Reviews tagging 'Animal cruelty'

The Starless Crown by James Rollins

6 reviews

ryyyaaan's review against another edition

adventurous tense medium-paced

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

3.75

The only reason I am rating this so highly is because I found the story so interesting and captivating. The world building was also fantastic (most of the time). I really cannot empathize how much I enjoy the story, otherwise, I probably wouldn’t have finished this book. There are a lot of grievances I have with it that probably would have stopped me from finishing it it I wasn’t enjoying the story so much. My major problem is the author’s liberal use of using sexist and racist tropes.

Also, the decision to introduce a blind character (I was thrilled to see some seemingly great disability representation!), only to very quickly have her blindness magically cured.

Most of the world building was wonderful, but one thing that irked me was the naming of certain things. There are a lot of great neologisms, but there are a lot that are just regular words with one letter replaced, like “chymestry”. And naming the planet Urth. Really? That was a cool word for about two seconds until I tried to pronounce it in my head. It’s just Earth. One final complaint, which is more a pet peeve of mine than an actual negative about the book, is the authors use of actual science concepts that he clearly only understands at a very basic level, but presents so pedantically as if he’s a genius for including them in his novel. I know I have a lot of negative things to say, but they’re possible to look past, and I really can’t overstate how much I enjoyed this book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Death, Gore, Torture, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Excrement, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, War, and Classism

Minor: Body shaming, Pedophilia, and Religious bigotry

squids_can_read's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.0

The only hospitable part of Urth is the Crown, a slim section of land where all life on Urth lives. But now that life is being threatened by Moonfall. A cast of strange and unique characters have to work to find a way to save Urth but there are forces working against them everywhere. 

The world-building in this book is amazing. The world is expansive and well thought through. The history is interesting and so is the religion. I will say that I am a little confused about how the Crown works but that didn't detract from my enjoyment of the book. 

However, I think this book was lacking in the character department in a strange way. I thought that there were too many characters that we got points of view from. If they were just mentioned I think it would have been better because it would have been easier to keep track of them all. With all of the different characters, I felt that it was really hard to understand any of the characters' motivations. It was hard for me to connect with any of them. 

Overall, this was an extremely interesting fantasy and I'm excited to read more in this world. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Bullying, Death, Gore, Torture, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, and War

Moderate: Incest

nebulasaurus's review

challenging dark informative tense slow-paced

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

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Violence, Blood, Grief, Religious bigotry, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, and Alcohol

schnaucl's review

adventurous dark medium-paced

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

4.25

For a while when I was reading this book I thought it was the best fantasy book I'd read in quite a while.   By the time I finished I wasn't quite as enthusiastic, although I still enjoyed it and definitely plan to read the next book in the series.  

I can see what what Rollins was going for with Kanthe's twin brother, and I wish it had been done with more subtlety instead of turning him into an actual sadist who doesn't understand or care his actions would be perceived by the people he will rule or the soldiers he will one day command.  All of the antagonists are rather one dimensional, in fact.  For the most part they're open (at least in their private thoughts) about just wanting power, they don't even try to convince themselves that they want what's best for the country or even their faction (which would coincidentally also mean they become more powerful.  They just want power to be powerful.  It may be an honest motivation, but it's not an interesting one.

The beginning of the book was especially compelling.   The set up with Nyx, her school and family was interesting and richly drawn.  I was definitely the most interested in her story, although Kanthe's story was also compelling.   I was less interested in Rhaif, but perhaps he'll grow on me.   The bats were fascinating, and the jungles were richly drawn.  

I will also say I'm not a huge fan of alternate fantasy spellings (let's add some extra y's to words!).  Fortunately it was mostly, though not entirely, confined to the "quotes" at the beginning of the sections which read like fantasy old English.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Death, Misogyny, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Bullying, Child death, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Slavery, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Alcoholism and War

katherineguild35's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious 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

9/10: Beautiful writing, wonderful story, love the characters but it is so dark and disturbing.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, and Murder

Minor: Sexual content and Pregnancy

pvbobrien's review

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Torture, Violence, Medical content, Pregnancy, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Gore, Sexual violence, Slavery, Grief, Murder, and Alcohol

Minor: Rape and Death of parent