Reviews tagging 'Biphobia'

Trădătoarea Baru Cormoran by Seth Dickinson

8 reviews

receal's review against another edition

adventurous dark slow-paced

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

3.0

For a historical fantasy book with a great set up on the evils of colonialism and power, I was quite disappointed that I couldn't connect with the main character Baru. It felt like I was always on the cusp of getting a deeper look into Baru but then suddenly pushed to the next plot point. And despite feeling this, the pacing was quite slow. Loved the concept of the plot but the execution was uninspiring. Same with the characters; an interesting cast put together and yet their motivations, interactions and opinion from Baru felt flat and lifeless. To put it simply, I'm very curious about what may happen in the next book but won't be reading it do to how much this book's execution bore me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Torture, Excrement, Colonisation, and War

Moderate: Biphobia and Body horror

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

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

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

lipstickitotheman's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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

I can't rate this yet. It's been too soon. All my brain can say is "Baruuuuuu"

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Animal death, Biphobia, Body horror, Body shaming, Child abuse, Death, Genocide, Hate crime, Homophobia, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Sexism, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Lesbophobia, Outing, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Cancer, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Medical content, Cannibalism, and Acephobia/Arophobia

hedsek's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

This is a pretty difficult book to rate! I love the setting and the worldbuilding, although I think some of the details could have been repeated a bit more often because sometimes I felt like I was supposed to remember everything that was mentioned once for the rest of the book to understand what was going on. The plot was quite hard to follow sometimes (might also have to do with the fact that I read this before going to sleep), and I often felt like the motivations Baru had for her decisions were left implicit which confused me. Now that I have reached the ending of the book, this makes more sense though and I feel like I'll have to reread the book to fully appreciate the plot. 
Although I struggled through the first 2/3 of the book, I finished the rest in two days because the ending is just amazing and the buildup towards the climax is so well done. I am really glad I was convinced to continue reading after all. 
Finally, it is just so refreshing to read a fantasy book that is not the same white cishet patriarchal stuff I've come to expect from the genre so that is definitely a pro.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Racism, Murder, Lesbophobia, Outing, Colonisation, and War

Moderate: Alcoholism, Biphobia, Genocide, Homophobia, Torture, Violence, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Misogyny, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, and Alcohol