Reviews tagging 'Homophobia'

Ciudad de Jade by Fonda Lee

31 reviews

rubybastille's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional tense medium-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

5.0

Epic, beautiful, incredible. Elements of anime, 80s Hong Kong action flicks, and Eastern religion blended expertly with The Godfather. For a story where I didn't necessarily like or approve of all the leads (Hilo is charismatic and brave, but short-tempered and lowkey sexist), it certainly kept my attention in a way I didn't expect. I'd say this is a slow-burn, chess game of a book for someone comfortable with nuanced, sometimes unlikable protagonists.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Blood, Murder, and War

Minor: Homophobia

daydream_e's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

4.75

Amazing characters who are deeply flawed and yet so easy to care about. Excellent portrayal of civil war and the complexities of post-colonial development, as well as international politics - I’m  considering recommending this to my undergraduate comparative politics students as an enjoyable way to consider how natural resources, colonial history, corruption and crime, and international politics interact. Particularly given the author has no academic history/polisci background, it’s incredibly impressive that she was able to create a fictional world with such realistic politics, and it speaks to what must be an incredible grasp of colonial and post-colonial Asian history. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Death, Drug use, Gun violence, Torture, Violence, Grief, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Chronic illness, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Suicide, Xenophobia, Dementia, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Colonisation, and War

Minor: Homophobia

Racism, xenophobia, war, and colonization are within the context of a fictional country with obvious real world analogues, but not one-to-one with real life events. Mental illness and drug use/addiction are also within the context of a fictional drug. Violence and injury is often very explicit - think hard R rated action movie - but not dwelled on excessively. Grief is a major theme throughout the book for many characters BIG SPOILER:

including the death of a POV character

bibliomania_express's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Body horror, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Misogyny, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Dementia, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Homophobia, Pedophilia, Colonisation, and Classism

heather667's review against another edition

adventurous 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Body horror, Chronic illness, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Misogyny, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Violence, Dementia, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Colonisation, and War

Moderate: Body shaming, Fatphobia, and Murder

Minor: Homophobia

wellreadandhalfdead's review against another edition

emotional reflective tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Sexual content, Violence, and War

Minor: Homophobia and Xenophobia

jaaay_reads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.0

I did like the book. I just didn't love it as much as I thought I would. I don't know why. I liked the characters. I thought they were all interesting and I feel for them. I find the worldbuilding to be really cool. I will definitely be reading the next book. I didn't connect as emotionally as I thought I would. 

But, this is still a fun book with a lot of action, some political intrigue, interesting world-building, and cool characters. The biggest twist was definitely

Lan's death. I thought he had plot armor. 

That changed the trajectory of the book big time and I thought that was a great move for Lee to do. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Death of parent, and War

Moderate: Blood

Minor: Homophobia

nofy's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia

maregred's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Sexual content, Violence, Dementia, Death of parent, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Animal death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Blood, Grief, and Alcohol

Minor: Homophobia, Racism, Sexism, and Xenophobia

szuum's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Death, Drug use, Gun violence, Violence, Grief, and Murder

Moderate: Animal death, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, and Dementia

Minor: Homophobia, Pedophilia, Suicide, and Death of parent

jakepasseri's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny tense medium-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

4.5

Amazing start to the series!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Self harm, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Dementia, Grief, Death of parent, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual assault, and Kidnapping

Minor: Homophobia, Pedophilia, and Rape