Reviews tagging 'War'

Those Across the River by Christopher Buehlman

5 reviews

akmay17's review against another edition

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challenging dark reflective tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

Overall, I thought this was good book with good enough writing and an interesting premise/plot. 

However, it takes place in the 30s, and the characters certainly speak like it — and by that I mean, they’re racist. Even if that character is not, like, extremely racist, they use the n-word, and there’s at least one anti-Semitic comment as well. These parts were hard to read and, to me, often felt unnecessary even it was “true” to the historic time period. I wanted to mention if that’s just not something you want to be reading. 

There’s also a racist trope presumably unintentionally used—
of a black man preying on/raping a white women—read more about the history of this of you don’t understand this has a racist stereotype/trope
as well as a few other uncomfortable depictions and passages.
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jellybean_gene's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Ok, so first things first: this was the second book I read by Buehlman and I hated the other, so I went in with...tempered expectations. I am fucking floored with how good this book was.

The prose was unflinching. 

There's blatant racism and slurs used here (trigger warning), however it is delivered in a way that feels very authentic to the time, both in it's sparingness and who shows the behavior (half of the book takes place in backwoods Georgia in 1920 after all). 

The main character is definitely dealing with some horrific PTSD from WWI and the flashbacks are gruesome and yet delivered so matter-of-fact that you can't help but keep reading. 

There was so much depravity and pain throughout the story. I think the MC's war flashbacks parallel the eventual antagonist's story in that both give us an overwhelming amount of malice and suffering, ultimately showing the horrors humans are capable of. Which then begs the question, are the monsters the good guys? But like, fuck nah, they're also insanely cruel.
 
And then book ending on this horrendously awful fate of the MC having to shoot the love of his life
brings all of it crashing down as an extension of that main theme of pain and torture. 
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orizenda's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

I liked this book but not fully. I think I just didn’t care about Frank that much for some reason. like he’s just some guy. guess i’d rather have it from dora’s perspective. 
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portabello_pig's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix

4.0

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whatathymeitwas's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious reflective sad 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? It's complicated

4.0

I'm not usually into books of this particular supernatural topic, but I finished this one in a day. Fantastic. 
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