Reviews tagging 'Torture'

The Tombs of Atuan by Ursula K. Le Guin

17 reviews

woweewhoa's review against another edition

adventurous medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, and Slavery

Moderate: Torture, Violence, and Religious bigotry

Minor: Racism and Trafficking

kartoffel_00's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful mysterious reflective sad slow-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

4.0

5/12/22:

This was not exactly a cheerful book but not exactly a despairing one either. It is simply an exploration of the choices and circumstances of the characters mentioned. Ursula LeGuin for me is an author who's very good at portraying the themes she wants to explore in her books. In contrast to the previous book where Ged is the protagonist, the reader follows a different character here. We view the world through their lens and see them experiences changes and also coming to terms with those changes. 
Its a bit hard to precisely place this book in terms of plot and mood. Some might it's terribly bland and some might say the opposite. I rather just enjoyed it for what it was. 

I guess for now I can only say I'm looking forward to reading the other books in the series.

final rating: 4/5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Confinement, Racism, Slavery, Torture, Violence, and Religious bigotry

The trigger warnings mentioned are not graphic. They are not the minor in the sense mentioned once and passed over. Just that they are a very present theme without going into gruesome details.

steveatwaywords's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad 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

Le Guin's second of the original trilogy, like the first, is an odd narrative: don't enter her stories looking for a swashbuckling hero tale or one with clean ideas of good and evil, a tale of adventure magic or grand monsters. The antagonisms here are more subtle, and one protagonist (Ged) plays, in his mature years, a character of quiet gravity and humility. Instead, read it for the psychological play with the development of a young girl, with the assumptions we make of loyalties and tradition, with missed opportunities in relationships and the untraveled roads Frost recalls. 

A bridge novel to the final work of the original trilogy, as carefully and patiently paced as it is, its singular pleasure is in the very absence of traditional adventure: Le Guin shows us that the real world of disorder and responsibility and consequence also apply to realms of fantasy, perhaps more so. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death and Torture

nohousekey's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful mysterious reflective medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death and Torture

Minor: Child death

nerdkitten's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious tense fast-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: Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Grief, Religious bigotry, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Slavery, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Stalking, Murder, and Colonisation

Minor: Animal death, Gore, Racism, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, and War

touchegiantsquid's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful slow-paced

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

3.0

While it was good and the ending was emotional, it took a long time for me to get into it.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Slavery, and Torture

talonsontypewriters's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement

Moderate: Child abuse, Death, Slavery, and Violence

Minor: Animal death, Torture, Blood, and Fire/Fire injury