Reviews tagging 'Sexual harassment'

Костяные корабли by RJ Barker

5 reviews

godelewa's review against another edition

adventurous inspiring slow-paced

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

2.75

In the beginning I was strongly reminded why I prefer to read high fantasy in my native language, it took me a couple of chapters to work out which unknown words are just the nautical vocabulary that my English lacks and which are Barker's unique Hundred Islands words. I got there, eventually - but never got used to ships being male in this world, even though it makes sense in context of the world.
The worldbuilding is the strength of this book. I'm not the most avid fantasy reader anymore, but at least to me the ideas seemed fresh and creative. They make sense, fit well together and we get a vivid glimpse into a world that is very different from ours, but not less harsh. 
Unfortunately, the prose itself is just not very good. The style feels clumsy while desperately trying to be regal and maybe even poetic and in the end it just reads pretentious without any real finesse. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Death, Violence, and Blood

Moderate: Alcoholism, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Child death, Physical abuse, Xenophobia, Death of parent, and Sexual harassment

kylieqrada's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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

4.0

My brain is just a pile of goo at this point in my pregnancy, but even though this took me altogether too long to read, I enjoyed it. The first section was a tad confusing due to the worldbuilding, but I ended up loving it. I'm curious to see where the discussion of gender goes in the next book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Death, and Blood

Moderate: Child death, Fire/Fire injury, and War

Minor: Rape, Vomit, and Sexual harassment

kira_miller's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious 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? It's complicated

4.5

Really enjoyed this book! The world building was incredible, with all kinds of animals, plants, systems, titles, etc all new to the reader! Absolute need more dark, high fantasy pirate books like The Bone Ships. I was a little confused towards the beginning due to the unfamiliarity of the world, but as the book continued I began to get a better understand of everything. I highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys fantasy, especially books on the darker side of the genre!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Death, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Death of parent, War, and Classism

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child death, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Vomit, Grief, and Alcohol

quantumponies's review against another edition

adventurous slow-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death of parent

Minor: Sexual harassment

ruthjenkins's review against another edition

adventurous dark medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Violence, and War

Minor: Rape and Sexual harassment