Reviews tagging 'Trafficking'

Senlin Ascends by Josiah Bancroft

19 reviews

stressicalessica's review against another edition

adventurous dark sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, and Trafficking

chris_reads's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Misogyny, Slavery, and Classism

Moderate: Bullying, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Torture, Violence, and Trafficking

Minor: Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

benegesserwitch's review

adventurous funny lighthearted mysterious 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Misogyny, Violence, Police brutality, Trafficking, Murder, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Drug use, Abandonment, and Classism

Minor: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Infertility, Car accident, and Alcohol

m_a_j's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious 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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, and Violence

Moderate: Slavery and Trafficking

lex24's review against another edition

adventurous funny mysterious 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? No

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual assault, Torture, Trafficking, and Murder

cianarae's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

3.5

Unique and intriguing! great character development. I wish we could hear from Marya sometimes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Gun violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Trafficking, Grief, Murder, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Death, Drug use, and Kidnapping

joepyeweed's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious fast-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? Yes

5.0

This book was fascinating, fun, scary, and pretty messed up. The mysteries of the tower were very well crafted, and it was hard to know which characters to trust. I couldn’t put it down.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture and Trafficking

bettysbookishworld's review against another edition

slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No

1.0

This book was awful! I truly hated it even though I was so excited to start this series and I really wanted to be enjoy this one.

Let's start with what I liked about it. The book worldbuilding is based on Tower of Babel where each floor is a completely different world with different rules, and societies. The only thing that was certain was that the world is cruel and Senlin shouldn't trust anyone. I loved the idea and the author gets the credit. 

Although, that's probably it. The whole execution was truly bad with the worst main character. Senlin was a British academic who had a lot of knowledge, particularly about Tower of Babel. He was very arrogant, full of himself and when it came to action, totally useless. He didn't have any drive to him, the whole plot just happened to him and there wasn't any driving force. His only motivation was finding his wife. And I do have a problem here, too. I didn't believe he loved her and he married her just because he had to marry someone. When Senlin talked about Marya, it always felt like he was talking about his favourite possession and not about a person he is supposed to be in love with. I didn't believe any emotion expressed by him as their whole marriage felt so superficial. Also, his descriptions of her were just sexist and dumb. In conclusion, I didn't buy it.

Apart from the main character and his marriage, the plot progression was just plain boring. Nothing happened. And when finally something exciting started happening, Senlin was very passive about it and eventually, I got bored again. I really think it was such of waste of opportunity because the world could be so intriguing. 

The whole book Senlin is trying to find his lost wife but you know what got me? At the end of it, he still doesn't have any proper clue where she is and she's still missing! What was the point of it then? To only find a trustworthy crew for Senlin so he can finally start properly looking for her? Why was this book so long then?

 

I'm honestly disappointed as I had such big expectations that I would like it. I won't continue the series and I wouldn't recommend this one either.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Misogyny, Sexism, Violence, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Slavery, Trafficking, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Adult/minor relationship

nik_a's review against another edition

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Violence, and Trafficking

Moderate: Gun violence, Slavery, and Kidnapping

Minor: Alcohol

cinhein's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense slow-paced

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

2.0

TW: Human Trafficking, Attempted SA, References to SA, Abduction

I can't really recommend this book as it was a slog to get through. If you do enjoy a main character who is too dumb or scared to do anything about the situation that they're in for four-hundred pages, this book is right up your alley. Otherwise, I'd steer clear.

If the things mentioned in the Content Warning section don't put you off, you'll probably be fine with this. It gets going in the middle and picks up the pace somewhat. However, every time it does so, it quickly brings everything to a screeching stop once again with detailed descriptions of human trafficking and slavery.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Trafficking, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Misogyny, Sexism, Police brutality, and Grief

Minor: Sexual assault and Sexual violence

Brief description of an attempted sexual assault on Edith, a minor character introduced in the Parlour. Multiple scenes of Police Brutality concentrated in the Baths section of the book; this includes multiple characters being forced into slavery, and a public execution. Two explicit descriptions of the trafficking of one character, also in the Baths.