Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

Sistersong by Lucy Holland

4 reviews

megelizabeth's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

4.0

"Outside, the wind howls on, uncaring of humans and the dramas they act out. It will blow across this land long after all of us are dust. After Dunbriga is dust. And other lives call this place home."

I really enjoyed this book overall. Not being much of a fantasy reader, it took me a minute to get into and I did find some parts either to drag a bit or go slightly over my head, but the powerful and devastating explorations of siblinghood and historical truth and societal advancement and change really pulled me through and I ended up both invested and ultimately devastated. The writing is absolutely gorgeous and the balance between meticulous historical detail on the one hand and invention and characterisation on the other is perfectly struck. There's a lot going on and at times I did feel as if it was really trying to be two stories when it could have worked as one, but ultimately it did all come together and I felt satisfied (if also heartbroken) by how things turned out.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Misogyny, Violence, Blood, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Confinement and Pregnancy

Minor: Child abuse and Rape

wishbea's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

2.5

Keyne is the most compelling character in the book and the actual plot of the Twa Sisters seemed very tagged on, the plot reveals, particulary

Tristan being a secret Saxon leader

was very obvious to me so I found how late that plot reveal was in the story irritating as it made a lot of the characters appear dumb.

The magic system was highly derivative other than the connection to the land aspect, characters like Gwen and Mori were highly enjoyable. The book itself was fine to read, but I wish it had either entirely focused on Keyne or on both Riva and Sinne as I felt like both storylines suffered from having to share time with the other. For me this resulted in Keyne's plot being a more interesting read and feeling very annoyed at the way Sinne and Riva's plot merged for the climax of the book. 

I also despised the way Riva's story ended

I cannot stand when characters avoid facing justice, Riva chose not to save her sister and Sinne died because of it and although her own people hate her she gets to choose to go the enemy kingdom to have children and be the lady of a far bigger kingdom. I suppose you could argue that never seeing her own kingdom again, giving up her magic and never seeing Keyne again is punishment enough but I think she deserved worse.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse and Transphobia

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, and Physical abuse

mostlyvoidpartiallystars's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

4.75

A beautiful, heartbreaking, but inspiring book. The worldbuilding is rich. I love the combination of magical realism & historical fiction, it felt seamlessly woven in. I appreciated the strong anti-colonial themes. The disability representation is decent - I started out hesitant over how it was being handled, but I loved the progression. 

Finally, a recurring section I'm going to be adding to all my reviews going forward: Do they bury their gays?

No. The only queer/queer adjacent characters are a trans man, a bigender person, and the trans man's girlfriend, who isn't queer herself, but is part of a queer romance given her boyfriend is trans. None of these characters die, and no queer romances end tragically

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Gore, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Ableism, Deadnaming, Misogyny, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Religious bigotry, Murder, Colonisation, and War

Minor: Physical abuse, Rape, Kidnapping, and Pregnancy

mo345's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Body horror, Bullying, Chronic illness, Confinement, Deadnaming, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Sexism, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Colonisation, Dysphoria, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child abuse

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Cursing, Sexual content, and Alcohol