Reviews tagging 'Sexual violence'

Die Verräterin by Seth Dickinson

28 reviews

sourcherrysyrup's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

Baruuuuu

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Racism, Violence, Lesbophobia, Colonisation, and War

Minor: Child abuse, Pedophilia, and Sexual violence

Child is almost victim of lesbophobic sexual abuse conversion therapy

notbambi's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad 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? Yes

5.0

Baru Cormorant sets out to fight monsters, only to become one herself. This is a book that has you thinking, "what is her endgame?" up to literally 30 pages from the end, and then you hit it and you're gobsmacked. 

This book spends a lot of time exploring local politics, economics, colonialism, and war, and it turns out that made-up geopolitics are totally my jam. For once, the map in the front of the fantasy novel was indispensible for keeping track of the web of dukes and their shifting alliances as the story went on (also, nice touch that the map is an in-universe sketch of the region, with pithy notes about all the dukes). And at the centre of it all, Baru Cormorant, ostensibly trying to save her people from the empire by bringing them down from the inside, and being fundamentally transformed by that empire into a completely ruthless, calculating bitch. She has just enough blindspots and vulnerability for us to at least be captivated by her contradictions, if not always sympathetic.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Homophobia, Racism, Sexual violence, Violence, Lesbophobia, and Colonisation

liokamino's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious 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

perfect fucking book

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Fatphobia, Genocide, Gore, Hate crime, Homophobia, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Xenophobia, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Lesbophobia, Outing, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

aileron'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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Genocide, Gore, Homophobia, Violence, Murder, Lesbophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal death, Racism, Sexual violence, Torture, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Alcoholism, Confinement, Pedophilia, and Suicidal thoughts

strawberrybex's review against another edition

4.0

Ooh there’s a lot that’s really great abt this book. I had slightly mixed feelings abt some of the pacing, but by in large a solid read. 
please do look through the trigger warnings though! they are very real. and like add on pretty extensive discussions of eugenics (as like a mechanism of the big evil empire but. thorough and frequent)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Homophobia, Violence, Murder, Lesbophobia, and Colonisation

Moderate: Racism, Sexism, Sexual violence, Death of parent, and War

imperialism, colonialism, colonial violence, genocide and cultural genocide, race science and eugenics. also threats of sexual violence include like. threats of FGM. also conversion therapy

outlawbri's review against another edition

challenging 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Misogyny, Violence, and Colonisation

Moderate: Sexual violence and Torture

jaythemself's review against another edition

adventurous challenging 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Homophobia, Violence, and Colonisation

Moderate: Misogyny, Sexual violence, Xenophobia, and War

Heavy themes ubiquitous with colonism/imperialism but treated respectfully by the author

noetherian's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

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

A book that paces along the fence between depiction and glorification of imperialism's abuses. There are interesting ideas, compelling characters, and a world with history, but it's all chaff for the machinery of whatever may happen in the sequels. If the ends justify the means, how is one to determine whether to keep reading this series? I suspect fans of economics and war will love her better than I could.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Death of parent, Lesbophobia, and Colonisation

Moderate: Ableism, Child abuse, Hate crime, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Murder, Sexual harassment, War, and Classism

Minor: Torture, Blood, and Fire/Fire injury

Eugenics

searobin's review against another edition

2.5

The book itself was ok, aside from the plot...

I did not love the queer indigenous woman suppresses her sexuality and aids the colonisers to fully colonise another nation in order to somehow maybe save her own nation eventually story line

I got a bit lost in all the dukes and dutcheses and territories, so some moments were probably less poignant than they were supposed to be, but I got the gist.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Death, Drug use, Genocide, Gore, Homophobia, Racism, Sexism, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Lesbophobia, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Injury/Injury detail

elizafiedler's review against another edition

Something about the way this book talks about colonization struck me as a bit off even at first, but I thought maybe it was just because the beginning was a bit rushed. No, it felt more off as I went along, and so did the LGBTQ characters. After reading a few critical reviews going into the problematic representation in the book, I'm no longer interested in reading it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Gaslighting, and Colonisation