Reviews tagging 'Rape'

Before the Devil Breaks You by Libba Bray

13 reviews

ashdawn's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional sad 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? No

5.0

It was so good! This book is way darker and sadder than the 1st 2 in the series. ๐Ÿ˜ญ๐Ÿ˜ญ๐Ÿ˜ญ๐Ÿ˜ญ 

It wrecked me. 

Also, this book had way more sexual content than the others

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maddiereadswords's review

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4.5

Great news!! Even after reading this book three times and fully knowing what's coming, the ending of this book can still make me cry. It's fine, I'm totally fine.

This doesn't have the same creepy, haunting vibes as the first two books, and the two parts feel a little more disconnected to the point where I almost wish it had been two separate books (mostly because the back half in particular is so fast-paced and plot heavy that it really loses that spooky edge, and also partly because I selfishly can never get enough of these characters.) This is easily the darkest and most "adult" installment so far, and while it doesn't hit quite as hard as the first two for me, it's still an absolute powerhouse of a book that drags me through the full spectrum of human emotion every time I read it. <3
Also shout out to Ling Chan for being so autistic that she accidentally bypassed internalized homophobia, and to Miriam Lubovitch and Viola Campbell for being such milfs that they keep adopting fucked up children like Pokemon despite being held captive. I love women.

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charlie1995's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-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

2.5


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nytephoenyx's review against another edition

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adventurous dark reflective 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

Loved this book. Love Libba Bray. Love all these characters but Sam Lloyd is my absolute favorite at the moment. This carried the series so well and upped the stakes and the focus on eugenics and having that angry conversation as well as radical protestors and just. Itโ€™s so good. History driven fantasy is wonderful. The ghost story aspects are wonderful. Just loved it. Loved it.

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allisonsmith120's review

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dark emotional informative mysterious slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0


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overbooked207's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative mysterious reflective tense
  • 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

๐Ÿ“– Before the Devil Breaks You by Libba Bray Book Review ๐Ÿ“–

2nd book of September 2022 and 28th of the year:

This was another great addition to the Diviners series with truly creepy moments, great mysteries, an amazing, lovable, and diverse cast of characters, important commentary and messages, the always beautiful found family trope, queer representation, disability representation, fantastic writing, and more! I think that Lair of Dreams is still my favorite of the three books I've read so far, but I still recommend the whole series as a whole and canโ€™t wait to finish it hopefully soon! TW for death, violence, murder, mention of lobotomies and memory loss, discrimination, racism, antisemitism, eugenics, domestic abuse, blackmail, ableism, homophobia, alcohol, institutionalization, bomb/explosion, vomit, rape, sexual assault, gun violence, medical content/trauma, and grief๐Ÿ“–๐Ÿ”ฎโ˜ ๏ธ๐Ÿณ๏ธโ€๐ŸŒˆ

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grexcarolinii's review

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slow-paced

0.5

This probably would have been closer to a 2.5
but I had to take away 1 star for the incredibly triggering r*** scene written in second person - you know, just to add to the triggering effects (note: none of the rest of the book was written in 2nd person, nor has any of the previous novels. I can only assume the author did this to add to the disgust of the scene, so at best is exploitative and gross, at worst it's downright malicious). 

A second star taken away for just the casual mention of having a side characters love interest in Confederate costuming. For a book/series that likes to touch and try to wrestle with the problems of 1920s America - this felt so gross and tone death. How in the same book can you have the slaves of ghosts, references to the Jim Crows laws, and then just have a guy show up in Confederate uniform like it's just... fine?
No. Absolutely not. 

Add to this a host of kinda unlikeable characters, not a whole lot of plot for a 546 page book
And far, far too many really awkward gross sex scenes to boot... 

The half a star is literally for having a single Ace character, that's it

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nienke's review

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adventurous dark emotional funny 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

3.75


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bookswithjess's review against another edition

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adventurous 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

5.0


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larareads's review against another edition

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adventurous dark funny mysterious sad 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

4.0


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