Reviews tagging 'Religious bigotry'

The First Sister by Linden A. Lewis

10 reviews

prunechips's review against another edition

challenging dark hopeful sad tense slow-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Slavery, Religious bigotry, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Xenophobia, Grief, Death of parent, Sexual harassment, and War

vivelarevolution's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective 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

3.5

This book felt like a romp through a fun but incredibly dark space opera fantasy. The worldbuilding was probably my favorite part of the book--it's so intricate!--but I loved the characters as well. I definitely had an easier time getting through the First Sister's POV than Lito's, possibly because Lito's scenes were much more oriented around combat? In general, I felt like I really got to know First Sister and get invested in her, but with Lito I felt like I was chasing scraps of intrigue scattered amidst a whole lot of swordfighting. I did not like the first-person audio recordings thing from Hiro much at all other than as a means to glean new information; I wasn't able to connect with Hiro as a character through them.

Despite the limited amount of narration that I specifically enjoyed, everyone and everything felt very well-developed and it was a fun world to get to know. I'll be checking out the second book for sure, but I'm nervous I won't like it unless it has a lot more time and focus on First Sister, Ofiera, maybe Hiro, and

Eden

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Slavery, Xenophobia, Trafficking, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual harassment, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

One of the main characters is essentially a sex slave of a religious order, but in the course of this book she is never raped/forced to participate in a sex act. There is an attempt made to force her, but she is able to prevent it. There are mentions of her having been raped & abused previously. There are also descriptions of medical experimentation and torture and the effects of that experimentation and torture. The people who experienced it were selected due to discrimination against their species.

planetesastraea's review against another edition

adventurous tense

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, Torture, Medical content, Religious bigotry, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Medical content, and Medical trauma

Minor: Sexual assault, Slavery, and Toxic relationship

lanid's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious

• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Ableism, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Gun violence, Racism, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Torture, Xenophobia, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Dysphoria, War, and Classism

kaylamoran's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark tense fast-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

4.5

Outer space books and movies aren't usually my thing, but I really liked this!  It was super unique, and I didn't see the plot twist coming at all.  4.5 stars instead of 5 because I found Lito's perspective a little boring sometimes.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Genocide, Gore, Sexual assault, Torture, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical trauma, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Xenophobia, Religious bigotry, and War

Minor: Racism, Transphobia, Vomit, and Murder

puttingwingsonwords's review against another edition

adventurous dark fast-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: Death, Violence, Xenophobia, Murder, and Classism

Moderate: Ableism, Sexual violence, Transphobia, Religious bigotry, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Dysphoria, and War

Minor: Cursing, Racism, and Alcohol

bookishjd's review against another edition

adventurous challenging tense

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Mental illness, Slavery, Violence, Xenophobia, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Forced institutionalization, Death of parent, and Dysphoria

wellintendedbibliophile's review against another edition

adventurous emotional reflective tense 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

5.0

Diverse cast and a respectful approach to incorporating characters with disabilities, both mental and physical. This book is dark, but so well-thought out. I loved every character and appreciate how the author humanized each character.  This is still a top favorite. I need to read the sequel soon. 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Bullying, Child abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Sexism, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Religious bigotry, Murder, Colonisation, and War

foreverinastory's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense fast-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

 Still love this book with all my heart. Cannot wait to pick up The Second Rebel!

Rep: Bisexual mute female MC (unknown ethnicity), Japanese achillean nonbinary MC, Spanish-Italian demisexual male MC, sapphic mute female side character, Asian female side character with chronic pain, arm prosthetic and leg prosthetic, queer-normative world.

CWs: Blood, body horror, bullying, death, gun violence, injury/injury detail, medical content, medical trauma/nonconsensual experimentation, murder, violence, war. Moderate: abandonment, past mentions of child abuse, colonisation, deadnaming/misgendering, religious bigotry, sexual content, slavery/forced sex work, vomit.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Death, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child abuse, Deadnaming, Sexual content, Slavery, Vomit, Religious bigotry, Abandonment, and Colonisation

forthesanityof1's review against another edition

adventurous dark inspiring mysterious reflective sad 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

Oh god did I love this book. The premise really caught me in the beginning and I love the way the author engaged with the world-building over the course of the book to build into the plot issues as well. The way the language with the names of the different races was created particularly stood out to me. The plot was super intriguing in a nice mix of political intrigue, war, and personal stakes that made it a page-turner. I loved the writing style along with the three perspectives utilized by the author. First Sister's POV was my favorite but Lito and Hiro's were also really well done. I also appreciated the overall queer-ness of the book and world. I like that the ending especially had a lot of impact with reveals about a certain character and what actually happened. If I wasn't exhausted, I could draw a lot of parallels to issues we see in our world with queer, women, and more specifically trans issues as well. I'm dying to get my hands on the second one once it's out in paperback. If there was one thing for me to criticize, it was that the pacing sometimes reflected the author's intention to set up for the rest of the trilogy in a way that was a touch obvious, but that's being super nit-picky. Also hoping for a poly relationship in the end, so fingers crossed.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Sexual assault, Torture, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Grief, Religious bigotry, Murder, Colonisation, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail

Mental illness specifically refers to the revelation that

the First Sister has DID or dissociative identity disorder due to her experiences and Lito deals with PTSD/flashbacks/panic attacks/reliving physical sensations

. I included tags about rape and sexual assault due to the

nature of the Sisterhood and the tasks they are expected to perform for those that want it regardless of the Sister's consent.