Reviews tagging 'Death'

The Spear Cuts Through Water by Simon Jimenez

35 reviews

blakeandbooks's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful 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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Torture, Grief, Murder, Kidnapping, and Death

Moderate: Ableism

Minor: Sexual content

brinipor's review

adventurous dark emotional 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? Yes

5.0

WOWOWOWOW! This is one of the best books I've read in a minute! It's not for everyone, but it was for me! Normally, I don't like dense, slow-paced books, but this one had so much happening that I was having a grand old time. If you are into frame stories, messy characters, and don't mind second-person narration and hearing from all perspectives, I'd give this a try.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Death, Cannibalism, Gore, Violence, and Ableism

Moderate: Kidnapping, Excrement, and Injury/Injury detail

jesslinnea's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Body horror, Murder, Blood, and Death

Moderate: Gore, Physical abuse, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, and Cannibalism

Minor: Animal death, Cursing, Confinement, Sexual content, Torture, and War

Gore is not a main component of this book, so the detail is usually minimal. However violence and death/murder are very commonplace.

nolemdaer's review

gave up on this one with its intense, gory descriptions of cruelty - like we get it, empire bad, men mean, oppression sucks. it was like the radiant emperor duology but more "teehee this is ~experimental" overall and thus became grating. like WE GET IT i don't need to hear how another person was randomly brutalized in some creative graphic way to understand that the emperor sucks. it was giving torture porn lowkey and the tone of the whole book is so "fairy tale" (i guess) or, perhaps more aptly, "mythology" that this becomes a series of stock characters being tortured for the vibes rather than a true look into the viciousness of empire and evil. everything was told; the main characters had no discernible inner life at this point; and none of the victims were humanized any more than to make you feel bad when they died gruesomely. the whole book was like a cartoon of a commentary on oppression and was never tied down enough to make that mean something, if it was supposed to.

i didn't mind the perspective switches as much as i might have and didn't find them difficult to track, but eventually all the headings and the italicized first-person plural bits got more egregious than interesting. some bits were clever (the egg timer?) but all the frame stories dragged. nothing here felt real; nothing was anchored to an actual character or feeling. i wasn't going to sit through 400 more pages of pantomiming a story with something to actually say about violence and pain other than that they happen when your ruler is a nutso sadist

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, and Violence

selenatothemax's review

adventurous 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: Cannibalism, Violence, War, Torture, Ableism, Gore, Blood, Death, Grief, Incest, Murder, and Forced institutionalization

cozyscones's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Cannibalism, Animal death, Violence, Gore, Domestic abuse, Murder, Animal cruelty, Ableism, and Death

Moderate: Torture, Excrement, Vomit, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Misogyny

sunjaybooks's review

adventurous dark emotional inspiring slow-paced

5.0

This book has it all! Gender, family trauma, psychic tortoises, ableism, gay sex, moral ambiguity, genocide, the broad scope of history, magic and myth. It's beautifully written and also deeply deeply violent and yet still humanistic in its portrayal of the aggressors, victims, and all the morally ambiguous people in between.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Colonisation, Death, Death of parent, Sexual assault, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Excrement, War, Ableism, Alcoholism, Gore, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual violence, Slavery, Violence, Classism, Self harm, Suicide, and Genocide

atomicrobin's review

adventurous dark hopeful medium-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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Cannibalism, Emotional abuse, Blood, Death, Physical abuse, Violence, Misogyny, Murder, and Torture

Moderate: Confinement, Sexual content, Self harm, Grief, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, and Toxic relationship

city_girl_writer's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

5.0

Words cannot capture how much I have felt while reading this amazing piece of literature. Simon Jimenez became a new all-time favorite and auto-buy author for me. Check out the content warnings though because this is a dark story.

This is a love story to its blade-dented bone.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cannibalism, Death, and Violence

Moderate: Sexual content, Child abuse, and Ableism

Minor: War and Sexual assault

stinkyleaf's review

adventurous dark hopeful sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

Slowish start. Captivating style and narration. Dark and brutal depiction of Old Country life and death, very violent. Original legend/ mythology shines through

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Slavery, Death, Child death, Animal death, Excrement, War, Torture, Gore, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail