birdentea's review against another edition
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
I normally am not affected by dark fantasy, but this book was just... too much. I had to stop multiple times reading it. The violence against women is extremely graphic and the book is blasé about it, almost using that kind of unimaginable trauma as shock value. The book has no lighthearted moments, which is to be expected in this kind of novel, I think, but the characters never emotionally address the darkness of the book. Honestly, the level of violence and sexual assault in the book is just too much. For gritty fantasy, I would expect some level of that kind of content as a part of the world, but this was just senseless violence without narrative purpose, and as a woman it was extremely hard to read that level of trauma being reduced to a plot device.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Physical abuse, and Misogyny
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