Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

Truth of the Divine by Lindsay Ellis

51 reviews

pepper_mind's review against another edition

challenging dark 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Mental illness

Minor: Alcoholism

iamtheland's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Eating disorder, Hate crime, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Self harm, Sexual violence, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Police brutality, and Suicide attempt

_shaybiebaybee's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense 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

4.25

This book isn't really for the faint of heart, and I wasn't sure if I liked the two-character-perspectives thing because I had an immediate hate-on for Kaveh. He did eventually grow on me. 
As someone who has gone through

somebody extremely close to me dying

, the end of this book is very raw and painful, even though I saw it coming. 
The portrayal of mental illness and post traumatic stress by Lindsay Ellis is meaningfully done, and well executed. It puts to words just how awful that kind of experience can be while you're going through it without the right help. I truly felt for Cora. My heart broke for her. 
I have a lot of love for this series so far and I'm looking forward to reading book three after being eviscerated by book two. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Xenophobia, Blood, Antisemitism, Islamophobia, Grief, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Addiction, Drug abuse, Suicide, and Toxic relationship

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

gracekitty's review against another edition

dark 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, and Suicide attempt

planetdaniel14's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense 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

4.5

A very satisfying follow up to Axiom's End, however much more darker and introspective.

A raw look into PTSD, suicide, and self harm which can be quite graphic, however does not pull any punches in the story that it is telling. 

I didn't particularly care for the Cora / Kaveh romance subplot which slows the middle of the book down somewhat (which is why I deducted half a star), but picks up when the focus is Cora and the Amygdaline or Kaveh and the Amygdaline as you get a glimpse into the culture clash and the potential for human reaction which comes to a head in the final part of the book. 

The debates around how you would grant aliens personhood were genuinely thought-provoking as well as the looks into how we deal with our own emotions (the quote being most standout to me being "why do we dismiss how our parents taught us relationships as 'daddy issues')

While the ending left me melancholy, I am looking forward to Book 3 and where the themes take me next

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Rape, Self harm, Sexual content, Violence, Xenophobia, Suicide attempt, War, and Injury/Injury detail

notbambi's review against another edition

dark reflective tense 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

4.0

I love Kaveh Taherian as a podcaster, but man, he is not a great audiobook narrator. He reminds me of my high school students reading aloud for the class. Luckily, Stephanie Willis and Abigail Thorn are great.

This book rakes Cora and Ampersand through the coals emotionally. Cora is dealing with PTSD, and she self-harms a few times in the book. Early on, the focus is on the pair having very different perspectives on relationships and mental health, which was a very cool and effective way of exploring how alien Ampersand really is. 

Later in the book, the emphasis shifts to new characters, Kaveh and Nikola, who have a similar getting-to-know-you arc as Cora and Ampersand in book one, although less antagonistic to start. It also shifts to the broader political debate around whether aliens should be extended human rights. 

I like the way that this book explores the idea of just how alien an alien can be while still being somewhat relateable and knowable to humans. I like how it argues that the way people treat the aliens is a reflection of our worst impulses and fears being used to justify the stripping of rights in the real world. 

I really liked a lot about this book, but it wasn't a five star for me. For me, some of the writing got a little cringey. The pop culture/meme references were a bit much and didn't always feel natural. This book is quite long and I can't help but feel like some of the subplots could have been trimmed. I didn't need Kaveh and Cora's date at the club. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, and Blood

Moderate: Racism, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, and Police brutality

jenny_d's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional slow-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? No

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Xenophobia, and Suicide attempt

xeniaaaaaah's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

4.0

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Drug use, Mental illness, and Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Domestic abuse

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.