Reviews tagging 'Kidnapping'

Before We Disappear by Shaun David Hutchinson

45 reviews

renjunify's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful mysterious 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

4.5

I really enjoyed the first 370 pages I binge read! Then it kinda went downhill for me- or to phrase it more differently, I had some unfortunate luck trying to concentrate on reading.
Still managed to finish this one and I really liked it! Wilhelm and Jack were written so well as two different persons!
Had a hard time trying to figure out who Jack and who Wilhelm was, other then that great book!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping and Gaslighting

Moderate: Death and Racism

booklifeisthelife's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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? No

4.5

This was a super adorable and fun book. I breezed through reading this. I enjoyed the characters (well most of them. The ones you were supposed to like anyway) and the interactions. There was great friendship which I adored along with the romance which was sweet and adorable. I liked the setting and the general plot. Though sometimes emotions became heavy because I wanted to jump into the story and

be violent towards the two magicians for being so cruel, one more than the other. How can they bear to hurt such sweet boys (especially the one.) It frustrated and saddened me to no end. I wish their ending was a bit more in depth though I understand why it wasn't.   (Im actually struggling to remember what the ending was but i remember feeling that way.) I also wish the romance was a tiny bit more developed. Not that it was awful but Jack fell in love swiftly which I'm just remembering he was known for but the reason he fell so deeply so quickly was a bit weird to me. But maybe the circumstances affected that? I still really enjoyed it. The side characters were also lovely.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Torture, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Chronic illness, Confinement, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Violence, and Kidnapping

Minor: Fire/Fire injury

lemonix_reads's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful mysterious 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? It's complicated

5.0

This was such a great read! I rarely read big books (as in 450+ pages), but this one was perfect for me!

It's queer and it's cute. But it also had some heavy topics. I liked how there was a bit of a found family trope in there. The book also had some beautiful quotes! I annotaded it.

The author really has a way with words. I also like that it is set in 1909, but that the queer characters were still shown. 

Great book. Would recommend to ppl who are looking for: queer books, magicians, circus vibes, found family, ...

The last page was so wonderful!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Racism, Vomit, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Homophobia and Gaslighting

talasterism's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.5

its hard to rate cause first half the book was soooook good for me, it really awakened the staying up late to finish just another chapter spirit, but it has such a weird show/tell mix of overexplaining everything being said and every emotion, and the stakes felt very eishy washy (like one thing that annoyed me was Jack stepping on a plate while Wil was in a cage and i was so sure its gonna be relevant / have bad consequences but instead it felt like it was gonna be a hook but the author forgot about it?) just a lot of things felt underdeveloped and i liked a couple of metaphos in the beginning but the writing somehow got worse and worse. still, i liked the rogue vibes and the magic of it all, just was a bit hard to take seriously

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture and Kidnapping

_lish_'s review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Racism, Sexism, Violence, Kidnapping, Murder, and Lesbophobia

vagaybond's review against another edition

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Racism, Torture, Violence, Blood, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Stalking, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Misogyny, Racism, Slavery, Vomit, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

akal's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious 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: Child abuse, Torture, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Chronic illness, Racism, and Violence

aspenandcopper's review against another edition

hopeful lighthearted 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? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Kidnapping, and Gaslighting

Minor: Homophobia, Racism, Stalking, and Classism

capyval's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

Excellent characters, interesting plot, and the correct amount of fantasy in an historical set.

Perhaps it is important to check the trigger warnings before reading this book, although know that there's no homophobia included, which I agree with the author, was the correct choice for this story.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Blood, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Misogyny and Racism

tori1771's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful 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? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture

Moderate: Homophobia, Racism, Vomit, and Kidnapping