Reviews tagging 'Misogyny'

Elias & Laia - Eine Fackel im Dunkel der Nacht by Sabaa Tahir

10 reviews

alexasolis98's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad 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

3.0

This book makes me feel very conflicted. Like so much happened and not at all. Time and locations at times don't make sense. Laia and Elias are working to free Darin from Kauf. With the help of Afya, Keenan and Izzi. Eventually our group splits and Elias ends up with a side quest-ish. Helene is tasked with tracking down Elias. And the Commandant is up to no good.

At the end when Laia is told that she should take her brother to healers in Marinn because he has been knocked out for a MONTH! Homegirl says no, she's go it. Like i get it he wakes up like the night after but how does that make sense.

Another thing, this is probably more of a personal thing but

I fucking hate the Augurs. I hate when the future is known and people have to suffer for the desired outcome of that future, as if people aren't dynamic. The Augurs say things that make it seem like the characters have a choice, however, they are essentially making those choices for them. Telling Helene she has to be broken and then made. So many people die, and they know this will happen and yet they do nothing. They give people vague information but do not do anything to help. I hope it is explained why they stand and do nothing except shape the future the way they want it to go.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Slavery, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

risten's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Physical abuse, Racism, Slavery, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Animal death, Misogyny, Excrement, and Vomit

kitsunasaur's review against another edition

adventurous medium-paced

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

4.5

A little slower than the first, but little to know repeating plot. Fair bit of time jumping and multiple pov makes time irrelevant it seems. Personal issue I found after two books, how do they tell who is Scholar and who is Martial? I’ve hear both races with varying mixes of features. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Hate crime, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Gaslighting, and War

Minor: Child death

esconce's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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? It's complicated

5.0

Honestly one of my favorite books of the series, a lot of twists I wasnt expecting. Read it in about 4 days but it wasn’t cause it was short or anything its just one of those can’t put down books :D 10/10

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Confinement, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Hate crime, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Sexism, Sexual content, Slavery, Trafficking, Grief, Religious bigotry, Murder, and War

allyareads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad 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

5.0

 Do I recommend this series? 100%
Do I recommend reading a book with genocide and ethnic cleansing in it right now?
100% I do not.
I cried so hard I gave myself a headache more than once
It was still as amazing as I remember but I need to go stare at a wall in a dark room for an indeterminable amount of time.
*sob* 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Genocide, Gore, Hate crime, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Infidelity and Rape

veeronald's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad 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? No

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Genocide, Physical abuse, Racism, Slavery, Terminal illness, Violence, Police brutality, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Colonisation, War, and Classism

Moderate: Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Drug use, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Vomit, Stalking, Death of parent, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

nightowl22's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny

Moderate: Genocide, Violence, and War

angstifies's review against another edition

adventurous dark medium-paced

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

3.0

the premise of this book was great but it failed in almost every single aspect.

i honestly slightly liked Laia in book 1, but this book made her almost unbearable for me. she turned into this aspirant saint who always needs to save everyone and leave no one behind and i just hated it. it is such a dumb concept especially in a brutal fantasy world like this, it irritated me so much and i wish she could shut up about how “attractive and manly” both Elias and Keenan are and just… stop…

two complains i have about both this book and the previous one was the writing and the setting/descriptions. 
the writing is once again too childish, focuses on the wrong things at the wrong times, and the way the characters narrate the story is just tiresome. the author has this way of shoving explanations down my throat of things EVERYONE CAN GUESS in a way that something happens and then Laia/Elias/Helene have to specifically explain it when it’s TOTALLY NOT NEEDED. you already guessed what happened but the narration HAS to point it it out for you so it felt repetitive without actually being repetitive. 

and i’m sure the setting is amazing, if we only ever got descriptions of it. Elias and Laia are both traveling for most part of the book but the places they are in are never described, and i really wish they were. i cannot imagine how Serra is, how the houses in Serra are, how the market, the place where they go meet the tribes, the prison look like BECAUSE THERE ARE NO DESCRIPTIONS. we only get vague descriptions of characters, mostly repeating descriptions of characters that have already been described too many times. like yes, i did remember that Helene had blonde hair and Laia had golden eyes, thank you for pointing it out for the 10th time in this chapter.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Child abuse, Confinement, Genocide, Misogyny, Sexism, Slavery, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, and Murder

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Racism, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Sexual harassment

lainiereads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

SO GOOD!!! very painful though-ow. I really love the continued character devlopment that is going on in this series. Laia has become so much stronger already, but she still has an internal struggle that I look forward to seeing her overcome as the series continues. 
I know people love Helene and like,, I get that she isn't a truly bad person and I don't HATE her, but I'm still waiting for something to make me actually like her. I'm sure she will probably be more lovable in the next one, and I am all for a flawed character, but I just don't really get it yet. 
Elias has only gotten better, oh my god I LOVE HIM!!! He is just such a good person that even when he does annoying things, he is still great. You always know that he is going to feel remorse for the bad things he has done, and he will try to make it right however he can. 
I had absolutely no idea what plot twists were ahead of me as I read this book, and I was constantly being shocked by everything! Sabaa Tahir has that perfect way of storybuilding that makes you want to immediately reread everything to see all of the hints that you missed. 
I also really love Tahir's writing because she is able to constantly keep the reader hooked. At times, I caught myself seriously reflecting on what I had read hours before, and I just wanted to pick up the book again and again. This is especially impressive given how depressing this series can be. I don't usually look forward to reading things that I know will be painful, so the fact that this book is able to make me excited to read more is crazy. 
I am scared for the pain to come, but obviously I have to keep reading, I just love these characters so much :')

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Physical abuse, Slavery, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Animal death and Death of parent

ehmannky's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional fast-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

It's so much fun to read a fantasy series rooted in Middle Eastern mythologies instead of European. I cannot recommend this series enough. 

This sequel does what any good middle-of-a-series book should do, which is provide a compelling and complete story on its own while still adding to the overall mythos. It picks up almost immediately after the first installment, with Elias and Laia on the run from the Martial Empire. Their rescue mission of Laia's brother is complicated when Elias is poisoned and they are forced to work that into their plans. This book also has the much appreciated addition of Helene, Elias' former best friend and now the second most powerful person in the Empire. It really elevates a character that in the first installment was a little flat. Love it, cannot wait to get my hands on the third installment.

Reread: I found myself fascinated by Helene this time around. Just because she is kind of a truly unsympathetic character in that her main goal is to maintain this unjust system that is the Empire. I don't know, something about her inclusion in the narrative adds such a wrinkle to your understanding of the entire mythos of this series. Also, wow, do I hate Keenan so very much. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Genocide, Slavery, Terminal illness, Torture, and Blood

Minor: Misogyny