Reviews tagging 'War'

Am Abgrund des Krieges by Arkady Martine

48 reviews

bisexualwentworth's review against another edition

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

4.0

A very satisfying conclusion to the duology. I preferred book one as a story, but there was a lot to love here. I liked the multiple points of view, especially the one that starts vague and confusing and becomes clear as the book progresses. Spent the whole book rooting for the gays, of course. The plot just kind of felt like something I'd read before, maybe because it was a probably deliberate (and I think fairly effective) riff on the ending of Ender's Game, maybe because it just felt too paint-by-numbers. The characters were what breathed life into the unoriginal plot, and I loved what Martine did with them. I'm definitely excited to see what she writes next.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Xenophobia, and War

Moderate: Genocide

Minor: Vomit and Injury/Injury detail

hellavaral's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective tense medium-paced

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Violence, Xenophobia, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Suicide and Grief

rschaffer_36's review against another edition

adventurous 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? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

I enjoyed the adventure and seeing how the war with the aliens was going to play out. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content

Moderate: War

nilssjoberg's review against another edition

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Xenophobia and War

Moderate: Genocide, Vomit, and Colonisation

Minor: Sexual content

cleo_reads's review against another edition

4.25

I enjoyed it almost as much as the first. Even though it’s quite different - bigger scope, higher stakes, much more ambitious (and the first one was pretty dang ambitious). 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

Moderate: Xenophobia, Vomit, and War

Minor: Genocide

fedoratheexplora's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Racial slurs, Racism, Xenophobia, and War

Moderate: Medical content and Colonisation

acemummerz's review against another edition

adventurous challenging hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

An amazing sequel - much more sci-fi (alongside the sci-fi politics of the first book) which I really enjoyed 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Genocide, Grief, Colonisation, and War

ninjamuse's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Xenophobia and Colonisation

Moderate: War

krystaldelusion's review against another edition

adventurous tense

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Xenophobia, Colonisation, and War

Moderate: Gore

Minor: Medical content

keeper_of_dark_materials's review against another edition

challenging emotional mysterious fast-paced

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

3.75

I don't know if I like the way that Martine glorifies conquest through Mahit. She describes the Devouring Maw of Teixcalaan as though it's something beautiful and mostly ignores the fact that this is an empire that has brutally colonized large parts of the galaxy. 

There's a quick explanation of "well they haven't had a war of conquest in hundreds of years", but that doesn't really matter to me when alien xenophobia is very obviously, deeply entrenched in their society.

Also, sp**k is a real racial slur and either Martine didn't think to check, or knew and used it anyway (like, a disturbing amount of times).

Still, I can appreciate that the main cast we're mostly in agreement that they should open dialogue with the new species before they try and wipe them off the face of the galaxy, and it actually works. 

Overall solid read and a good expansion on the first book, but I think the major subjects that it covers were not discussed deeply enough. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror and Death

Moderate: Racial slurs, Xenophobia, and War