Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

Sabriel by Garth Nix

4 reviews

shieldbearer's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious fast-paced

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

3.0

I really liked this one more than I expected. The worldbuilding is superb, and the magic system is extremely interesting. However, loses points for a few unnecessary lines and the weird Vibes that were in the last confrontation with Kerrigor

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Violence, and Death of parent

Moderate: Body horror, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Confinement, and Slavery

Minor: Animal death, Vomit, Child abuse, Gun violence, Infidelity, Sexual assault, Alcohol, Pregnancy, and Sexual content

Death- the entire book is centered around necromancy,

Spoiler

Sabriel dies at the beginning and end, her father dies, the officer from the start of the book, Touchstone describes the death of his Queen, many unnamed characters and slaves die,

, Violence- people are slashed and impaled, the army uses bayonets at one point, Child death-

Spoiler

Sabriel, at the beginning and end, though it doesn't take. Some of her classmates die. Unnamed children are implied to die as part of being used as bait.

Death of parent-

Spoiler

Sabriel's mother dies in childbirth, Sabriel's father dies at the end

Body Horror- some of the dead spirits have bodies or forms that are warped- mouths too wide, arms too long that drag, etc. Injury-

Spoiler

Sabriel gets bruised severely, stabbed through the stomach, Touchstone breaks a leg

Fire- a spirit in the form of flame appears a few times Confinement-

Spoiler

Touchstone is confined in a wooden figurehead

Slavery- a few scenes where the dead use living slaves or where humans force children to be their decoys when scavenging in the dead areas,

Spoiler

Mogget is enslaved by his collar

. Child abuse- aforementioned child slaves Sexual content- Sabriel admires a naked male and hears a couple having sex through the wall of her room Sexual assault- the

Spoiler

villain forces a kiss on Sabriel

Pregnancy- Sabriel's mother dies in childbirth at the start of the novel, Infidelity-

Spoiler

Touchstone is the bastard son of the Queen

Vomit- Sabriel feels she may vomit at one point Alcohol- characters consume beer Animal death- Sabriel feels an animal die, hunted by its natural predator Gun Violence-

Spoiler

the army combats the dead with guns

bearystarry's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense medium-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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Vomit, Animal death, Body horror, Death, and Gore

Moderate: Death of parent

Minor: Child death, Slavery, and Child abuse

skai's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Slavery, War, Violence, Murder, Grief, Death of parent, Death, and Child abuse

Minor: Vomit

pi_a_la_mode's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious slow-paced

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

4.25

Nix builds a fantastic (if broken) world in this first Abhorsen series novel.  Readers will be quickly enthralled by Sabriel’s story—a coming of age that happens all too quickly because the fate of all Life depends on it.  

The plot lags in some parts and there’s a little too much exposition (esp where the magic and its internal effects are concerned), but still a strong story that shouldn’t be missed by any fan of fantasy. 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Death, Death of parent, and Child abuse