Reviews with content warning for Violence - Razorblade Tears

Reviews tagging 'Violence'

Razorblade Tears by S.A. Cosby

414 reviews

nimeneth's review against another edition

dark fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

Warning: do not read this book unless your stomach is iron-clad, or you're okay with skipping big chunks of pages. Seriously, pay attention to the tags.

I wanted to be kind to this book. I wanted to accept that this was going to be a difficult book club read that was gritty and uncomfortable and dark. The blurb was amazing, had a great hook, interesting title, the whole nine yards. Objectively the dialogue was a little flat and the characters felt a little wooden at the beginning, but it would get better, right? I would get through this even if I had to skim or skip scenes, it would be fine, right? Right??? I was optimistic. I was open-minded.

I did not like this book. I did not enjoy this book. The first 100ish pages were fine, mostly. I could accept the racism and homophobia as just part of what it's like in parts of Virginia. The middle is where it started to sour. I especially did not like the last 100 pages of it where it turned into full-on revenge porn. It's graphic, folks. There's no art, just blood. No redemption arc, just death. I think Cosby wanted the final scene to be profound or something, but by that point there's no tying it up into a near little package and calling it hunky-dory.

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gabepants's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional informative reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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tastybooks916's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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lemanley's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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evawhite's review against another edition

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dark reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Content Warnings

literaryintersections's review against another edition

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dark emotional 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

5.0

This book is absolutely unreal good. Every SA book I read feels better than the last except they are all amazing. Razorblade Tears is unbelievably sad - I knew that going in - but it’s sad and witty and tense. It’s violent and gritty and I loved it.

The main point of this book isn’t the vengeance or death or violence. It’s the love and community. And realizing as a parent that we can mess up so bad but there is still time to change and grow, even if that time is physically taken from us. I will think about this book forever.

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