Reviews tagging 'Slavery'

The Mermaid, the Witch, and the Sea, by Maggie Tokuda-Hall

77 reviews

katiethepenguin'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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Minor: Blood, Kidnapping, Rape, Torture, Death, Grief, Injury/injury detail, Murder, Slavery, Alcohol, Colonisation, and Violence

grinnoir's review

adventurous emotional 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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Torture, Abandonment, Alcohol, Blood, Drug use, Slavery, Fire/Fire injury, and Kidnapping

aexileigh's review

adventurous dark emotional slow-paced

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

3.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Blood, Child death, Classism, Death, Gore, Homophobia, Colonisation, Death of parent, Drug use, Injury/injury detail, Slavery, Violence, Misogyny, Sexism, Murder, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Torture, and Trafficking

fayeferre's review

adventurous emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? No

3.0

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Trafficking, Violence, Abandonment, Slavery, Death, and Kidnapping

a2zillustration's review

adventurous dark emotional hopeful tense medium-paced

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Torture, Slavery, and Murder

pineapple_queen's review

adventurous 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

3.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Classism, Confinement, Misogyny, Murder, Homophobia, Colonisation, Addiction, Kidnapping, Outing, Child abuse, Alcohol, Torture, Blood, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, and Sexism

Moderate: Gun violence, Homophobia, Racism, Physical abuse, Violence, Xenophobia, Animal cruelty, Trafficking, Slavery, Pedophilia, Murder, Mental illness, Grief, and Death

Minor: Rape, Sexual violence, and Sexual assault

its2early4this's review

adventurous dark inspiring reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This book was a wonderful, fast read. The world was rich and lovely. The characters felt incredibly real, and I absolutely adored the diverse representation. I would love to read more set in this universe. Unfortunately, the ending was a major disappointment for me. I couldn't see how the author was going to make a happy ending work, but was okay with that because I love a well-written tragic or bittersweet ending. However, the author forced a happy ending that, in my opinion, made no sense and came out of nowhere. Not to mention (spoiler ahead)

Spoiler

I couldn't stop thinking about the fact that Flora and Evelyn are swimming around living "happily ever after" while the original Evelyn's corpse rots at the bottom of the sea. Will they encounter it at some point? Just. What the heck? Kind of spoils what was supposed to be a happy ending, anyway.

I was left with the sense that the author was either told that they shouldn't, or didn't want to write a sad ending, but - like me - couldn't find a logical conclusion, so they just stamped something at the end and called it good. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Sexism, Slavery, Torture, War, Addiction, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Genocide, Gore, Murder, Rape, Trafficking, Violence, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Deadnaming, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Abandonment, Alcoholism, Dysphoria, Homophobia, and Religious bigotry

This book is VERY HEAVY with a lot of its content. But if the potential misgendering/deadnaming is worrying you: it did make me a bit uncomfy at first, but as the story unfolds, it becomes clear that

Spoiler

Flora/Florian's relationship with their gender isn't clear-cut. Both names apply as do all pronouns, and a major part of the story is them coming to terms with that and growing comfortable being who they are unapologetically.

librariangeorgia's review

adventurous emotional hopeful 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

4.0

I actually picked this book up from Waterstones on a whim, and this is not the kind of book I’d usually go for.

Split into 3 sections, we follow the story of the mermaid (told in Flora and Evelyn’s perspective), the story of the witch (told in Flora, Evelyn and Rake’s perspective) and then the story of the sea (told in Flora, Evelyn, Rake and Genevieve’s perspective). I like that there was a new perspective added with each section so we got to see the bigger picture. I would’ve liked to have Alfie’s perspective as well as that would’ve been interesting along side Flora’s.

I absolutely adored Flora and Evelyn; they must be protected at all costs.

I found the magic element quite interesting, not what I was expecting to be honest but it fit quite well with the story.

Before I’d finished the book, I was hoping for a sequel. However, with the way it's ended, I feel happy that the whole story was wrapped up well - even if I was raging at /that/ moment. That being said, I wouldn’t be opposed to a prequel into Xenobia’s story!

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Sexual assault, Rape, Slavery, Homophobia, Torture, Death, and Violence

booksnooksandcooks's review

DNF’ed at 33%

I just couldn’t bring myself to enjoy the characters and the romance felt rushed and oversimplified. I also felt icky about a Black character being a slaver which, as someone who has taken a whole class on pirates, I understand was something that happened, but it didn’t seem necessary in a fantasy space.

The plot seemed interesting and would have kept me going if it didn’t feel like it was going to drag on by the time I DNF’ed. I really wanted to enjoy this novel, but unfortunately I couldn’t bring myself to continue.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Colonisation, and Homophobia

Moderate: Misogyny

Minor: Rape

ethen_rey's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful sad fast-paced

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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Homophobia, and Slavery

Minor: Addiction