Reviews tagging 'Pandemic/Epidemic'

Outlawed by Anna North

9 reviews

jamieclarkson's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional 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

4.0


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louiseelizabeth's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional reflective 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

4.0


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hannahpings's review

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adventurous emotional 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? It's complicated

3.0

maybe the most disappointed in a book i've been in a long time. queerness is made both accessory and token, and the story north is trying to tell in no way justifies the alternate history she's created for it. absolutely wild to me that you can set out to purport that biological essentialism is bad (but perhaps i'm giving her too much credit?) and then come up with a book that is... very much supportive of biological essentialism. even aside from my own icky feelings about outlawed as a queer person, so much of what north has done here feels like craft malpractice.

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lesbianlis's review against another edition

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

3.5

This book has been on my TBR for a while and I was glad to finally find a used copy at my local bookstore to get the chance to read it. It has many things I'm interested in such as gay people and cowboys, lol.

I think the story is really good, however, the is a lot of details in places I wish there was fewer and little to no details in places I wish there was more. I also didn't love the ending. I think that part of this book was Ada finding a family that could support and help her and the decision that she makes just doesn't really line up with where her character goes.
I think they could've have potentially made it where The Kid moves their town to this new area to give Ada the best of both worlds.

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moonvest's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

2.5

GOTTA check those content warnings, folks!!

This is objectively a good book, but it was just more yucky than what I can handle right now. I was promised “lesbian cowboys” but it’s largely about child death and grief. Which is, you know, a trigger for me.

You’d probably like it though.

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horizonous's review against another edition

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Reading about misogyny through the window of "you're only a woman if you (can) give birth (to as many children as possible)" and everything regarding pregnancies, miscarriages, abortions in detail makes me deeply uncomfortable. Also, I think I had it with religious bigotry of this type for a while since I read "Under the Banner of Heaven" by Jon Krakauer.

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wizardingwisteria's review against another edition

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adventurous dark tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

I initially rated this at 5 stars because of how much I loved the world building, but after taking some time to process I think this is closer to a 4.5.  The world building is immaculate.  This author nails the western vibe right on the head, but looking back I wish the characters were a bit better

The world in combination with the writing style and plot  made this such an enjoyable read for me.  At first the writing style seemed meandering and slow, but as the story began to pick up I started to appreciate Ada's perspective a lot more.  The plot kept me entertained from start to finish.  I loved seeing the gang execute their plans in such an organized fashion.  It reminded me so much of Red Dead Redemption with the leader of the gang, the Kid, giving me flash backs to Dutch van der Linde at some points

Loved all of the representation in this book, but it could have been improved.  The main character is cis and hetero but almost every member of the gang is gay and/or non-binary.  There is a moment where one gang member asks Ada if she likes men and Ada considers the fact that she never saw women as an option for her.  She basically shrugs and thinks to herself "maybe I like women, idk, haven't tried."  Beyond that thought Ada doesn't attempt to explore her own sexuality further.  I think that was a missed opportunity

A lot of the characters felt underdeveloped.  Even though this book is on the shorter side, I found myself wishing that the author took more time to make the characters, the gang members specifically, more complex instead of giving them a paragraph or two of backstory and then putting them on the shelf.  Ada's love interest ended up feeling flat as well which made their relationship more difficult to believe

Despite it's issues, I could see myself re-reading this in the future

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raemcma's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5


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sbaryluk's review against another edition

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adventurous dark tense 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

4.25


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