Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

The Unbroken by C.L. Clark

13 reviews

distraughtplant's review

adventurous dark hopeful tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

The Unbroken gripped my heart in my chest and dug in its nails and left it in shreds and only just barely mended it together again. Which is strikingly similar to the quote on the front page, but thats exactly what it feels like. That piece of praise sold me on this book, and by Shāl did C.L. Clark deliver. 

The Unbroken is loyalty and betrayal and heartbreak and revolution and political pressures and magic and a little bit of lust. It is gorgeous and heart wrenching and real. There are no moments any characters actions felt rushed or out of place. I love this book for it's perfect pacing, it's immaculate queer representation (and non binary representation! I NEED to see more of Niwai and their lioness). I love it most for it's many showcases of the complexities around human emotions and thought processes and why people may do the things they do. I also love it for it's calculated witholdings of full explanation. Humans don't always even know why they've done something, just that it feels it's the right way, or the only option. I love The Unbroken for it's raw depictions of humanity, which will stick with me long after the images of blood, shit, and gore fade away. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Religious bigotry, Police brutality, Gore, Violence, Racism, Xenophobia, Death, and Colonisation

Moderate: Slavery, Sexual assault, Physical abuse, Cultural appropriation, Classism, and Grief

Minor: Alcohol, Animal death, Cannibalism, Chronic illness, and Confinement

talonsontypewriters's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Blood, Grief, Slavery, Gun violence, Police brutality, Xenophobia, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Racism, War, Death, Confinement, Murder, and Gore

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Medical content, Chronic illness, Pandemic/Epidemic, Fire/Fire injury, Religious bigotry, Child abuse, Sexual harassment, Ableism, Kidnapping, Trafficking, and Torture

Minor: Animal death, Vomit, Alcohol, Death of parent, Suicidal thoughts, Child death, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Rape

Execution by hanging. Power imbalance in relationship (representative of colonizing government/colonized subject).

nerdy_reader_9571's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

This book is very slow with both its plot and character development, but it’s worth reading through to its conclusion. I really liked the world building in this book and its exploration of empire and of the complicated relationships that people can have to an empire based on their upbringing and station within the imperial hierarchy.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, War, Torture, Sexual harassment, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Hate crime, Gun violence, Confinement, and Colonisation

Moderate: Body horror, Alcohol, and Death

risaleel's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring tense fast-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Racism, Religious bigotry, Trafficking, War, Death, Police brutality, Xenophobia, and Violence

Moderate: Classism, Death of parent, Addiction, Blood, Confinement, and Physical abuse

Minor: Alcohol, Gore, Vomit, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, and Animal death

alexalily's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Medical content, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual assault, Grief, Gun violence, Murder, Colonisation, Confinement, Death, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Violence, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, Terminal illness, Gore, Police brutality, Slavery, and War

Moderate: Blood, Bullying, Chronic illness, Physical abuse, Torture, and Alcohol

Minor: Ableism, Animal death, Excrement, Self harm, Vomit, Cursing, and Child abuse

leaflit's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Blood, Racism, Death, Gun violence, Violence, Colonisation, Confinement, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Grief, Lesbophobia, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Slavery, Torture, Toxic relationship, Ableism, Alcohol, Child abuse, Genocide, Medical content, Outing, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Sexual content, Sexual violence, and Terminal illness

ajthequeen's review

Dnfing at 170. I usually give a book 100 pages to wow me, but i so desperately wanted to enjoy this book i gave it to 200. I didn’t even make it that far. This author is talented, but “they use too many word when few word do trick”. The author does a lot of telling instead of showing. Touraine and luca’s  backgrounds are told to us immediately with little to no build. I think this author wanted a priory of the orange tree type romance to happen, but instead got an imbalance of power and really toxic female leads. I had to stop at 170 because i genuinely dont care about what happens next. So so much exposition with little pay off. I think if you took out the entire first 100 pages and used the second half of the book to have luca and touraine bond over their pasts and grow to trust each other, the book would be 200x better.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic friendship, Colonisation, Classism, Slavery, Sexual harassment, Religious bigotry, Genocide, War, Violence, Toxic relationship, and Cursing

Moderate: Alcohol and Ableism

inting3270's review

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Sexual harassment, Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, Colonisation, Death, and Gore

Moderate: Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Medical trauma, Slavery, Torture, Xenophobia, Injury/Injury detail, and Sexual assault

Minor: Kidnapping

theirgracegrace's review

emotional inspiring reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

The Unbroken asks the question: what about those parts of the fantasy world that are the "colonies"? Set in a queer-positive fictional setting that mirrors French-controlled Saharan Africa, Clark's characters live in the awkward space of either benefitting from or being the product of the colonial state. Clark cleverly deconstructs how the colonial state of Balladaire's oppression has separated the people of Qāzal from their culture and their heritage and made many into soldiers to further that oppression. A book that I cannot stop thinking about and eagerly awaiting the sequel of!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Cursing, Death, Confinement, Gore, Murder, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Alcohol, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Classism, Colonisation, Excrement, Alcoholism, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual violence, Trafficking, Violence, War, Emotional abuse, Grief, Gun violence, Hate crime, Xenophobia, Sexual harassment, and Sexual content

Moderate: Death of parent, Gaslighting, Stalking, Torture, and Sexual assault

Minor: Cultural appropriation and Pregnancy

ksfinnerty's review

dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Colonisation, Classism, and Death

Moderate: Sexual harassment, Ableism, Homophobia, and Sexual assault

Minor: Alcohol