Reviews tagging 'Sexism'

The Ink Black Heart, by Robert Galbraith

12 reviews

just_me_abbey's review

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Chronic illness, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Racism, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Murder, Rape, Sexual harassment, Toxic relationship, Drug use, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Blood, Domestic abuse, Fatphobia, Physical abuse, Sexism, Toxic friendship, Classism, and Death

minkler's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Physical abuse, Antisemitism, Bullying, Misogyny, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Pedophilia, Self harm, Sexism, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Mental illness, Murder, Eating disorder, Chronic illness, Rape, Ableism, Addiction, Cursing, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, and Suicidal thoughts

sincerely_aaby's review against another edition

dark 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? It's complicated

2.0

This is a decent book. Not my favorite in the series. There was relationship development between Ellacott and Strike. The plot was hard to follow at times, and I felt it was predictable. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Cursing, Bullying, Sexism, Misogyny, Alcohol, Child abuse, Sexual harassment, Death, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Moderate: Transphobia, Gore, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Toxic friendship, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Adult/minor relationship, Antisemitism, Ableism, Xenophobia, Chronic illness, Stalking, Blood, Pedophilia, Racism, and Medical content

Minor: Fatphobia, Sexual assault, Self harm, Rape, Injury/Injury detail, Eating disorder, Suicide attempt, and Infidelity

rnbhargava's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative lighthearted mysterious reflective relaxing 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

4.0

The narrative and mysteries were very engaging once it got going. The nature of online interactions in relation to popular pieces of media is fertile ground for storytelling. That said, the in game chats were a bit of a slog when broken up into 2-3 conversations happening near simultaneous. Yes, I didn’t mind flipping back and forth on pages but it took some adjusting. The characterizations are all really good. Seeing how all these different types of personalities could be prone to certain types of toxic online behavior was entertaining. I will say that one of the storylines is a bit hard to get by given it specifically involves kids. The side cases were good for highlighting the different contractors personalities. I liked that the entire main case was largely about people being manipulated by someone charismatic online. That all said, the book is lengthy and it could have been tightened up 200-300 pages or at least some of the game chat chapters could have been combined or tightened. 

Overall, I enjoyed it. Another good book in the series.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Rape, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Alcohol, Classism, Mental illness, Misogyny, Stalking, Toxic friendship, Ableism, Bullying, Gore, Death, Gaslighting, Torture, Body shaming, Toxic relationship, Child abuse, Eating disorder, Grief, Medical trauma, Animal cruelty, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Blood, Racism, Body horror, Confinement, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Medical content, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Pedophilia, and Sexism

See all the triggers for the types of grotesque things discussed and done to characters because of the online and in real life sketchiness of people associated with the cases and to a degree with people in the characters’ lives

maggies's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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

Another 4-star Cormoran Strike mystery for me! As usual, the mystery is a thickly woven web, incorporating pretty grotesque crimes. Definitely a page-turner.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Lesbophobia, Cursing, Death, Adult/minor relationship, Misogyny, Violence, Murder, Blood, Toxic relationship, Sexual harassment, Self harm, Racism, Pedophilia, Medical content, Chronic illness, Child abuse, Toxic friendship, Stalking, Sexism, Racial slurs, Injury/Injury detail, Fatphobia, Eating disorder, Domestic abuse, and Antisemitism

Moderate: Infertility, Infidelity, Pregnancy, and Miscarriage

sauvageloup's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.0

firstly Rowling has shit political views. we all know this. I do feel bad reading this but I got it from the library and shes getting no profit from me. unfortunately shes a good writer.

pros:
- very gripping, couldn't put down
- characters were interesting and complex overall 
- did a convincing job of showing online spaces

cons:
- the sheer pettiness underlying lots of her comments is a lot. the whole plotline is narcissistic. I get the point shes trying to make (toxic online spaces driving innocent creators to misery. bad ppl hiding building up gullible fans with claims of creator's being homophobic/racist/ableist, etc. ppl being blinded by this that they miss true predators, sexists and racists) but it misses all the joy of online friends, and generally reads like shes bitter about the criticism.
- she also misses the very real need for criticism. she mocks "SJWs" but her own views could be called that by some alt right. she's determined to see that fans are acting as a mob with no critical thinking skills, where I think shes blinded by confirmation bias and her ego and lacks the ability to be compassionate and tolerant. anyway. her views are made very clear in the book and it feels petty.
- underwhelming ending, not helped by me thinking for some reason that this one the last one. was disappointed.
- its dragged too long now. think this should've been last one for sure.

overall, disappointing and frustrating, because it was good up until a sour end, much like her.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual harassment, Fatphobia, Emotional abuse, Racism, Pedophilia, Murder, Grief, Eating disorder, Alcohol, Ableism, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Racial slurs, Physical abuse, Misogyny, Injury/Injury detail, Infidelity, Blood, Antisemitism, Animal cruelty, Alcoholism, Adult/minor relationship, Addiction, Violence, Stalking, Sexism, Mental illness, Medical content, Homophobia, Drug use, Drug abuse, Domestic abuse, Death of parent, Death, Cursing, Chronic illness, Child abuse, Bullying, and Body shaming

brandilovesbooks's review

challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

2.75

I was so eager to read this new installment, but spent the majority of the booking forcing myself to trudge through. The last 15% of this book was great.  The rest of it, though. The case was extremely complex. It was very difficult to keep track of who was who. This was exaggerated by the Twitter conversations and in game conversations under different names.  Robin and Strike's relationship was extremely annoying despite the fact that I have previously loved them.  I found  myself wondering  what point JK Rowling was trying to make about the underlying messages in the cartoon and not coming up with an answer.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Homophobia, Racism, Murder, Sexual harassment, Religious bigotry, Hate crime, and Sexism

kathrynamonett's review against another edition

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Body shaming, Toxic relationship, Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail, Hate crime, Death, Chronic illness, Ableism, Pedophilia, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Sexism, Misogyny, Mental illness, Racism, Eating disorder, Antisemitism, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Self harm, Rape, Child abuse, Alcohol, Sexual violence, Racial slurs, Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Physical abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, and Murder

isabellaoliveira's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny and Sexism

Moderate: Suicide attempt, Murder, and Racism

romonko's review against another edition

challenging 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? It's complicated

3.5

Perhaps it is my age, or perhaps it's my total indifference to social media and all its iterations like Twitter, TikTok, Reddit, instagram, but I truly did not get really into this book like I usually do with this series.  The mystery was a good one, and it finally did get really exciting at the end.  And that is another of the things that caused me to shake my head - the sheer length of the book!   1,300 odd pages is a lot of book!  The writing is superb as well, but I did find some of the dialogues and transcripts of Twitter feeds and internet chats far too graphic for my tastes.  I was extremely uncomfortable through about 30% of the book, but the other 70% held me enthralled.  There is no doubt that Robert Galbraith (aka J K Rowling) is a very skilled and talented author, and her characterizations are incredible.  In this book Corm and Robin's detective agency are run off their feet with business.  Then along comes a visitor that Robin meets. A young Gothic woman who has a very strange tale to tell about her on-line cartoon called The Ink Black Heart and the on-line abuse that she is receiving..  Robin is intrigued but knows that they're too busy to take on this case.  Then Robin hears that the young woman is killed  and her boyfriend was stabbed in the very graveyard on which her story is based.  So Corm, Robin and their three contract detectives are on the tail of a particularly odious killer.  At much risk to Comoran and Robin and to their business they continue on the quest to find a killer who uses the internet as his/her hunting ground.  This is a particularly horrifying book, and probably realistically illustrates the danger of on-line relationships and influences. And it reminds parents that they must be particularly vigilant in monitoring their offspring's on-line footprint.  Rowling has shown us in this book what a truly scary world we live in now. Although I did not like the format and the pages and pages of internet-speak, I still enjoyed the story, and I love Comoran and Robin and will eagerly awake the next instalment.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Sexism, and Sexual harassment