with most of the SCs), experiences this having grown up on Gaea Station, a military post containing the humans who survived the destruction of Earth and seek revenge from the alien perpetrators. This was heavy to read about. Gaea’s society is founded on eugenics (specifically relating to race and ability), as well as misogyny, sexism, queerphobia, and bioessentialism, and the sexual violence these engender. And Kyr, at the beginning of the book, is the poster child for Gaea. Her character arc is inexplicably wrapped up in deprogramming her indoctrination as she is exposed to the world outside Gaea. It is truly astonishing how much Kyr changes over the course of the novel, and how much she discovers about herself when free from oppressive social constructs. Kyr is by no means perfect at the end of the book, but she also isn’t the same person she was in the first chapter. It is important to note that Tesh as the author always presents the above topics (eugenics, sexual violence) as abhorrent. Even when Kyr doesn’t understand their horrors, you as the reader know that Gaea is deeply, deeply wrong, that Kyr is deeply, deeply wrong, and Tesh does too.

I wouldn’t say this is “found family” like the synopsis proclaims. Every relationship in the book is too complicated and messy and often filled with both love AND hate, to fit neatly into a usually wholesome and straightforward trope. And that’s to this book’s credit. The characters all feel real because none of them can be perfectly squared away into an archetype, their understandably complicated reactions to one another birthed out of the complex situations they find themselves in.

I am so glad my friend recommended this to me and that I decided to give it a go. The only criticisms I can think of right now are that I wish the commentary on eugenics and disability had been made more explicit, and that the ending felt a touch deus ex machina (but maybe that was ironically intentional). Regardless, this book deserved its 5 stars.

Rep: queer MC, queer SCs, Afro-Latina SC

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Genocide, Gun violence, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Violence, Murder, and War

Moderate: Ableism, Animal death, Body horror, Cursing, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Transphobia, Grief, Death of parent, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Drug use, Rape, Self harm, Sexual content, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol

Major: queer used as a slur 6 times, loss of a loved one, bioessentialism, eugenics, misgendering Minor: suicide ideation

hanz's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense fast-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Child abuse, Genocide, Homophobia, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Transphobia, and Violence

Moderate: Pregnancy

Minor: Abortion

minervacerridwen's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful medium-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

5.0

I love that this book didn't treat brainwashing as something a character can just as easily shake off. The things Kyr had learned all her life kept returning to haunt her, and I think that's the strength of this book. Action-packed with some shocking turns and interesting worldbuilding, Some Desperate Glory was an impressive rollercoaster.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Ableism, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Homophobia, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

haleywofford's review against another edition

adventurous dark sad medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide

Moderate: Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Murder, and War

Minor: Gun violence, Homophobia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Blood, Abortion, Pregnancy, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail

readwithanne's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Violence

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Xenophobia

Minor: Racism and Rape

kindra_demi's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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? Yes

5.0

A friend told me that I needed to read this book. That I would absolutely love it. So I immediately went and got the book (a trip that was over 2 hours round trip). AND IT WAS WORTH EVERY SECOND OF RUNNING TO BEAT WATERSTONES CLOSING. Yes, it took me months to finish, grad school does that... But outside of that, it's so good.

First, let me say, I started reading the physical book but I switched to the audiobook because again grad school. Before I get into the book, let me just say Sena Byer has become one of my favorite narrators and I cannot wait to listen to more work from her. She voices each character so well (to the point I thought there had to be new narrators for the different voices. Literally a vocal chameleon).

Now the book. I will preface with I am a sucker for books with characters whose world is shattered by getting an understanding of how messed up their perception is (such as with nationalism for this book). This book then brings in elements of trying to understand your world when dimension changes are possible. It was set for me to be a book I absolutely love.

It's so easy to get into the world. Yes, there is a lot of world-building (it's sci-fi), but it's not something I found extremely difficult. I would recommend it actually for someone who isn't super familiar with sci-fi but wants to start reading it. There are "excerpts from other books" (that are from the Some Desperate Glory universe) that help give context to the story itself.

The mc can be insufferable (and rightfully so. The mc is a teen who was raised in a military base as a "war breed child". She was literally made to serve her station.), but you watch them as they grow and change. There are characters that you'll either hate or hate to love. There are characters that I personally want to put in bubble wrap and protect their sweet souls. And all of these feelings are established early in the book. So when the multiple dimensions become a factor, it can really influence one's opinions on a character.

TL;DR: Yes read it. Read it if you love sci-fi or love stories that are about the breaking of one's nationalistic perspective. And read it in either a physical/ebook or an audiobook option. Emily Tesh (and if you chose the audiobook, Sena Byer), will not do you wrong.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Pedophilia, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Sexual harassment, and War

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Homophobia, Misogyny, Torture, and Medical content

btwnprintedpgs's review against another edition

dark hopeful reflective tense medium-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? It's complicated

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Suicide, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Genocide, Suicidal thoughts, Kidnapping, and War

Minor: Ableism, Homophobia, Rape, and Transphobia