ClareR (6129 KP) rated The Final Strife in Books
Sep 13, 2025
The main character, a Chosen One, misses out on her calling because of a drug addiction. There’s also great deprivation because of the social hierarchy in this world. It’s a caste system based on the colour of a persons blood.
There are themes of oppression, class, division, poverty and addiction. There’s a Trans main character (and others besides), and this isn’t a society that is prejudiced against LGBTQ+ people, in fact there’s support for those who want to transition. Women hold positions of great power in government and on the battlefield - and they’re just as able as their male counterparts. Often better.
This is a chunky book and a fast read regardless of that. I’m really looking forward to reading the rest of the trilogy.
The Queen's Gambit
8.8
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Drama, based on a novel by Walter Tevis. Eight year-old orphan Beth Harmon is quiet, sullen, and by...
1984 (1984)
7.5
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A man loses his identity while living under a repressive regime. In a story based on George Orwell's...
Jude the Obscure
6.0
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The text of the novel is again based on Hardy's final revision for the 1912 Wessex Edition. The...
Seventeen Moments of Spring (Semnadtsat mgnoveniy vesny)
8.0
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A 1973 Soviet twelve-part television series, directed by Tatyana Lioznova and based on the novel of...
The Hindered Hand
Sutton E. Griggs, John Cullen Gruesser and Hanna Wallinger
Book
Between 1899 and 1908, five long works of fiction by the Nashville-based black Baptist minister...
Christine A. (965 KP) rated The Promise in Books
Feb 28, 2019 (Updated Mar 1, 2019)
I was intrigued as soon as I read the opening of The Promise by Teresa Driscoll. The story has a few twists and turns but, based on the book's description and opening, I expected it to be much darker than it is. However, although I enjoyed the novel, I would not consider it to be dark. It is more of a slow building suspense novel then a psychological thriller.
Three girls, Beth, Sally, and Carol, were best friends at a boarding school and as close as sisters. Something happens and they make a promise to never tell the secret of what happened.
Years later, all of them have been affected by the secret in different ways. Beth and Sally are still close friends but Carol has become estranged. When they find out the boarding school is to be sold and demolished, fearing their secret will be revealed, Beth and Sally attempt to find Carol..
Driscoll wanted to establish a intense connection between the girls but did not want to make them sisters. The setting helps you to understand why the girls would keep the secret.
I have added Teresa Driscoll's I Am Watching You to my want to read list.
Published on Philomathinphila.com, Smashbomb, Goodreads, Twitter, Amazon, and Barnes and Noble on 2/28/19.
Heather Cranmer (2721 KP) created a post
Sep 22, 2020
His Dark Materials
8.0
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His Dark Materials is an upcoming British fantasy adventure series based on the novel series of the...