Reviews tagging 'Physical abuse'

The Obelisk Gate by N.K. Jemisin

32 reviews

zombiezami's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Genocide, Gore, Physical abuse, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Deadnaming

jessthanthree's review against another edition

adventurous emotional 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Fire/Fire injury, and War

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Xenophobia, Blood, Grief, Cannibalism, and Death of parent

Minor: Animal death, Racial slurs, and Alcohol

sup3r_xn0va_maya's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad 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

The Obelisk Gate is the sequel to N. K. Jemisin's "The Fifth Season" and it definitely does not suffer from "bad sequel syndrome "as one goodreads user put it. This was an amazing follow up, with so much wonderful and vast world building and character growth.

I loved this and I see why it also won the Hugo award (and many other awards).
I was drawn in to the story and my interest or excitement never faltered. This book reminds me of how enamored I was while reading Octavia E. Butler's Patternist series, I see some elements of OEB's stories come through in The Fifth Season and The Obelisk Gate. Mainly a dystopian setting, found family, and found community to help survive the recent disasters.

I read this in 5 days only because I was buddy reading with my boyfriend and we had to read around his schedule. If I had read this on my own I probably would have finished it within a day or two. It was that good.

 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Physical abuse, Violence, Blood, and Death of parent

yourbookishbff's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative 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

5.0

The Obelisk Gate, book two in the Broken Earth trilogy by NK Jemisin, built on everything I loved in book one and brought even more depth, complexity and heart-wrecking authenticity to each character. As I was thinking about how to describe the dominant themes in book two, I thought most of Beloved, by Toni Morrison, for how fearlessly both NKJ and Morrison explore the layered traumas of child loss and enslavement. I also kept thinking back to the second installment in Tracy Deonn's Legendborn Cycle, Bloodmarked, for how both NKJ and Deonn use fantasy to literally and explicitly call out colonization and the inter-generational trauma of enslaved peoples. NKJ has been very straightforward in her thoughts on the use of subtler forms of allegory to discuss racism in fantasy (as in, subtle doesn't work). In that vein, The Obelisk Gate leaves nothing to misinterpretation - this is a story about slavery.

At the start of The Obelisk Gate, our main character Essun has lost too many children, has sacrificed too much of herself, and has been hunted by too many of those she once loved, and her grief is all consuming. The tender moments between her and Alabaster destroyed me. And we finally get NESSUN in book two, and it's just as much of a gut punch as we expected. She gives up so much for survival - her "daughterhood," her childhood, her ideas of familial love. Through Nessun in particular, NKJ is constantly pushing us to examine our sympathies. Characters like Jija and Schaffa are head-spinning as we try to sort out good and evil in a world literally covered in gray ash.

And sweet, terrifying Hoa. I love him. I distrust him. I love him. I don't know.

Highly recommend this series and looking forward to book three!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Slavery, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Confinement, Physical abuse, Medical trauma, Murder, and Colonisation

Minor: Cannibalism

shingekiyes's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional tense slow-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? It's complicated

4.0

this book was SO SLOW but it really expanded on the incredible world established in The Fifth Season. the magic, the science, was all extremely fascinating and i was continually perplexed and in awe of this universe. 

i had to stop reading about 1/3rd through because of a few of the trigger warnings i list below, but i am very glad i kept going. 

NK Jemisin has such a unique way with words and her characters are all so tangible and emotive. Essun and Alabaster ripped my heart out time and time again, and i empathized with Nassun on so many unexpected  levels. i cannot wait to read the (what i have heard will be) thrilling conclusion to the trilogy. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Slavery, Medical content, Cannibalism, Murder, and War

Minor: Sexual content

some_random_person_hi's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

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

4.0

Second book syndrome (or maybe the other books in the trilogy were just too good).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Murder, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Confinement, Cursing, Gore, Stalking, and Alcohol

Minor: Animal death, Drug use, Genocide, and War

studydniowka's review against another edition

adventurous dark sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

Nie znam piękniej napisanej fantastyki. Warto przeczytać tylko dla tego języka i dla tej narracji (w drugiej osobie!), żeby zrozumieć, jak poetycko opisać koniec świata…

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Genocide, Physical abuse, Racism, Forced institutionalization, Kidnapping, Murder, and Colonisation

Minor: Cannibalism

fourfootedbeasts's review against another edition

adventurous 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Physical abuse, Slavery, Xenophobia, Grief, Murder, Pregnancy, and Colonisation

quil's review against another edition

dark mysterious

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Cannibalism

boglord's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective sad 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: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Violence, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Ableism, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Mental illness, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Cannibalism, and Abandonment

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, and Alcohol