Reviews tagging 'Colonisation'

Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston

71 reviews

lunep's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Homophobia, Alcohol, Addiction, Mental illness, Cursing, Drug use, Cancer, Outing, and Panic attacks/disorders

Moderate: Sexual content, Gaslighting, Grief, Abandonment, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, and Racism

Minor: Colonisation, Deportation, Forced institutionalization, Rape, Stalking, Sexual assault, Classism, Biphobia, Incest, Genocide, and Slavery

another_dahlia's review

• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Biphobia, Death of parent, and Homophobia

Moderate: Addiction and Colonisation

lipstickitotheman's review against another edition

lighthearted 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? Yes

3.5

If you ignore the absolutely unhinged political dynamics and assumption, it's not a bad romance! The scene transitions can get confusing and are often pretty rough, especially as an audiobook. The characters are super cool and super interesting, but oh wow the sociopolitical world this book lives in is almost painfully naive.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Outing, Homophobia, and Grief

Moderate: Sexual content

Minor: Cancer, Sexism, Classism, Sexual harassment, Alcohol, Biphobia, Colonisation, Death of parent, and Racism

btg's review

emotional funny inspiring fast-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

4.5

I genuinely just want to turn around and read this book for the first time again. Alas, since we have yet to invent time travel, I'll say this -- McQuinstin created an incredibly heartwarming, relatable novel about coming to terms with your own queerness and what it means to build a legacy. I absolutely cherish Alex and Henry, who are realisticly portrayed as normal boys in difficult situations and so clearly make each other better. Their love story is adorable and sucks you in -- I legitimately could not put it down. If you like queer love stories mixed with a bit of political intrigue, do not skip this one.

Do note that this novel has even more sexual content than a typical romance novel -- if you're uncomfortable with reading sex scenes, you'll be skimming a couple of chapters. That being said, I want to applaud McQuinston on so easily integrating the emotional and physical relationship between Alex and Henry. It was very clear from the beginning that although the boys are VERY physically intimate, their emotional intimacy is given just as much importance.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Sexual content, and Panic attacks/disorders

Moderate: Death of parent and Terminal illness

Minor: Sexual harassment, Adult/minor relationship, Addiction, Alcohol, Colonisation, Alcoholism, Racism, and Sexual assault

bubbly_lara's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted 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? No

5.0

All the stars 🌟 this story, these characters have my whole heart. Rereading this one after having watched the film (loved it, btw) was even more precious. I can't even count the times this made me tear up on my commute to and from work, how I cried so much. I've read this every year since first reading it in 2021 and this will now be my annual August tradion. Can't recommend this book enough and obviously can't even write a coherent helpful review. JUST GO READ THE BOOK ALREADY!

History, huh? Hell yes, they made some!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Outing, Alcohol, and Cursing

Moderate: Drug use, Drug abuse, Colonisation, Death of parent, Homophobia, Biphobia, Cancer, Classism, and Grief

Minor: Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, and Sexual violence

sammyelliott_'s review

emotional funny hopeful 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, and Outing

Moderate: Biphobia, Cursing, Panic attacks/disorders, Homophobia, Alcohol, Cancer, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Classism, Cultural appropriation, Forced institutionalization, Rape, Confinement, Cancer, Bullying, Deportation, Drug abuse, Genocide, Stalking, Sexual assault, Gun violence, Colonisation, and Hate crime

akvolcano's review

emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted relaxing fast-paced

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

4.0

This is not the review this book deserves-if you want a lovely, sweet queer love book to read, this is for you! Absolutely the fluff I needed in my life.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Bullying, Classism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Misogyny, Outing, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Abandonment, Alcohol, Racism, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Biphobia, Colonisation, Cultural appropriation, Cursing, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Homophobia, Religious bigotry, and Sexism

aingram's review

hopeful lighthearted relaxing 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? No

4.0

It's a very fun read, I wouldn't say I'm going to remember it for a long time or anything. It's not the kind of thing that "stays with you". But it's a fun queer book that includes discussion of homophobia in the world but ultimately the central characters are surrounded by good people. The "climax" events of the plot I didn't find overwhelming or unsurprising but there's a few things that might warrant a trigger warning.

Overall, it's a great fiction romance story surrounding queer characters.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Colonisation, Homophobia, Death of parent, and Sexual assault

Minor: Gaslighting, Stalking, Panic attacks/disorders, Addiction, and Racism

The trigger warnings are mostly minor, if labelled as moderate it's because they come up a number of times. But nothing is described in any great detail. Even homophobia which is the most like significant is only in a certain high level sense and direct to a main character from other characters that do have a mild redemption. Overall it's an ensemble of characters who deeply care and respect each other. Also given the position of the main characters (politically, which I believe is in the book blurb) the discussion of homophobia and some of the other factors makes a lot of sense. This isn't meant to be a fictional universe like Schitts Creek (TV show reference) where the world has no misogyny or homophobia. It's meant to be a universe that has those things but paints a picture of progress.

thatbookbitch's review

adventurous emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted reflective relaxing 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Outing, Sexual content, and Racism

Moderate: Biphobia, Bullying, Cancer, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Drug use, Sexual assault, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Colonisation and Panic attacks/disorders

whiteraven191's review

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Outing

Minor: Colonisation