Reviews tagging 'Alcoholism'

Fata cu toate darurile by Ruxandra Toma, M.R. Carey

16 reviews

shieldbearer's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad 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

4.0

An extremely strong showing from Mike Carey, who I know from his work on X-Men. The characterizations were very well done for the most part- most of them are quite layered. The worldbuilding was strong, and the reviewers asking questions about motivations and "evolution" clearly didn't pay attention because those things were explained in the text. 

Ultimately, a few small things did knock this book down by a star for me. For one, I would have
at least switched the fates of Parks and Gallagher, though I also think you could make an argument for Gallagher's survival being more interesting than his death given the detailed backstory and internal conflict he's given. His interaction with the status quo at the end of the story would have been extremely interesting IMO
Part of this may be because I didn't particularly care for Parks, but this is also because Parks doesn't really have anything interesting going on. 

For another, I feel as though
the Hungry children were too easy to corral at the end.
The questions of the long-term viability of Melanie's plan didn't bother me because  that's not the point of the story. 

Finally, and most glaring IMO,
I feel like Sparks would have encoutnered pregnant hungries if they are able to sexually reproduce. I just have a hard time believing this aspect without a little extra narrative support - especially given how often fatal pregnancy is, and how the fungus wrecks so much of the body and shuts down a lot of its systems. Even mentioning a pregnant hungry in the crowd would have helped. I also can't say I'm a fan of the whole "sex is a human instinct" theme. I expected there to be adult hungries like Melanie that showed up later, if they specified that only the kids were the unique ones earlier I somehow missed it.


Either way, I definitely recommend this even if I feel some elements could have been treated with a bit more care- which is about what I would say about his work on the X-Men, as well. 
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reddeddy's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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scenic92's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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mayambrielle's review against another edition

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challenging 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? It's complicated

4.5

This was super brilliantly written. A lot of things didn't go in the direction you would anticipate, and the connection between Melanie and Miss Justineau is a heartwarming part of this story.
The ending was incredibly sad, though, as a lover of romance novels I was hoping the relationship between Sargent Parks and Miss Justineau would develop. However, it was cut short by the infection of Parks. I am curious how Miss Justineau will continue on in this "new world," considering she is not infected and they don't know yet if you can become half infected so she could be like Melanie.
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aconfundityofcrows's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious 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

4.5

 I don't know if I'm in the right mindset to figure out how I would rate this right now because of school brain stress. That said this is really good and I highly recommend if it sounds interesting to you. 
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hmatt's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious tense medium-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

5.0

[star rating from 2016, comments from 2024 re-read]

I've been meaning to do a re-read of this book so that I can finally read the sequel (and then donate it from off my bookshelf). I had vague expectations that, in a post[?]-pandemic world where the zombie literature and media has run its course, this wouldn't feel as original or thrilling as it did on my first read, but I'm very pleased it holds up.
I forgot the major plot twist at the end between my original read and this one,
and I do think that's what elevates this to a 5-star book. Without it, by my 2024 reading standards, it would probably be a 4.5 or 4.75.
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