Reviews tagging 'Blood'

Poster Girl by Veronica Roth

8 reviews

rinku's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Child death, Gun violence, Sexual content, Police brutality, Grief, and Alcohol

Minor: Drug abuse, Racism, and Kidnapping

historyoftape's review

challenging dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

4.25

Maybe reading darker books on airplanes will be a new habit. In any case I read this in one day of travel, which was unexpected for me as I thought this might be a book I'd have to sit with some more. It definitely covers some themes that will haunt me for a while, but at the same time the style is more quiet and calm so I felt like I had the time to think about things without being distracted by action or too many twists. There were twists, don't get me wrong, and action, but probably due to the main character's quietness and detatchedness they were less the forefront. 

I enjoyed how more and more bits and pieces of the characters stories are revealed as time passes on, and how some decisions make more sense in hindsight with the new knowledge I gained. This book also did a really good job at making morally grey characters lovable, and even evil ones likeable. As it says at one point, no amount of loving anyone will make them a better/good person. 

All in all I really liked this, even though it is not the genre I usually go for :)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Sexual content, Gaslighting, and Sexual harassment

Spyware, being monitored by an implant

brilee92's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective sad tense 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Murder

Moderate: Child death, Suicide, and Kidnapping

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Confinement, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Alcohol

katenovah's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark reflective

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

bookish_hollyx's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad fast-paced

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide

Moderate: Child death, Death, and Murder

Minor: Blood

alienexpert's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious

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

4.0

A decent dystopian novel with a common anti-tech theme. The characters and their backgrounds bring a realistic complexity to them, and knowing what is right or wrong. Roth’s writing felt a little odd to me, but it may also have been a cognitive choice to withhold small information from the reader to be revealed in a later chapter.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Violence, Blood, and Suicide attempt

annamorgan27's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Alcohol, and War

Moderate: Sexual content

fromjuliereads's review against another edition

challenging dark hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

**Thank you to HarperCollins Canada for an advanced ebook copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.**

When I saw that one of the "classic" dystopian authors was releasing a new dystopian, I was excited to check it out - and very excited to get an advanced copy! I know that some people still hold Allegiant against Roth, but while it definitely wasn't my favourite series ending, I don't hold any grudges about it. I was excited for an adult dystopian!
This book was kind of a dystopian crossed with a mystery, with a lot of social and political commentary. It had a really good combination of these things, and I did really like the commentary. There were some really interesting things said and discussed between characters, or just commented on by the main character.

The one thing I was kind of excited about, even though it was so small, is that this book is set in the Pacific North West - or I guess what would have been it? - and it mentions places like Portland, Seattle, and even Vancouver! It was kind of exciting to see a Canadian city included - oh the small things that make us happy! I did also really like the writing of the book, and how short it was. Roth was able to pack so much into a shorter novel without missing anything integral to the story.

I did really enjoy the story, but I admit there were just a couple things that made me not give it a higher rating. Even though I loved how short the story was, there were a couple parts that felt almost like filler. We got a lot of background information, or more details on the way the new dystopia works - as one has taken over after a different one - but some of those sections made things drag just a little. I almost wish the pace had been kept up a bit more, especially through certain sections.
I also guessed a couple of the twists. Don't get me wrong! There are some absolutely fantastic twists and reveals throughout the book that I did NOT see coming - two that I could name right away as being fantastic twists in the book! But there were a couple others that felt a little predictable. And the ending, well, I have very mixed feelings on it. While it was the type of ending that I wanted for so many other dystopians I read during the height of that genre, it felt a little lackluster for this story. 

But perhaps my biggest reason I couldn't rate this higher is that the characters weren't as developed as I would have liked them to be. I couldn't ever fully get a grasp on Sonya. She didn't feel developed enough for me to really have feelings about her through the story. The same went for Alexander, even the other side characters. I think somehow the ones that were developed were characters who were integral to the story but had such short little moments. It was a strange combination.

Overall though, if you are looking for a plot-focused dystopian that has some great twists and brings you back to the dystopian novels that we used to read - it will deliver on those fronts, in a short novel even!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, and Blood

Moderate: Alcoholism, Child death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Suicide, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

The suicides are referenced back to, and they are drug overdose related.