Reviews tagging 'Murder'

The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin

20 reviews

mcc004's review against another edition

adventurous challenging tense slow-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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Sexism, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Fatphobia, Gun violence, Incest, and Murder

Graphic descriptions of imprisonment, forced drugging and attempted sterilization

mrgriffit's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.5

A masterclass in storytelling. About how people connect with each other, their country, and their world. It’s at its best when the main characters are pushed together and the only flaw I can find is that it doesn’t get to the point where they are “together” until much later in the story than I wished.

On an altogether different note, it feels as though in some ways, the journey that began in Rocannon’s World is finished here. The gift of Mindspeech is finally used for its true purpose, connection and understanding. A tool to bring people together, not to dominate or destroy.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Confinement, Incest, Misogyny, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Murder, and Pregnancy

gilnean's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny hopeful inspiring 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? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Drug use, Gun violence, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Torture, Transphobia, Violence, Xenophobia, Police brutality, Medical content, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Incest, Mental illness, Sexual content, Suicide, Terminal illness, Blood, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and War

Minor: Ableism, Child death, Cursing, Homophobia, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Excrement, Vomit, and Sexual harassment

acemummerz's review against another edition

adventurous challenging tense medium-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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Torture, and Deportation

Minor: Child death, Incest, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Excrement, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Pregnancy, War, and Injury/Injury detail

cdc95's review against another edition

challenging emotional mysterious reflective tense slow-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Xenophobia

Minor: Torture, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, and Murder

bookishperseus's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional informative lighthearted reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.0

It did take a while for me to be able to start this book, and at times I found it incredibly slow, complex or tedious.

I did keep reading it because there was a small interest as to what would happen, even though this book is following what could be considered a 'usual every day life'.

Towards the end, I found the final 3 or 4 chapters actually quite interesting. Not something I'd read again, but glad I finished it!

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body shaming, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Hate crime, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Police brutality, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, and Deportation

Minor: Body shaming, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Hate crime, Incest, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Vomit, Police brutality, Medical content, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Deportation

kmhst25's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious sad tense

3.5

The positives:
I couldn’t put it down, it contains some wisdom and interesting philosophical thought, and it perfectly depicts the conflicts that arise between people with different ideas of politeness and social norms.

The negatives:
In the intro, Le Guin says that sci-fi tells us nothing about the future and a lot about the present. And this book, written in the 60s, is a great example of that. The narrator disdains women, and his notions about men and women are dated and grating. And even knowing that the content is reflective of the time, it is still displeasing to me to read of a future where very few women are mathematicians or abstract thinkers, and a man, when asked if women are mentally deficient, says, “I don’t know.” It’s a blocker for me; it detracts from the experience.

Additionally, the impact of a man trying to understand gender in an ambisexual society is completely undercut by the narrative using “he” pronouns for everyone; your brain reads “he” as “man”, in much the same way that the narrator reads the locals as men, which I’m sure is at least half the point, but completely dulls the effect. 

Finally, the second half of the book contains an absurd number of descriptions of snow and ice that don’t really add anything to the experience.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Murder

Moderate: Sexism and Torture

Minor: Blood, Excrement, and Vomit

maryellen's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious slow-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: Child death, Confinement, Death, Gun violence, Incest, Physical abuse, Grief, and Murder

Minor: Child death, Confinement, Death, Gun violence, Incest, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Suicide, Torture, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

carrionkid's review against another edition

5.0

Absolute banger of a book for real 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Grief, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Incest

emilo's review against another edition

emotional mysterious reflective 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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Incest, Torture, Medical trauma, and Murder