Reviews tagging 'Racism'

The Shadow Cabinet by Juno Dawson

12 reviews

letsy's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful reflective fast-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Child abuse, Death, Drug abuse, Racism, Blood, and Abandonment

chanlo1994's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

I've been done got by the plot. That's all I'm going to say on that lol.

This book's theme focuses on the eternal struggle between men and women. There's a lot of reflection on both prospectives, irregardless if they are right or wrong, especially when discussing the dynamic within a modern day setting.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Xenophobia, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body horror, Genocide, Trafficking, and War

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Gun violence, Miscarriage, Racism, and Self harm

minervacerridwen's review against another edition

dark lighthearted mysterious relaxing 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

3.5

Just like Her Majesty's Royal Coven, this was a fast-paced read with spy movie elements in a magical world. I did feel like it dragged a bit in the middle of the book, though the point-of-view changes helped to keep me intrigued about other things that were going on enough to keep reading. Overall the atmosphere was a little darker and less magical, with more focus on characters fucking each other over than on sisterhood (which makes sense, considering the new main character, but also made it a little less appealing to dive back in after a reading break). The pacing of the ending was a lot more satisfying to me than in the first book, and once again there were some interesting twists to make me very curious about the next part!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Infidelity, Misogyny, and Murder

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Self harm, Sexism, Transphobia, Violence, Vomit, Grief, and Religious bigotry

Minor: Animal death, Bullying, Racism, Blood, Abandonment, and Alcohol

sfdogmom's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious fast-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

Great sequel. Very well and cleverly written. Several lol moments. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia

Moderate: Infidelity, Misogyny, and Sexual content

Minor: Body horror, Bullying, Gore, Racism, Forced institutionalization, and Dysphoria

dykebakery's review against another edition

Dawson was way out of her depth writing from a Black lesbian’s POV. Seeing a nonlesbian white woman write the phrase “lesbian bed death was real” without a hint of satire was exhausting enough (it’s a homophobic myth based on a homophobic study), but then to throw on the IMMEDIATE exoticization and racism with a slavery plot point before I’ve even had the chance to recover? I should’ve expected nothing less from a Brit, honestly. 

I’m not picking this one back up.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Slavery, and Trafficking

izzy_w_'s review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark 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? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Minor: Homophobia and Racism

imds's review against another edition

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Transphobia, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, War, and Injury/Injury detail

rabelais's review

3.0

the underlying premise of magic continues to be transmisogynistic. why? why is it necessary to require the entire existence of the world to be based on transmisogyny??? 🤬

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Hate crime, Homophobia, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Kidnapping, Grief, Outing, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Colonisation, and Classism

hobbithopeful's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad 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

 Thank you Penguin for this ARC
This book tore my heart out and then served it back to me on a silver platter. What's worse is that I loved every second of it!
Dawson perfectly captures what's like to experience life as a woman, it feels like she reaches into my brain and puts my darkest experiences to page. Part of the reason this trilogy is so difficult to read is because how close to real life it is. All the hate, fear, and bitterness isn't fictional. The only thing fictional about this book is the magic and witchery. Everything else sadly, you can easily find anywhere in the world.
This is in no way shape or form a light and happy read. There is sisterhood, family, and love, but what they all go through and experience is difficult at best, depressing at worst. Definitely check your tws before reading because there is a lot of death, murder, homophobia, sexism and more fun stuff.
I was so ready to hate Ciara, everything we learned in the last book really had her painted as "evil" plain and simple. If there's anything I should have learned from Dawson's writing, is that people are messy, complex, floundering creatures. There is no good or evil, only the choices we make, and we can always come back from it. ‘No. There’s always a way back,’ he said, trying to convince them both. ‘You just . . . turn around and go the way you came.’
My favorite pov is from Leonie, she is such a badass and I loved her adventure. On the flip side I always have such a hard time enjoying reading Elle's chapters. She just really annoys me and the way she behaves would drive me to therapy if I were her child. I didn't expect Luke's plotline to take him where it did, I enjoyed it, but it almost feels like too much out of left field.
Another MUST READ from Juno Dawson, this is shaping up to be one of my favorite series! Please I need the final book! DAWSON LOVES CLIFFHANGERS TOO MUCH!!

 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Death, Drug abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

aseel_reads's review against another edition

challenging dark funny reflective medium-paced

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

4.25

For the first part of the book, I was very confused about the plot but I was here for the vibes! Using witches to talk about sexism, racism, transpobia etc is a sure fire way to make me love a book. But as it kept going, I saw the plot unfolding and I'm super keen to see where this series goes and I hope it's a long one! 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infidelity, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Torture, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, Murder, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail