Reviews tagging 'Rape'

The Winter King by Bernard Cornwell

25 reviews

nerdkitten's review

adventurous dark 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Excrement, Pregnancy, and Colonisation

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Confinement, Drug use, Infertility, Pedophilia, Torture, Vomit, Medical content, Trafficking, Cannibalism, Abortion, and Classism

andrealinia's review against another edition

There's only so much I can stomach of the female characters being raped, "taught their duties", and kept as sex slaves.

Not a book I was enjoying so I decided to call it quits.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny and Rape

daria66's review against another edition

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, and Rape

girish0731's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful 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? Yes

4.5

Brilliant start to a darker age and brutal retelling of Arthurian tales. The book starts out slow with its characters but picks up close to 1/4th into the book and doesn't let go of the steam and pacing. The atmosphere of 5th to 6th century Britain is portrayed in a grim picture.The characters are the most important draw for this series. Must read for anyone wanting to pick up a historical fiction with fantasy elements mixed in very less amounts.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Blood, Grief, Religious bigotry, and Classism

cjblandford's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

I enjoyed this more realistic take on the legend of Arthur. Here he is not presented as a King, but as a Warlord who is trying(and many times failing) to unite Britons against the invading Saxons, but just as often, he is battling other Britons who are vying for more power. This was first published in 1996 and I think, even though this is more definitely historical fiction (less fantasy), this influenced a lot of the grimdark fiction that came after this in the fantasy genre. It is dark, violent, gory, ruthless, and at times hard to read, especially the sexual assault scenes. The author was trying to accurately portray the violence of daily life that was inescapable during this time, and in that regard he was successful. As far as the story goes, the plot meandered a bit before an overarching story revealed itself. A lot of time was spent establishing the characters and this world. The characters are well-rounded and interesting. Arthur is a flawed, tragic human whose nature has him fighting himself as much as his enemies. Merlin is a crazed, single-minded asshole who is only looking to reestablish Britain's "natural gods" and to kick out any invaders. Our narrator is very sympathetic, and at the beginning of this story, has a bit of hero-worship for Arthur going on. As the story progresses, and as he matures, our narrator learns that Arthur is still a hero, but he's also just a man, not some God-like being. And that's what I find interesting about this novel, it reimagines a legend and mythic character as a real person, with ambitions, flaws, and weaknesses. I'm looking forward to seeing how this story plays out, even though I know if it follows the legend, it won't end well for Arthur...

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Gore, Rape, Sexism, Sexual violence, Slavery, Violence, Blood, and War

lyla_lynn's review

There is a lot of mention of rape and not only is it used as a way for a female character to gain wisdom that same character is happy when another woman is raped. I don't tolerate that in any book and I don't care that the author thinks it's historical because this is a fantasy and he could have chosen not to. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence

Moderate: Rape

pagesofash's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape

novelideea's review

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Gore, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Religious bigotry, Toxic friendship, and War

kissmelicia's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark inspiring tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, and Violence

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Rape, and Sexual violence

seanml's review

adventurous dark informative tense slow-paced

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

4.0

The Once and Future King is my favorite book. To call this A Tale of Arthur and then have the narrative focus on a warrior named Derfel? It is certainly a bold move, but I think in the end it is a good choice. Trying to base the historically spotty, retroactively-Christian narrative of Arthur in the actual post-Roman dark ages of Britain is no easy task. But Cornwell’s attention to historical detail and respect of it makes for a very fun and interesting read. As long as you can stomach historical sexism and misogyny, which I wouldn’t blame you for skipping.

Also, this Lancelot is wildly different from T. H. White’s, which I didn’t expect. What a dick. 8/10.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Genocide, Gore, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Child death, Cursing, Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Racism, Slavery, Grief, Religious bigotry, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Pregnancy

Minor: Vomit, Cannibalism, Abortion, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, and Alcohol