Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

Trădătoarea Baru Cormoran by Seth Dickinson

13 reviews

sourcherrysyrup's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

5.0

Baruuuuu

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Racism, Violence, Lesbophobia, Colonisation, and War

Minor: Child abuse, Pedophilia, and Sexual violence

Child is almost victim of lesbophobic sexual abuse conversion therapy

liokamino's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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

5.0

perfect fucking book

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Fatphobia, Genocide, Gore, Hate crime, Homophobia, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Xenophobia, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Lesbophobia, Outing, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

thesunthesunthesunthesun's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

5.0

I'll try to write a proper review later, when I've recovered. This book killed me, revived me, and then killed me again. Everything fits perfectly it just,, had to happen like that there was no escaping this.

My partner thrust this book in my hands yesterday with the request to read "just chapter one, and then let me know what you think :)". I finished it in 2 days (mostly because general life got in the way). I'm still reeling. This book is etched into my brain now.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Biphobia, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Blood, Trafficking, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Lesbophobia, Cultural appropriation, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, and Cannibalism

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

btrz7's review against another edition

challenging dark medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Biphobia, Genocide, Homophobia, Misogyny, Religious bigotry, Colonisation, and War

Moderate: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Death of parent, and Alcohol

noetherian's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense 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? It's complicated

A book that paces along the fence between depiction and glorification of imperialism's abuses. There are interesting ideas, compelling characters, and a world with history, but it's all chaff for the machinery of whatever may happen in the sequels. If the ends justify the means, how is one to determine whether to keep reading this series? I suspect fans of economics and war will love her better than I could.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Death of parent, Lesbophobia, and Colonisation

Moderate: Ableism, Child abuse, Hate crime, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Murder, Sexual harassment, War, and Classism

Minor: Torture, Blood, and Fire/Fire injury

Eugenics

sarah984's review against another edition

adventurous dark sad medium-paced

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

4.0

I was a little skeptical about this book because I keep seeing it recommended alongside other books I didn't like very much, and the 'take an empire down from the inside' storyline can often be kind of cheesy. I'm glad I gave the book a chance (even though it hurt me severely) - this was a tragic story with fascinating characters that never lets you forget for a second the cost of empire. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Homophobia, Racism, Colonisation, and War

Moderate: Animal death, Child abuse, Confinement, Genocide, Misogyny, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Police brutality, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Outing, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Ableism, Addiction, Child death, Drug use, Pedophilia, Self harm, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Cannibalism, and Fire/Fire injury

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