Reviews tagging 'Miscarriage'

He Who Drowned the World by Shelley Parker-Chan

65 reviews

itisnatal's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Child death, Death, Homophobia, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Rape, Self harm, Torture, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Confinement and Blood

alyssa_simard's review against another edition

• 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Domestic abuse, Miscarriage, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Suicidal thoughts

jesshaleth's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

If there had been slightly fewer moments meriting a content warning it would've been 5 stars for me, so maybe it will be for you. But yeah - I think it ticked more content warnings than it didn't, so, at your own risk.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Grief, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Murder, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, Outing, Sexual harassment, Dysphoria, War, and Injury/Injury detail

dreadspawn's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Child death, Death, Gore, Homophobia, Misogyny, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Infertility, Miscarriage, Abortion, and Pregnancy

helfire124's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-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: Ableism, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Homophobia, Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Outing, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

cass_cgallegos's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring reflective sad tense 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Rape, Self harm, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Animal death, Body shaming, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Infertility, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, and Pregnancy

sofipitch's review against another edition

adventurous dark reflective 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

Almost incoherent with how much I enjoyed this. I wasn't sure if I would like it as much as book 1 at the beginning but it really built itself up from silly adventure to pondering the purpose and usefulness of any of the character's goals. This book said self destruction is not a means to an end because you cannot undo the scars. The ending tries to undo some of the bleak Outlook and darkness that the book had built up and turn it into hope and I'm not sure it did that super well (we passed the point of no return miles ago) but overall I still loved it

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual violence, Transphobia, Vomit, Grief, Outing, and Dysphoria

Moderate: Miscarriage and War

forgottenwitch's review against another edition

dark emotional tense 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

4.5

This book is not going to be for everyone.

The tone of this novel was markedly darker than its prequel, but you can’t help but be transfixed by the main cast and their descent into darker and darker waters. Each character plays such an important role in the story as a whole, but with each new perspective you can’t help but see how they’re all doomed by the narrative in their own unique ways since they exist in a world that is designed to prevent them from winning. 

While this story focus a lot on themes of bigotry, social rejection, and self loathing (especially when it comes to gender identity and expression), it also highlights the incredible power that self acceptance holds in a world that despises those who are different. Despite this story being absolutely riddled with tragedies and loss, it does go on to show that not all new beginnings are heralded by one last terrible act.

My only complaint is that the third part of the book (the last 80 pages) felt a little rush in my opinion. I would have love to see Zhu’s finale plan develop a little bit slower and I wanted to see more of how the world reacts to the very last scene in the story. This book is already incredibly long, and there certainly wasn't enough material to stretch the series into a trilogy (it also wouldn’t be as hard hitting), so I do understand why the final wrapping up of all the loose ends was fairly quick.

By and large, this duology hits hard and it places a heavy focus on how bigotry and self loathing can destroy not just the individual, but society as a whole. There is a glimmer of hope for the future, but you certainly wont get to see that hope carried out here.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Homophobia, Miscarriage, Rape, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, and Grief

sabrinz's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective 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

WHAT A RIDE!
Honestly, there was so much going on in this book - not necessarily plot-wise, we still follow Zhu and her quest to become the Great Khan to remake the world, but for each individual character who's POV we see or may see as part of another character's POV.
The focus of the book shifts slightly to Wang Baoxiang and his machinations, but we still get a lot of page time from Zhu and Ouyang as well as Madam Zhang - all of them striving for power in different and yet so similar ways. The amount of mirroring and contrasts is amazing in this book.

It's a lot to take in and while it does get dark at times there is still hope, and that hope is also there at the end so that you close the book (still slightly reeling from Part 3) with a positive feeling.

This book is really worth the read - just like the first one - and such an excellent take on what is gender if not what we make of it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Miscarriage, Violence, Grief, War, and Classism

Moderate: Body shaming, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Slavery, Suicide, and Dysphoria

Minor: Abortion

waqupi's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Rape, Self harm, Grief, and War

Moderate: Homophobia, Misogyny, and Sexual content

Minor: Miscarriage and Pregnancy