Reviews tagging 'Misogyny'

Реки Лондона by Ben Aaronovitch

22 reviews

wickedgrumpy's review against another edition

challenging mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? No

1.75

The misogyny was the main deterrent and I'm not sure why I pushed through to finish it because it sealed the deal on not wanting to continue the series in the future.

---

Content Warnings

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Body shaming, Child death, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Fatphobia, Gore, Hate crime, Homophobia, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Police brutality, Medical content, Kidnapping, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

lucas_mannion's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

Really enjoyed this. Dialogue and protagonist's perspective were funny without trying too hard. Interesting plot, didn't take itself too seriously. Struggled to follow some parts and took me a while to get through but that may just be my own attention problems. Main negative is that all of the female characters were sexualised by the protagonist. Could have been a conscious choice to show his immaturity, but was just a bit tasteless in my opinion. Would like to read more of this series but hope that the female characters are more developed. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Gore, Misogyny, Sexism, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Child abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Excrement, Vomit, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

selimhannah's review against another edition

lighthearted fast-paced

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

3.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny and Sexism

Moderate: Death, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Car accident, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Gore, Gun violence, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Xenophobia, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, and Suicide attempt

stephh's review against another edition

mysterious medium-paced

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

2.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny

a_k_lennard's review against another edition

funny lighthearted mysterious fast-paced

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

3.75

I love the interesting plot lines and the characters. I think Aaronovitch’s writing style is reminiscent of Terry Pratchett and Douglas Adams in its playful and sarcastic manner. However, Aaronovitch’s protagonist is a black guy, Peter Grant, and you can tell that Aaronovitch doesn’t write from personal experience of being a black man (he’s white). This leaves Peter Grant feeling like a caricature rather than a real person (this does get better as the books go on). I also don’t particularly enjoy the way women are referred to in this book — if a woman is mentioned, it is all about sexualising her, especially the young black women (specifically Beverley) because of course!
I do think the author had some constructive feedback (maybe after the second book) because they are getting less and less offensive which can only be a good thing. Who knew a middle aged man could learn that some people are more than their tits?

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death and Misogyny

Moderate: Racism

searobin's review against another edition

dark slow-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? No

1.0

The misogyny, fat-phobia, and horniness was very off-putting. I wanted to DNF this book, but it was for book club so I didn't. 

I think the premise had a lot of potential, and I did enjoy some aspects of the storyline, but it was not executed well. 

I would absolutely love a book (not by this author) from the perspective of Mother Thames, or one her tributaries, though!

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Stalking, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

imlfox's review against another edition

This book is for white men. It was vaguely misogynistic and the narrator is unlikeable. Stopped at the point when two white police officers decided not to record a full witness statement from someone who’s just committed an assault because “someone might try and claim it was a racially motivated crime”. This was because what she said indicated that it was probably a racially motivated crime. Suggestion was this was just good common sense. Main character is creepy to his female coworker, thinks about sleeping with her constantly and gets an erection while hugging her after witnessing a traumatic family annihilation. She is “polite enough not to mention it”. This book was recommended to me by two white male friends. 0 stars just don’t. 

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Misogyny, Racism, and Violence

sirswanny's review against another edition

adventurous funny lighthearted mysterious fast-paced

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

3.0

---

Content Warnings

Minor: Misogyny, Sexism, and Sexual content

jdieperink's review against another edition

medium-paced

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

3.0

I really wanted to like this book more than I did. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Gore, and Violence

Moderate: Racism

Minor: Addiction, Misogyny, and Xenophobia

epellicci's review against another edition

adventurous lighthearted slow-paced

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

3.5

If you're a fan of crime, or police procedural books, I suspect The Rivers of London will be more up your street than it was mine. I really wanted to love it but just couldn't get into the story. After a very slow start, my main issue with it was that I found it too crime, not enough fantasy. But I also found many of the characters hard to gel with - especially Peter Grant. Until it was specifically mentioned that he is meant to be a POC character, I had no idea from the writing. Which was particularly surprising given, being set in the British police force, Aaronovitch had ample opportunity to explore the mix-race experience within law enforcement in his writing. This was completely wasted, with Peter reading like a white guy for 90% of the book. It felt a bit like an afterthought, or token diversity.

While occasionally funny, and having an interesting take on relating old magic to the modern world, I found the events of the book very stop/start and the stakes hard to invest in. At about 35% it became much more readable pace-wise, but I still didn't really warm to the characters or the fantasy world which had initially encouraged me to pick up the book. Disappointing. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore and Violence

Moderate: Misogyny and Sexual assault