Reviews with content warning for Drug use - Rebel Angels

Reviews tagging 'Drug use'

Rebel Angels by Libba Bray

5 reviews

_hexposito's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful fast-paced

4.0

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bzliz's review against another edition

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adventurous hopeful mysterious slow-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? No

3.75

Rebel Angels continues Gemma Doyle’s journey into understanding the mysterious Order her mother belonged to prior to her death, her quest to bind magic she had previously set free, and her duty to be a flawless daughter, sister and possible future wife. Her companions Ann and Felicity join her over their Christmas break from school and together the three grapple with how to find the Order’s Temple along with the daily challenges of being upstanding young ladies in London society. Gemma also finds herself enchanted by Simon Middleton- a young gentleman who would make a wise match for her- despite her lingering feelings for her “guard” Kartik.

This feels more YA than its predecessor and I found it easier to follow along. It does drag a little through the first half of the book but it speeds up and the majority of the plot wraps up quite succinctly in about 50 pages. There’s still plenty of juice left to warrant another installment.

Content warnings with spoilers below:
Drug Use/Abuse:

Gemma’s father is addicted to laudanum and opium. She tries to cure him with magic but he’s drawn back in due to hearing voices in his head telling him the truth about his late wife and his magical daughter.

Racism/Classism/Misogyny :

As would be typical for this time period. Much stock is put into someone’s class and Gemma’s brother in particular takes issue with Kartik’s Indian heritage. Women are constantly put down by the men.

Mental Illness/Psychosis:

Gemma’s brother Tom works at Bedlam Asylum and Gemma meets a girl named Nell who has been driven mad through her association with Circe. Nell tries to warn Gemma as much as she can but everyone views her ramblings as madness.

Sexual Assault (implied):

Implications are made that Felicity’s father regularly assaulted her as a little girl which she internalized and blames herself for. This is discovered by Gemma as she sees Felicity warning a young orphan in the care of her family to lock her door at night and to avoid her father. It is also later used by the Poppy warriors to taunt Felicity.

Self Harm:

References are made to Ann’s self harm which Gemma sees evidence of and the Poppy warriors later use it to taunt Ann.

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emilylovesgoodbooks's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

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nytephoenyx's review against another edition

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dark tense slow-paced

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

4.5

Abstractly, I always know how much I enjoy Libba Bray, but whenever one of her books pops up on my TBR, I remember with bright insistence. Since I started this blog, Libba Bray has become one of my absolute favorite authors. Rebel Angels is yet another wonderful book. It’s the second in the Gemma Doyle series and it’s been years since I read the first… but it all came back so quickly. I loved it. I listening to it slowly, often shutting it off and switching to music or my aPHR study materials rather than finish it. This sort of habit is terrible for my reading goals, but I don’t care. Rebel Angels was fun, twisty, imaginative, sad, and sweet. I loved it. And how often do we say that about the middle book in a trilogy?

In fact, I think I enjoyed Rebel Angels more than the first book.

The Realms come to life in this book as we venture far beyond the garden and into the depths of Bray’s world. Each trip into the realms is noticeably wilder and more dangerous. We watch the garden alone transform into a haunted version of something from Alice in Wonderland. We meet new characters inside this world, but we also meet old friends. Or are they?

The setting also pivots in the real world as Gemma, Felicity, and Anne head home to London for the Christmas holiday. We meet more people in society, we watch Gemma’s father struggle. We see Anne take the spotlight for a little while, which was absolutely wonderful. More than anything, I think my favorite character arc in Rebel Angels was Felicity’s. Coming into this story, I was a bit salty about Felicity. I was sure, so sure of her behavior only to learn more about her as we meet her family and venture into her home. It’s one of the things I love about Libba Bray – although she isn’t a POV character, Bray takes time with the supporting characters to give them depth and purpose. Now, ending the second book and heading into the third, I’m as invested in all the supporting characters as I am in Gemma.

Bray’s writing does so well diving into darkness. Nineteenth century England has its own underbelly of unfortunate behaviors, expectations, and the like. Bray picks away at this world like a scab and is not shy at all when it comes to Bedlam. I read her writing as a commentary of history with a raw bite that lets us be ashamed and embarrassed for most of London society as well as the reflections we see in ourselves (yikes). There’s also a moment where Gemma says something incredibly racist and the character she’s talking to reacts extremely appropriately and it’s called out in that way, although Gemma (and Felicity, when told) fails to see the problem. And isn’t that quite typical of our world? That interaction stood out to me. I appreciated its inclusion and I hope it makes others think.

If you read A Great and Terrible Beauty and were on the fence about continuing, this is your sign to carry on. I really enjoyed this book with its twists and turns (at a plot and a personal level). I know I’ll be reading the last book in the trilogy! This is one I’d read again. Anything by Libba Bray is something I’d read again!

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zombiezami's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

I didn't remember most of what had happened in this book. I genuinely didn't see the twist coming. I think a lot of the storytelling is tighter in this book compared to the previous one, with enough action and intrigue to keep the reader chugging along.

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