Reviews tagging 'Torture'

Gone by Michael Grant

14 reviews

booklov3r5019's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious 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

Very very very very violent, a lot of death and a lot of times it is more graphic than not, but it's still an amazing book. I would reccommend this to anyone who likes to cry over books, characters who have some psychological issues, really anything violent.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Addiction

Minor: Cursing, Cannibalism, and Death of parent

m4ferglez's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious 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

4.5

A wonderful start to a wonderful series. Lord of the flies meets X-Men in the most gruesome wsy you can imagine. Grant is a master at portraying brutally realistic situations that come along with his premise. 

I do find it at times hard to believe how bloodthirsty some of the kids are, and the coyote/darkness scenes can get pretty repetitive, but otherwise a wonderful novel. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Eating disorder, Gore, Gun violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Domestic abuse, Excrement, and Vomit

sitrisummoned's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious 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

4.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Eating disorder, Gore, Gun violence, Violence, Car accident, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Child death, Death, Torture, and Murder

Minor: Racism

hcgambrell'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

3.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Eating disorder and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Mental illness and Vomit

arielcg's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense 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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Confinement, Death, Gore, Blood, Medical trauma, Murder, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Eating disorder, Gun violence, and Torture

Minor: Alcoholism, Drug use, Panic attacks/disorders, Kidnapping, Car accident, and Fire/Fire injury

123urmom's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Eating disorder, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Torture, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Addiction, Drug use, Racism, Kidnapping, and Alcohol

i live in a small town where slurs are said all the time. i read the rword more times than i’ve heard it in my life???? holy shit????

a11yssa's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad fast-paced

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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying and Child death

Moderate: Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Gun violence, Homophobia, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Vomit, Death of parent, Murder, Lesbophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Toxic friendship

ricksilva's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.0

This starts out as kind of a Rapture-scenario: People vanish in an instant. In this case, everyone over the age of 14. But as the story develops, it turns out that the effect is localized, not worldwide, and the town of (lovely) Perdido Beach, California, is cut off from the world by an impenetrable barrier. So, really, it's Under the Dome. With kids. With superpowers. Oh, and mutant animals, because why not?

The setup is perhaps a bit overcomplicated, but the author does a nice job of working through the implications of all of this stuff happening at once. There are bullies who take over, only to get displaced by yet-more-evil bullies (we know they're more evil because these are private school bullies from the local boarding school for entitled troublemakers). The bullies soon become full-on comic book villains, complete with imperilment of the heroes' friends and loved ones, scheming and infighting, and the occasional good guy proclaiming that "it's a trap!"

Reluctant hero Sam and smart-girl Astrid take a long time to decide to fight back against the bullies, and they really have a hard time getting anything resembling a win, although they do somewhat pull things together in the climactic bit. Nobody is really all that competent at what they are trying to do, which is part of the point, since they're all just a bunch of middle school kids.

Really, what saves the story are some of the minor characters who mostly stay out of the fighting, but instead work hard to make sure the younger kids are taken care of and that everyone gets fed. I'd read an entire novel about Albert, the kid who, in the midst of the vanishing of all adults and the apparent collapse of civilization, takes it upon himself to keep the town's McDonald's up and running. This guy was the real hero of this story. More Albert, please.

Which we might get, because the book ends with the initial battle over, but without all that much resolved. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Torture, Violence, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Child death and Eating disorder

villainessreads's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

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

2.5

My biggest gripe is how the characters of Edilio and Pete were handled. Quinn is openly and blatantly racist against Edilio and he's not really punished for it. He's still a "good guy" at the end. There's no narrative pushback for calling Edilio a slur like there is for Pete's slurs. I kept reading, but it never stopped being uncomfortable. I don't know how the author is normally a great ally and failed to see how horrible it would be for a PoC to read how Edilio was treated by the narrative. He's practically their housekeeper: cleans up their mess but never gets any narrative credit for his contributions. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Body horror, Bullying, Child death, Death, Eating disorder, Gore, Gun violence, Racial slurs, Racism, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Mass/school shootings, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

rakktels's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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? It's complicated

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder, Gore, Torture, Violence, Blood, and Car accident

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, and Animal death