Reviews tagging 'Racism'

Blood of Elves by Andrzej Sapkowski

12 reviews

zemightyenby's review against another edition

adventurous funny medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore

Moderate: Ableism, Misogyny, and Racism

onthesamepage's review against another edition

adventurous medium-paced

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

3.0

Reading this was a mixed bag. The parts that focused on Ciri, Geralt, and Yennefer, I really enjoyed. Even the politics of the world and the commentary on racism was interesting. The problem is that it's impossible to read this without constantly getting slapped in the face with casual misogyny. 

You have Dandelion who puts all women into categories related to whether or not he would have sex with them, mentions of kings considering marrying Ciri, because her mother and grandmother were both eager for sex so surely she will be too, women having long hair being considered a symbol of them being either free or a whore, Shani who mentions she's "afraid for her maidenhood" when walking certain streets, but not for her life, because surely their maidenhood is women's primary concern. Honestly, I could keep going, because there was plenty of it. It's a classic example of white mantasy in my opinion, and if I didn't already have an attachment to Geralt and Ciri because of the game, I think I would have DNF'd this.

I'm still deciding what to do about the rest of the series, but I might just read a summary and call it a day.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny and Racism

Moderate: Torture

Minor: Homophobia

sheiksleopardthong's review against another edition

adventurous 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? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Racism, Violence, Blood, and War

Moderate: Bullying, Genocide, and Death of parent

faith99's review against another edition

adventurous emotional 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? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence

Moderate: War

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Racism, Torture, and Fire/Fire injury

shiveryteacup's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Racism

Minor: Animal death, Vomit, and Fire/Fire injury

plume_de_renarde's review against another edition

adventurous dark slow-paced

• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, and Torture

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Cursing, Pedophilia, and War

tilo's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful lighthearted mysterious tense 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? Yes

5.0

Der erste Teil der Hauptreihe enttäuscht nicht! Mehrmals war ich emotional etwas aufgewühlt und einige Stellen haben mir das Herz erwärmt. Ich habe das Gefühl, dass Leser:innen, die sich mit der Welt noch nicht so gut auskennen, besonders am Anfang sehr überrumpelt von all den Namen und geschichtlichen Ereignissen fühlen könnten. Ansonsten bietet das Buch alles, was man von der Welt erwartet: Mysteriöse Geschehnisse, Abenteuer und einzigartige Charaktere mit komplexen und faszinierenden Hintergrundgeschichten.
Randnotiz: Positiv aber sehr überraschend fand ich die Art und Weise wie mit

Ciris

Menstruationsbeschwerden und später erste Fragen zum Sexualleben umgegangen wurde. Fand ich gute Aufklärung in einem Buch, von dem man es nicht zwingend erwartet.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Violence, and Blood

Moderate: Body shaming, Cursing, Drug use, Infertility, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Vomit

yunathealien's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

3.5

This book could be perfect, if it wasn't so obvious, that the author has absolutely no clue about woman. But if you can look at all the misogyny and laugh at its stupidity and not get too infuriated by it, its a good book. Behind the misogyny hides a good story 😂

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Genocide, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and War

Moderate: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Bullying, Gore, Pedophilia, Torture, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

jaedia's review against another edition

challenging dark slow-paced

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

2.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Misogyny, Racism, Toxic relationship, Violence, Death of parent, Murder, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, and War

Moderate: Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Drug use, Infertility, Rape, Self harm, Torture, Fire/Fire injury, and Abandonment

billyjepma's review against another edition

adventurous lighthearted mysterious slow-paced

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

2.75

I'm still hopelessly enamored with the world Sapkowski has created, but as the "official" starting point of his grander storyline, this book was pretty underwhelming and even a bit disappointing. The first two short-story collections—which really should be labeled as books 1 and 2 because they're essential to understanding this one—surprised me with their smart, economic worldbuilding and sharp characterizations. But this one effectively goes in circles for 400 pages, planting seeds that probably won't show any fruit for another book or two or three. There are some high points, though. Everything with Geralt and Ciri in the first act is great, and the subplots with Geralt are also quite fun and parse through some compelling ideas and motivations. But once Geralt takes a step back, the story takes a hit.

Very little actually happens in these pages, which is a problem only exasperated by Sapkowski's inability to write believable women. The interactions that develop Yennefer and Ciri's relationship should be fun and meaningful, considering they make up 2/3s of the series core protagonists at this point. Instead, they often come off as grating, shallow, and full of painfully glaring signs that they're written by a man who doesn't know anything about women. These problems were around in the last two books, too, but now they're actively hurting the story's trajectory and foundation, which sucks. It's cool seeing Ciri go through a series of training montages, but when that's the backbone of your entire story, and you don't know how to write women, you're going to have problems, which is precisely what happens here.

I'm still going to keep going with the series because I am enjoying the worldbuilding, and the many plot threads and tensions teased here have effectively piqued my interest. But I really, really, really need Sapkowski to improve his writing in some pretty crucial areas.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Sexism, and Xenophobia

Minor: Torture, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, and War