Reviews tagging 'War'

The Bone Doll's Twin by Lynn Flewelling

4 reviews

blacksphinx's review against another edition

sad tense slow-paced

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

3.5

This extremely slow-paced gothic fantasy kept my attention the entire time. I am curious of how the overall story will turn out, and I do care about some of the characters. 

But I cannot in good consciousness recommend it to anyone due to an important character being an offensive Magical Negro trope. I know this book is 20 years old, but at NO point did the author ever stop and go, "maybe describing the only Black character in my story as smelling like human feces every time she appears is offensive?" She has mystical powers that are considered immoral by the other characters! She speaks in broken english like a minstrel show character! Her hair is described as being tangled and dirty! She walks around topless and seduces a white man, promising to teach him magic in exchange for having sex with her! It's really bad. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death of parent, Abandonment, Racism, Child death, Grief, Suicide, Death, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Misogyny, Homophobia, Sexual content, Pandemic/Epidemic, Bullying, and Sexism

Minor: Pedophilia, War, Xenophobia, and Blood

amandabarylski's review

dark emotional mysterious slow-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? No

4.0

The buildup was good and there was a lot of suspense, but the ending wasn't very satisfying, more of a cliffhanger leading into the second book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Death of parent, Child death, Suicide, and Cursing

Moderate: Grief and Pedophilia

Minor: Homophobia, War, and Sexism

decembermagpie's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense slow-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? No

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Child death, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Blood, Panic attacks/disorders, Mental illness, and Suicide

Moderate: Homophobia, Bullying, Classism, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Outing, and War

bookswithjk's review

adventurous slow-paced

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

4.5

The story, the world, the characters - everything was so engrossing that it was difficult to put it down. However, there’s not much action in the book itself. While we do get perspectives from different characters, the majority is from Tobin’s perspective, and while I expected a story about gender politics (and the struggle of identity), we just spend a majority of the story in a near day-to-day telling of the kid’s life. Towards the end, this kind of storytelling become tedious and sluggish - you know the spell is going to break, but first you have to spend ten chapters of his life in court before you get there. 

Overall, I did enjoy the story and am eager to hunt down the sequel. Someone described this as The Belgariad, but with faster pacing, and I would agree with that. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual content

Minor: Death, Death of parent, Child death, Suicide, and War