Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

La dama del lago by Andrzej Sapkowski

25 reviews

geekmom's review against another edition

3.5

This was a fine ending to the series, but looking back over the past few books I'm annoyed that there was so much... I don't know... dithering about? Lots and lots of pages - even entire books - where the storyline I was actually interested in didn't move forward and the characters just wandered around doing things that felt random. And the resolution to the big story arc of the series

with Geralt and Ciri was okay, but the way this volume was written wasn't satisfying for me. I can't ignore the rampant misogyny and the almost complete lack of agency Ciri ended up having at the end of this whole story. She's the chosen one! She is the one who is going to change the world! Because... she can be impregnated? Sigh. It's also disappointing that various central characters were simply killed off within a few pages... Not to mention that a large part of this book focused on the Big Battle to end the war that's been happening in the background of the series, but because none of the central characters participated, it was told through the POV of various minor side characters (many of whom were introduced just before the Big Battle) which made the whole thing feel detached and unimportant. I was hoping to see more of the interesting and fun ways of subverting fantasy tropes that I found in previous books, but I didn't really find them here. Oh well - I'm glad I finished the series, and I may even read the other, standalone novel, but I wish this one had been less disappointing.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Violence

comradehaasboy's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious 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? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore and Violence

Moderate: Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Xenophobia

shiveryteacup's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Death, Hate crime, Sexual assault, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Medical content, Cannibalism, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcohol

lonelylooper's review against another edition

adventurous dark sad slow-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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Incest, Vomit, Suicide attempt, Fire/Fire injury, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Drug use, Cannibalism, and Colonisation

mcmeiss'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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child death, Suicidal thoughts, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Vomit and Pandemic/Epidemic

d0rkthrone's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious sad slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

lazydazey's review against another edition

dark emotional slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and War

Moderate: Sexual assault

Minor: Rape

mischastink's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Genocide, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Murder, and War

ladywhiskers's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Genocide, Gore, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Violence, Kidnapping, Suicide attempt, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail

marinaxanna's review against another edition

slow-paced

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

1.0

Love to hate it, hate to love it—thank god its over, because this is where the honeymoon phase with the series finally ended for me. It’s like Sapkowski just gave up and I, too, stopped believing in this story.

Three books of build up, interesting characters, interesting cultures and worlds—only to have it end like this, with the lackluster that is the Tower of the Swallow and the Lady of the lake.

Reducing strong, intelligent women who had compelling narratives into mindless Geralt simps while throwing around misogynistic takes.

Oh and not to mention more vile, completely unnecessary SA scenes/tropes for Ciri. Seriously what the fuck was up with that Gramps BS?

And all that for an anti climactic, cliché as fuck ending that leaves more questions than answers. It felt incredibly unsatisfactory.

Mila, Regis and Cahir deserved better. And I mean that as in, their deaths were incredibly underwhelming, with happening in the same 4/5 pages apart and with the bare minimum of impact. I didn’t even take it seriously. They went from all OP/skilled to dropping like flies in the last book.

Geralt and Yennefers characters were just butchered. Both of them felt 2D as hell by the end of the book and it seemed like the author just wanted to be done with the series. 
Well, so did I—Almost dnf. Reading this was just not enjoyable for me at all. I forced myself to finish it since its the last part. Skipped the entirety of chapter 7 when it was clear it was another senseless subplot with Men Being Men TM with a bunch of characters i would never read about again. Seriously, who needs so many detours and timejumps to shape a plot???? 

Anyway. Goodbye to this series. This book has killed any love I had for these characters. I’m done.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Incest