Reviews tagging 'Gaslighting'

The Traitor by Seth Dickinson

9 reviews

omniscienttrees's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

One of the best depictions of imperialism i've ever seen in fiction. This book also served as the best inoculation against the pain of 'bury your gays' tropes in media ever, and kind of cured me of the pain of a lot of films growing up.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Lesbophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

missmali's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious 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? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Colonisation, and War

abbyschalupa's review against another edition

challenging dark slow-paced

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

2.5

I struggled with this book far more than I thought. There were such great reviews, and it’s grouped with books and genres that I love. I was really hoping to have found a new favorite. I’m so disappointed that this was quite the opposite. It dragged on for an exceptionally long time. This book did not need to be as long as it is. The action truly only began happening by the last 1/4 of the book. 

The first set of chapters hooked me. Baru’s childhood is raw, detailed in rich prose and the wounds are eminent there on the page. Immediately, I was rooting for her. So what happened? 
Unfortunately, the writing. Everything from there on fell. While the beginning brought the lens to focus on Baru, showing her experiences and all she endured, it felt like the writing style switched. Maybe that was the intention. 

However, the writing no longer gave a lens into Baru’s world. It wrote from an outsider’s view, in black and white tone, as though a script were documenting all that occurred. There became an extreme lack of detail, we are no longer shown Baru’s world but instead told about it. The color went away and all became black and white. The rest of the book read like text for socioeconomic studies, detailing who said what, and what that meant, and what Baru must now do. All told, never shown. 

Everything here is detached. I no longer cared for any of the characters, or Baru herself. She skyrocketed through the ranks, in ways that felt incredibly unrealistic, becoming arrogant, ruthless, and coldhearted. Although repeatedly called a savant, she ended up putting herself into multiple bad situations that were entirely avoidable. There were several situations I saw solutions to, but this savant never saw coming, and gave stern replies to people she supposedly cared about, only to never see them again before they died. It became incredibly frustrating. 

I debated quitting halfway. Instead I skipped through chunks of chapters, glad to not have tried reading through them. It felt more like dragging through socioeconomic dense text compared to reading. Far more detached telling then showing. I ended the book disappointed that with such a great start, I never could get hooked back into the story or the character again. Unfortunately, the writing took such a detached and reporter like stance that I found no possibility of drawing further into the story, caring about the characters, or getting further invested. A huge bummer for me. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Hate crime, Homophobia, Misogyny, Sexual content, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Colonisation

Moderate: Gore, Violence, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Ableism

indeedithappens's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Biphobia, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Homophobia, Infidelity, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual content, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Lesbophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

bookycnidaria's review against another edition

adventurous dark medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Genocide, Homophobia, Torture, Violence, Murder, Lesbophobia, Gaslighting, and Colonisation

Moderate: Outing and Pandemic/Epidemic

elizafiedler's review against another edition

Something about the way this book talks about colonization struck me as a bit off even at first, but I thought maybe it was just because the beginning was a bit rushed. No, it felt more off as I went along, and so did the LGBTQ characters. After reading a few critical reviews going into the problematic representation in the book, I'm no longer interested in reading it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Gaslighting, and Colonisation

jjjreads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative sad tense fast-paced

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Biphobia, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Police brutality, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Stalking, Death of parent, Acephobia/Arophobia, Murder, Lesbophobia, Outing, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, War, Classism, and Deportation

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Drug use, Gore, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Sexual violence, Blood, Medical trauma, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

theirgracegrace's review against another edition

challenging mysterious tense fast-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? It's complicated

4.75

The Traitor Baru Cormorant asks the hard questions about what it means to rule in a way that very few court intrigues ever have. Baru's homeland has been conquered by the Masquerade, and she has spent her life preparing to take it down. But in order to get to the heart of its government, she needs to prove herself as the capable and brilliant ruler she is. Filled with enough worldbuilding and plot twists to keep Baru and the reader constantly guessing, I can say with certainty that I'll never read the likes of this book again.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Biphobia, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Hate crime, Homophobia, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Lesbophobia, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Gun violence and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Cancer, Cannibalism, and Cultural appropriation

jbray1018's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-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

5.0

*screams internally forever*

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Homophobia, Racism, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Lesbophobia, Outing, and Gaslighting