Reviews tagging 'Outing'

The Traitor Baru Cormorant by Seth Dickinson

13 reviews

liokamino's review

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

andrew_corduroy's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad 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

4.5

This was a challenging listen, as many fantasy books are with all of their names and places. But damn if I wasn’t just hooked and felt like I needed to know what happened next.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Homophobia, Blood, Murder, Lesbophobia, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Violence, Excrement, Fire/Fire injury, and War

Minor: Confinement, Drug use, Grief, Outing, and Pandemic/Epidemic

kingcrookback's review against another edition

challenging 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

This is a compliment: The last twenty percent of this book made me want to scream. The way Dickinson seeded the reveal, just enough to barely rouse suspicion at first, and the way it all started adding up, terrible but unstoppable. I sometimes felt like I was watching someone start building a cage, only to suddenly understand that they're building it around themselves. God, it was almost unbearable, so effectively constructed.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Colonisation, and War

Moderate: Homophobia, Racism, Death of parent, Lesbophobia, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Animal death, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Murder, and Outing

emeraldrina's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

A masterpiece of world building and intrigue. Each time I picked up this book I was so immersed that I forgot I was reading. The world is both complex and believable, the characters all beautifully complicated, and the plot just the right amount of knotted mystery to keep you guessing and on the edge of your seat without being confusing. At times the strategic planning was a touch over-explained, but that might just be because I have a background in the subject. And it wasn’t redundant enough to put me off or make me feel bored. Other than that, the writing was stunningly beautiful, and yet never so present that it was distracting from the story.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Homophobia, Murder, Lesbophobia, and War

Minor: Cursing, Death, Misogyny, Blood, Vomit, Death of parent, Outing, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

bookycnidaria's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Genocide, Homophobia, Torture, Violence, Murder, Lesbophobia, Gaslighting, and Colonisation

Moderate: Outing and Pandemic/Epidemic

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

bruisedtigers's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad 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? Yes

3.0

This was disappointing after seeing it so highly praised and discussed. I really enjoyed the first half, but the second half falls flat, and the conclusion didn't land for me at all. There are too many characters, very few of which are unique enough to easily tell them apart, and that made all the war games difficult to follow. I kept mixing up who belonged where, what they offered, and their personalities didn't stand out. It might've been better if (major ending spoilers)

Baru's betrayal wasn't a 'surprise twist' -- and the reader experienced her struggle more directly through the whole war. Instead, since it's all her POV, she abruptly just becomes less insightful as a narrator, and you can put two-and-two together. Justice for Tain Hu, the only really good character. If I didn't already know she died, this would've probably made me much more upset about it. I think they needed to actually be together for more than one night for that betrayal to really cut deep. Instead, it feels gaudy.

I probably won't pick up the sequels, unfortunately. Highly suggest looking up content warnings as well. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Genocide, Homophobia, Racism, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Outing, Colonisation, and War

eegekay's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-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

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Genocide, Homophobia, Racism, Sexism, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Outing, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

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