Reviews tagging 'Racism'

Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik

15 reviews

macliffe's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring 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? No

4.75

I very much enjoyed the writing of this book, how it was so creative on both a macro and a micro scale. I always wanted to pick it up again. My only nitpicks were the constant switching of POVs, and how horrible most of the men were.  But there was a lot more to those characters that you see by the end, so that ended up being better than I initially expected. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Child death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol

Moderate: Confinement, Racism, Sexual assault, Torture, Antisemitism, Grief, Murder, and War

Minor: Sexual content and Violence

petra_eller's review against another edition

dark 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Xenophobia, and Religious bigotry

Minor: War

rjweck's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Racism, Violence, Antisemitism, and Murder

Minor: Miscarriage and Death of parent

irinalast's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny inspiring tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

An interesting and complicated world is created through several perspectives; setting is established through ‘show don’t tell.’ Great writing that establishes realistic character feelings and dialogue.  

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Content Warnings

Minor: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Racism, Toxic relationship, Violence, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Injury/Injury detail

bethann_coleates's review against another edition

adventurous 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

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Classism

booklifeisthelife's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional inspiring 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? No

3.5

I really enjoyed this book, the world, the characters and all the small details. It has six povs which I enjoyed (all which varying frequently) so you really did get to know the characters. However two main problems I had with this book. One was the writing which was otherwise good if you ignore the excessive use of "and" and the run ons. Once I was able to get used it it wasn't so bad but it really did bother me so I docked a .5 but the thing that took a whole 1 off was the ending. I did not like the one part of, the ending for the one main character. I liked most of the characters ending and was happy for them but the one really bothered me. Without getting into specific, they forced a "romance" that I felt wasn't a thing. There was no build up, no tension, no gradual feelings developing besides respect on the male's side. But the romance just..wasn't there yet they forced an ending in that direction which kinda ruined it for me. Nice fantasy world but I would have liked a little more informatio  about the other kingdom. I still really loved the book and I struggled choosing between 3.5 and 4. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Physical abuse and Violence

Minor: Racial slurs, Racism, and Rape

cutevamp's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful 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

5.0

HOLY SHIT THIS IS A BOOK FUCK YEAH

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism and Religious bigotry

mallorypen's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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

4.0

I LOVE me a fairytale, and a feminist fairytale retelling is my jam. Wanda, Miryem, and Irina are all badasses in their own stories, and I enjoyed the way they all came together in their narratives eventually.

I also like how evil was not black and white. The tsar was entirely misunderstood, and his petulance, arrogance and cruelty were all born of despair and a literal lifetime of abuse - while I don’t think I found him entirely sympathetic at the end, I did enjoy the way Irina’s cleverness (refusing any payment but protection for herself and her people) saved him in the end. And the Staryk king was actually a super good and noble dude … by the standards of his people, not mortals. His transition from thinking he was condemning himself to an awful marriage to courting his wife was delightful, and I loved that we never learned his name.

I also enjoyed that Miryem’s name from her Staryk people was Open-Handed, and that her sense of generosity and fairness were so solid she was able to build back a kingdom with not only her powers, but her brains.

I took off a star for two reasons: the story took awhile to get really interesting, and the transitions in perspective were a little hard to decipher. The characters didn’t all have unique-enough voices to really know who was narrating right away, and trying to figure out which storyline I was in took me out of the story.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Racism, Violence, and Murder

Minor: Rape, Sexual assault, and Death of parent

siobhan74's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark funny hopeful inspiring fast-paced

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

5.0

You know, most people spend their time writing bad reviews. I only really enjoy writing good ones. Spinning Silver immediately joined my Top 5 Books Ever list. I have reread it a half dozen times. It’s all about knowing one’s own value, the value of women, the value of stepping into the unknown. Spinning Silver is all about how much people are worth. Right there, that tells you something. 

It’s a sort of retelling of Rumplestilskin without a Rumplestilskin. Or at least without a character with a direct Rumplestilskin correlation. That story begins with a father bragging about his daughter that she can spin straw into gold. Our primary heroine — because there are three stories here — is a young Jewish girl in the time when Christians were not allowed to lend money with interest so all moneylenders in Europe were Jewish (this little fact is a monumentally important part of history. European Jews lent to kings and financed wars and palaces, and religion was only the excuse used to chase the Jews out of any given country). She brags that she can turn silver into gold. 

The wiring is incredible, the characters ARE complicated, the plot moves quite quickly. Nothing but wonderment here. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, and Antisemitism

rockyroadbutch's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful mysterious 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: Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Violence, Antisemitism, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism, Miscarriage, Sexism, Violence, and Murder

Minor: Animal cruelty