Reviews tagging 'Sexual content'

Sistersong by Lucy Holland

19 reviews

cattheteawitchfairy's review against another edition

adventurous inspiring sad slow-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

3.75

Beautiful text that wasn’t what I expected! With twists at every corner, characters you can’t decide whether to love or hate and a beautiful plot with magic, religion, war and a well written trans story.

Would recommend.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Deadnaming, Death, Sexual content, Transphobia, Blood, Religious bigotry, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Dysphoria, and War

simon_toast's review against another edition

adventurous dark reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, and War

Moderate: Death, Suicidal thoughts, and Death of parent

Minor: Deadnaming

lilifane's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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

I. Loved. It.

Some of the very first fantasy books I've read as a child were the Albion/Avalon books by Marion Zimmer Bradley. And especially the beginning of this book reminded me SO much of them, it has the same vibes. 

The story takes place in Ancient Britain between the departure of the Romans and the Saxons attacks. It's about 3 siblings, the children of a British king, about their life endangered by the Saxons, about their personal struggles, about magic (vs Christianity), about love and jealousy and betrayal and war and family and identity. Also, there is amazing LGBTQIA+ and disability representation. 

The further I got into the story, the harder it was to put the book down. I loved the atmosphere, the (very flawed) characters, the plotting of the story as a whole. There was one plot that was painfully predictable. Like it made everything more cruel because you knew it was coming. But then there were parts of the story that totally took me by surprise. 

So, if you don't want to ruin this surprise for you, don't research the ballad (The Twa Sisters), which the story is based on. I did after reading the book, and now I'm even more in awe by how well this retelling was done. Also, a modern version of the ballad is one of my favorite songs by Loreena Mckennitt... and I realized I had never paid enough attention to the lyrics before. Ooops. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Deadnaming, Death, Gore, Misogyny, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Outing, Gaslighting, Dysphoria, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Sexual content

nicnevin's review against another edition

adventurous challenging mysterious 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

4.0

Interesting story about ancient Britons holding off against the Saxons. I worked out the twist with a character pretty early on and the two sisters sides of tge story interested me far less than the one of Keyne

(Constantine).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Chronic illness, Deadnaming, Death, Gore, Hate crime, Homophobia, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Outing, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Dysphoria, War, and Injury/Injury detail

kanra's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative mysterious sad tense slow-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

This is a slow book. The characters are written very well and it feels like each sister has their own story throughout the main plot. I was very intrigued about each sister and wanting to learn more about the magic and their relationships kept me going through the very slow start. More action picks up around the middle and that's about where each sister starts to really come into their own stories. The ending was worth the slow reading it started out as, and I loved seeing where each sister ended up. Keyne was my favorite to read about but I think having the other sister's views was still important for the story.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Bullying, Death, Sexual content, Transphobia, Violence, Vomit, Grief, Religious bigotry, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Injury/Injury detail

foxonabook's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious sad fast-paced

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

4.0

I’m not a stranger to retellings, but this is the first retelling I’ve read that’s not about a Greek myth and is instead inspired by a folk ballad. It’s actually the first book I’ve read that’s set in the early days of Britain’s history, at a time when the Romans are no longer ruling over the country, the Saxons are conquering over the Celtic tribes and Christianity is spreading across Europe. Personally, I couldn’t have read this book at a better time because it coincided with my own revision of Britain’s early history. Anyway, moving on to the actual review…

Sistersong is the story of three sisters, Keyne, Sinne and Riva, daughters of the King of Dumnonia who once heralded so much magical power, but now it seems that the gods and magic have forsaken Dumnonia and its people just as the threat of a Saxon invasion looms ever nearer.

The story unfolds across each sister’s point of view, allowing us to better understand the sisters’ relationship with one another and with the world around them. The bond between the three feels very realistic in terms of the teasing, jealousy, heated arguments and, most importantly, unwavering love. Not all three are equally as likeable, in my opinion, with Riva quickly becoming my least favourite of the three.

An important underlying theme in the story is exploration of self-identity and the courage it takes to defy society’s gender stereotypes in order to be true to yourself. Although a certain character’s development was clear from very early on, it didn’t take away from the enjoyment of reading how the character came into their own.

I wish I could say that that was the only predictable aspect of the story; I felt the foreshadowing was laid on a little thick at some points, making it hard not to guess what would happen. With that said, I was never bored with the story because the writing and pacing were enthralling and spot-on.

I also liked that none of the main characters has fully mastered their relatively new craft by the end of the story. Despite this being a work of fiction, you got a sense that Lucy Holland was being realistic in terms of what the characters could have achieved over the course of the book. It’s actually a pet peeve of mine when characters suddenly, with both minimal effort and raining, have full mastery over their powers.

So, to wrap this up, Sistersong was a delightful read, set at a time in history I don’t think we often come across. It’s definitely a book I would recommend to fans of historical fiction and fantasy.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Transphobia, and Blood

Moderate: Ableism and Deadnaming

Minor: Sexual content

breq's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.5

My main complaint is that I was in it for the murder ballad and that doesn't actually hit until about 75-80% of the way in.  It felt like there was a lot of setup and the book didn't need to start that early.  But some of this may be because I'm already familiar with that setting and didn't feel like I needed much exposition.  I really liked how the

trans character was handled, with what felt like an accurate mix of acceptance and prejudice, without getting too "being trans is constant trauma" or too "magically accepting".  It's a balance a lot of writers miss, and I really prefer narratives that strike that middle area.  My immediate thought, at least, is that it was done well.  My opinion may change as I think about it.  I know some people prefer that trans characters are always gendered correctly in the narrative and never deadnamed, but I feel like there are times when that's necessary and as long as it's handled respectfully, it works.  I think it was handled well here.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Deadnaming, Death, Gore, Transphobia, Violence, Religious bigotry, Fire/Fire injury, Dysphoria, and War

Moderate: Ableism, Sexual content, Death of parent, and Pregnancy

The trans character is misgendered and deadnamed both by characters and by the narrative. However, some of this is due to him not being out yet to certain characters, and him not choosing a new name until the end of the book. (In fact, at the start of the book, it is not immediately clear that he is a trans man because he is still coming to terms with it, at least in my interpretation.) A number of characters come around and gender him correctly as the book progresses. Some characters do not, which makes sense with the setting. Overall, I felt it was mostly well-handled, although I am not specifically a trans man myself.

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

rubyhosh's review against another edition

mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Deadnaming

Moderate: Ableism, Transphobia, Violence, and Religious bigotry

Minor: Sexual content