Reviews tagging 'Drug use'

A Neon Darkness by Lauren Shippen

12 reviews

andysposato's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.5

Damien is one of if not the most interesting character in the Atypical universe.

His and Mark’s stories converging was my favorite aspect of the podcast series.

This novel was an insightful look at Damien’s past, and Charlie Ian (narrator) is the exactly perfect voice for this character. In A Neon Darkness, he goes from sad, vulnerable Robert to sad, terrifying Damien. If you’ve listened to the podcast, you know exactly what kind of character development is coming. 

What I really want is a book or podcast following Damien/Robert post-AM, when his ability is distorted beyond influence. He’s maybe the biggest victim of his own ability, but still I want so badly for his life to turn around for him. Now with his power muted, he’s all alone. Just sad Damien. And that doesn’t feel satisfying at all.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder

Moderate: Drug use

issue of consent is a huge, recurring theme of the novel due to the nature of the main character’s ability

dodecashedron's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

It's always weird when you read a book where the main character is kind of a baddie. 

But I felt the author did a great job of having us empathise with him without sympathising too much or making us forget his own role in all this.

It is so clear that Robert/Damian's view of the world is so skewed,and thst he cannot see this. Every time he fucked up and you thi k he might learn from this, he learns the exact wrong lessons. That combined with 0 accountability make him interesting to read about, impossible to be around. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Gaslighting, Fire/Fire injury, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Drug abuse, Kidnapping, Suicidal thoughts, Drug use, Addiction, and Murder

opossumom's review against another edition

dark sad medium-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

4.0

sooo much better than the first book in the series. i can't believe lauren made me actually care about damien--crazy.
my biggest gripe with this book is that the perspective unexpectedly changes (i listened to the audiobook, so i was a bit jarring for me) from first person to third person limited to third omniscient.. and i kinda hated it lmao. other than that, this was a great character study for a character i was very uninterested in to begin wih.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Murder, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Drug use

grapehead's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Abandonment, Kidnapping, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

Minor: Drug use

stardustandrockets's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

The Bright Sessions has been one of my favorite podcasts for years. When these companion novels were announced I was beyond excited—especially A Neon Darkness because it's the origin story of my favorite character, Damien.

This book was everything I wanted. Insight into why Damien is the way he is, how he got the name Damien, and just how broken of a human he is. Struggling to control his power of persuasion, he doesn’t always know what’s real when it comes to other people. Do they genuinely like him or do they only like him because he wants them to like him? This book focuses on the present while giving little glimpses of the past and what led Robert (Damien) to LA in the first place, the loss of Them. There are also little snippets from the perspective of the other characters prevalent to the story that help push the story along. I don’t always like little interjections like that, but I think the author used them sparingly and in a way that helped the overall story instead of taking away. Because of what Damien can do and what was going on it was nice to have a little peek into the other character’s minds at times. This was especially true knowing that the book doesn’t start out from Damien’s POV (which was a little confusing at first, but was soon cleared up as to why this was the case).

While the whole story isn’t happy (much of what we know about Damien from the podcast isn’t happy, so I don’t know why I expected this story to be happy), it definitely explains a lot about everyone’s favorite (or not so favorite) villain from The Bright Sessions. It breaks my heart knowing what he's gone through and how he can't really trust anyone or himself because of what he can do. Overall I am extremely happy knowing more about Damien and what led him to the events of the podcast. It’s an origin story more than anything and I hope you’ll pick it up. You don’t have to know anything about the podcast to enjoy it, but you’ll definitely get a lot more out of the story if you do. This is another excellent book by Lauren Shippen.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Abandonment, Alcohol, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Kidnapping, Murder, Toxic friendship, Violence, and Torture

Moderate: Addiction, Drug use, and Self harm

beccaand's review

dark tense medium-paced

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

4.25

Such a fascinating look into Damien's backstory. Villain origin story? You love to see it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Death, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Drug abuse, Drug use, Addiction, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt

lumberelk's review

dark tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Suicide attempt, Death, Violence, Toxic relationship, Murder, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Drug abuse, Drug use, Kidnapping, and Addiction

Minor: Vomit, Islamophobia, and Xenophobia

xoodlebooks's review

dark emotional reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Mental illness, Murder, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Emotional abuse, and Child abuse

Moderate: Drug use and Drug abuse

Minor: Islamophobia, Addiction, Xenophobia, Stalking, Sexism, and Racism

heebeegbs's review

adventurous challenging sad fast-paced

• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Adored this book because it a challenging insight into an incredibly complicated character. The ending felt So right! The only thing I could have asked for was more action !

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Medical trauma, and Violence

Moderate: Drug abuse, Drug use, and Kidnapping

Minor: Suicide attempt

piscero's review

adventurous dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Murder, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Addiction, Drug use, Violence, Mental illness, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Kidnapping, and Grief

Minor: Physical abuse and Suicide attempt