Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

The Spear Cuts Through Water by Simon Jimenez

14 reviews

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

vigil's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Violence, Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Abandonment, War, Death, Body horror, Animal death, Child abuse, Murder, Blood, Death of parent, Cursing, Confinement, and Alcohol

uncreativeoops's review

adventurous dark hopeful mysterious slow-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? It's complicated

3.75

I'm still a bit confused tbh. The worldbuilding was really impressive as well as the characters and plot, but I felt kinda detached from it. Loved the inverted theatre part and the switching to 2nd person POV, which gave the main story the atmosphere of a fairy tale. There are also short parts in first person which I now want in every fantasy novel, it was such a good way of humanising background characters and conveying atmosphere. Sometimes the writing was a bit clunky, but most of the scenes were incredibly visual; I could totally see it as a movie. Or maybe several movies, because every part/day had a completely different vibe and they didn' quite connect. And when it started with this magical theatre and fairy tales about how the moon fell in love with the sea I did not expect this much graphic violence. But definitely a new concept. The closest comparison i can think of is The Forever Sea by Joshua Philipp Johnson though the setting is very difderent.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Death, Murder, Torture, Violence, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Cannibalism, Child death, Confinement, Gore, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Ableism and Excrement

Minor: Death of parent

emzhay's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny inspiring mysterious reflective 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

5.0

This book completely altered my brain chemistry. There are so many things going on in this book, and they’re all executed flawlessly. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Torture, Cannibalism, and Animal death

Moderate: Sexual content, Homophobia, and Excrement

Minor: War, Dementia, Confinement, and Sexual assault

kittyfan9hh's review

adventurous dark emotional reflective sad 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Animal death, Body horror, Death of parent, Sexual content, Gore, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Blood, Grief, Sexual content, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, and Confinement

discarded_dust_jacket's review

adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

3.0

This is a very imaginative story told in a very imaginative way, I have to say that first. The structure of the narrative and how it’s presented is like nothing I’ve ever read. The world is also incredibly unique and vivid.

The inclusion of the whispers of the dead peppered throughout add a ton of depth and nuance to an already multi-dimensional story.

I think the reason why it didn’t get a higher rating from me had more to do with my tendency to space out and struggle through dense fantasy. Especially in a book this long, the writing has to be naturally propulsive, or else it becomes too easy to simply give up in the event that you hit a slog 250 pages in, only realize you’ve still got half the book to go. 

That happened to me here. Somewhere around the 370-480 page section of the story, I had to force myself to push on. All in all, I thought the ending was satisfying, but maybe it would’ve been easier for me to get through if the story hadn’t tried to do SO much.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Death, Grief, Bullying, Cannibalism, Blood, Death of parent, Gore, Torture, Child death, Violence, and War

incipientdreamer's review

adventurous dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Cannibalism, Child death, Blood, Ableism, Body horror, Cursing, War, Violence, Animal cruelty, Death, Animal death, Colonisation, Gore, and Death of parent

bittennailbooks's review

adventurous dark emotional tense 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? Yes

4.5

 This is a love story to its blade-dented bone 

This book changed my DNA. A frustrating, devastating, and blood soaked love story dedicated to fantasy lovers everywhere. 

Two warriors are tasked with the impossible as they haul a dying mother god through the corrupt lands of her tyrannical children in hopes of stopping their reign once and for all. It holds no punches as it drags you hog tied through each gory act written like a play and told through the ever changing proverbial "I". As gory as the "Poppy Wars" and lyrical as "The Starless Sea", this is your next read for fantasy lovers everywhere. I repeat, read this book now!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Death, Body shaming, Cannibalism, Body horror, Death of parent, Excrement, Blood, Genocide, Grief, Ableism, Murder, Confinement, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Abandonment, Animal death, and Animal cruelty

Minor: Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Homophobia

madamenovelist's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-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? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Sexual violence, Racism, Gore, Xenophobia, Physical abuse, Murder, Religious bigotry, Rape, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Injury/Injury detail, Vomit, Violence, Sexism, Death of parent, Sexual harassment, Torture, Slavery, Sexual assault, Grief, Genocide, and War