Reviews tagging 'Slavery'

Sabriel by Garth Nix

16 reviews

jupitermond's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious sad 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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Death of parent, and Death

Moderate: Animal death, Slavery, and Blood

twistykris's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious 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? No

4.0

I have a vague recollection of reading this as a teenager, so I thought it would be fun to revisit. As it turned out, the only thing I remembered were the bells, so it ended up being more of a "new" read. 

I appreciate the world-building, in that it builds gradually throughout the course of the book, instead of info-dumping. And the descriptions Nix uses are just SO incredible. Pages of descriptions that actually felt like a sheet being dragged off of a scene- rooms and areas being revealed slowly, letting your mind focus in. I liked the characters, but I didn't really feel much of a connection to them. Their personalities didn't feel very developed and the romance between Sabriel and Touchstone felt very unestablished. Mogget was honestly my favorite character, if only for his snarkiness. 

I went back and forth between reading a physical copy of the book and listening to the audiobook narrated by Tim Curry and I found myself more drawn towards the audiobook. I just can't help it with his voice- even if a couple character voices were very Nigel Thornberry-esque... SMASHING xD

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, and Gore

Moderate: Blood, Slavery, and Violence

Minor: Child death, Vomit, and Animal death

spicewitch's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

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

5.0

I would’ve been absolutely insufferable if I read this as a kid. This was such a lush, unexpected read and I’m looking forward to the rest of the series. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Death of parent

Minor: Slavery

thereadingdude's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

Moderate: Gore and Blood

Minor: Vomit and Slavery

avsdhpn's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Death, Death of parent, Gore, Murder, Slavery, and War

samanthalh's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore

Minor: Slavery

naomi_k's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Death, Violence, and Gore

Moderate: Death of parent and Slavery

limiwh's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious 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? No

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, and Death of parent

Moderate: Murder, Slavery, and Violence

Minor: Vomit and Animal death

babudarabu's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Death, and Murder

Moderate: Blood, Death of parent, and Body horror

Minor: Child death, Animal death, Alcohol, and Slavery

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