Reviews tagging 'Torture'

Brown Girl in the Ring by Nalo Hopkinson

10 reviews

rorikae'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

4.5

'Brown Girl in the Ring' by Nalo Hopkinson is an engaging folklore filled novel set in nearfuture Toronto. 
Ti-Jeanne lives in postriots Toronto with her grandmother. Her mother disappeared when she was young and Ti-Jeanne has been working to find her place in the world. When Tony, the father of her child, comes to Ti-Jeanne's grandmother for help after the local crime boss taps him for a horrific project, Ti-Jeanne begins to learn more about her grandmother's spirits and how the violence in the city is tied to her own family. 
I am amazed that this was Hopkinson's debut novel. The prose is pristine and evocative. The characters are fully fledged and engaging. The reader is plopped down into a world that feels real. I love how Hopkinson has mixed Caribbean folklore with a nearfuture Toronto setting to create something completely new and unique. There is so much that happens in this book over a relatively short amount of time and yet it is easy to follow and exciting. I cannot wait to read more of Hopkinson's work. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, Confinement, Death, Blood, Murder, Violence, Torture, Gun violence, Gore, Classism, Child death, Death of parent, and Body horror

Moderate: Addiction, Abandonment, and Drug use

kbhenrickson's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

I loved this book. I loved the incorporation of Caribbean beliefs (which were mostly new to me), the dystopian Toronto setting, and the main female characters (who irritated me with their choices at times, but those choices still felt realistic). The dialect took me a bit to get used to, but it didn't detract from the story for me. (I normally choose audiobooks for stories with a lot of dialect or names I'm unfamiliar with, but I didn't this time.) There were some horrible parts that were really horrible, but I thought they fit with the story and weren't gratuitous. I'm glad to have finally read this one after having it on my to-read list for a long time.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture

Moderate: Violence

solenodon's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug use, Murder, Torture, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Body horror, Blood, Violence, Medical content, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Toxic relationship, Gun violence, Grief, Confinement, and Child death

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Sexual content, Death of parent, Sexism, Racism, Pregnancy, and Physical abuse

thndrkat's review against another edition

dark tense fast-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Blood, Medical content, and Torture

Moderate: Domestic abuse

menomica's review against another edition

emotional lighthearted mysterious tense fast-paced

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

I don’t normally like reading dystopian novels bc it’s usually a form of political critique and it comes off as  speculative fiction, which doesn’t really spark that much joy for me, or it’s just a back-drop for the very boring and white characters (i.g. The Hunger Games or Divergent). But… this one here very much intrigued me. I like the aspect of Haitian mythology. The story is very well-made. It starts off a bit slow and then after Chapter 5 Miss Hopkins will not let you know peace. Just panic and stress and vibes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Death, Grief, and Gore

Moderate: Body horror, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Murder, and Torture

Minor: Addiction, Toxic relationship, Sexual content, Physical abuse, Mental illness, Medical content, Gun violence, Grief, Excrement, and Child death

hairymclary28's review against another edition

dark emotional 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? Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Blood, Body horror, Gore, Murder, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Medical content and Grief

Minor: Ableism

mothdan's review against another edition

challenging dark hopeful sad 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, Torture, and Body horror

Moderate: Addiction, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Self harm, and Sexual content

Spoiler

forced drug use and a POV character has to witness someone being skinned alive

sionnac's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Torture, Violence, Physical abuse, and Mental illness

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Medical content, and Medical trauma

arnicas's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I liked the Caribbean spirits and vernacular. But did not love the main character or her baby-daddy.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture and Violence

lisrt's review against another edition

Got very graphic and I'm just not into reading about that stuff right now. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Blood, and Violence