Reviews tagging 'Toxic friendship'

Some Desperate Glory by Emily Tesh

9 reviews

ceruleanseas's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Homophobia, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Gun violence, Hate crime, Incest, Pedophilia, Rape, Suicide, Torture, Kidnapping, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Slavery, Trafficking, Abortion, Pregnancy, and Alcohol

abarnakwn_ourcolourfulpages's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful 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? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Suicide, Transphobia, Violence, Xenophobia, Mass/school shootings, Murder, Toxic friendship, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child abuse, Homophobia, Pedophilia, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Pregnancy

schnaucl's review against another edition

adventurous dark sad tense 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

4.75

I really liked this novel.   It started with the destruction of Earth and tells a story about the perils of Fascism, white supremacy, homophobia, and xenophobia.  It tells a story about what blind spots are developed when one grows up in that system and the price you pay for having those blind spots. 

I liked the characters and I enjoyed seeing them in different incarnations. I appreciated that growing up with very different circumstances didn't necessarily change certain fundamental truths of who the characters were and just because Kyr learned from her mistakes and tried to do better, she still didn't necessarily see the whole picture or naturally see the how to be as inclusive as she needed to be, although she did come to the realization of what needed to happen after it was pointed out to her.   She wasn't magically perfect even when raised outside of a Fascist State  (though still definitely inside an Imperial one)

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Ableism, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Homophobia, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Violence, Xenophobia, Police brutality, Grief, Murder, Toxic friendship, Colonisation, and War

Minor: Child abuse, Suicide, Torture, Pregnancy, and Alcohol

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

rsb12's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Suicide, Violence, Xenophobia, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Homophobia, Misogyny, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Abortion, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Genocide, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, and War

scifi_rat'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
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Plot: 4★
Prose: 4★
Pace: 4★
Concept/Execution: 5★/4.5★
Characters: 4.75★
Worldbuilding: 4.5★
Ending: 4★

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Homophobia, Misogyny, Sexism, Suicide, Violence, Xenophobia, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Suicide attempt, Pregnancy, Outing, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, and Colonisation

Minor: Bullying, Blood, Abortion, and Alcohol

gondorgirl's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional tense fast-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Emotional abuse, Xenophobia, Gaslighting, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Genocide, Gun violence, Homophobia, Incest, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Sexual harassment, War, and Injury/Injury detail

piratenami's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional tense 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Sexual assault, Suicide, Violence, and War

Moderate: Homophobia, Misogyny, Transphobia, Xenophobia, Pregnancy, and Toxic friendship

mweis's review

challenging dark

• Loveable characters? No

2.25

*I received an audio review copy via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.*

I wanted to love this so badly, but to be honest I struggled to finish it. A lot of this reading experience very frustrating because I could see pieces of a really interesting book, but for my tastes at least, the execution of this fell flat in almost every way.

First off, Kyr is such an unlikeable protagonist. I understand that she grew up in a cult and was indoctrinated and all, but that did not make experiencing this book through her perspective an enjoyable reading experience. Maybe I would’ve been less aggravated by it if I had found her growth/redemption arc believable, but in my opinion it didn’t feel earned.

I also prefer thematic exploration that is a little more subtle, and worldbuilding that’s a little more explained. Kyr’s society on Gaea Station is meant to be a far future humanity, post-war with aliens that destroyed the Earth, and there’s multi-verses and time slips and technology that’s typically found in science fiction stories, but all of those things felt really surface level, like they were used to hand wave the plot forward and there wasn’t really thought into how that technology would work.

Honestly, between the young naïve protagonist, the heavy handed themes and the fast pace of the plot, I think this book would be more successful if marketed to the young adult/new adult age range than as an adult title.

I did mostly enjoy Sena Bryer’s narration. There was one character voice that I didn’t get along with but the rest of the audiobook was well narrated.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Gaslighting, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Homophobia, Racism, Sexual assault, and Transphobia