Reviews tagging 'Colonisation'

Sistersong by Lucy Holland

7 reviews

lorraine19's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense slow-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

4.5

Despite the plot moving slow at first, the multiple layers of story keeps it interesting. There's the Christian church dominating a pagan community, war with Saxons looming, and the personal stories with each of the siblings. I found the parallels between these elements fascinating. 

If you know The Twa Sisters ballad, most of the plot likely won't be a surprise for you. If you are like me and went in blind, you'll probably find certain points predictable and others completely shocking. Character development is there - some for better and some for worst. The most moving - and arguably he main character of this multiple POV story - to me is the middle child Keyne. Their development and story of self discovery and empowerment is absolutely beautiful. 

As someone that is a fan of multiple POV books, I felt like it was almost unnecessary here. However, I do feel like it did result in some points being more effective. I'm left with conflicted feelings about the ending (specifically regarding Riva) but I think that's up to the individual reader. 

Overall, interesting read - especially if you are into paganism, European history, or magic. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Colonisation

Moderate: Ableism, Bullying, Deadnaming, Death, Sexual content, and Pregnancy

Minor: Slavery

picaresquedreamer's review against another edition

Boring, most characters were kinda irritating

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Sexism, Transphobia, Violence, Grief, Religious bigotry, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail

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

kalmia31's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Body shaming, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Violence, Blood, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Ableism, Animal death, Deadnaming, and War

becksusername's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Ableism, Animal death, Deadnaming, Sexism, Transphobia, Blood, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, and War

mooshake's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense 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

5.0

listen there were problems with how much plot importance keyne was given in comparison to riva and sinne but it's 1 a.m. and i’ve been lying in bed for the past 20 minutes silently crying over the ending so.... ..¯\_(ツ)_/¯

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Deadnaming, Gore, Transphobia, Fire/Fire injury, and War

Moderate: Death, Blood, Medical content, Colonisation, and Dysphoria

Minor: 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