Reviews tagging 'Sexual violence'

The Grace Year by Kim Liggett

20 reviews

ashwiid94'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? No

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Death, Suicide, Sexual violence, Violence, and Religious bigotry

planreadrepeat's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective fast-paced

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

5.0

This book feels like a mix of so many others. Handmaid’s Tale mixed with Hunger Games spiced with Salem Witch Trials and Lord of the Flies. 

The overall theme of men ruling and women submitting is laid out with a nice bit of world building. How brutal the girls, and women, are to each other seems far fetched until you think of the Salem Witch Trials and other acts of mass hysteria. 

The ended was hopeful and sad at the same time. Good read to make you think of power in society. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny and Violence

Moderate: Gaslighting, Blood, Bullying, Cannibalism, and Grief

Minor: Mental illness, Pregnancy, Sexism, Sexual violence, and Injury/Injury detail

ashadaxa's review against another edition

medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Drug use, Murder, Misogyny, and Sexual violence

tays_books's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Misogyny, Murder, Pregnancy, Blood, Death, Child death, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide, Violence, Sexism, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Child abuse, Excrement, Drug use, Homophobia, Infidelity, Sexual content, Stalking, Pedophilia, Animal death, Cannibalism, Animal cruelty, Lesbophobia, Domestic abuse, Sexual violence, and Vomit

Minor: Alcohol, Fire/Fire injury, Incest, and Infertility

luminareads's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Death, Murder, Sexism, and Body horror

Moderate: Homophobia, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Suicide, and Religious bigotry

Minor: Addiction, Death, Sexual violence, Rape, Pregnancy, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Confinement, and Physical abuse

This book is heavy, very heavy and has some additional warnings not on the lists: Childbirth, starvation, slut shaming, and forced marriage.

ehmannky'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? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Overall, this is a really great book! I thought it was a well-written wild ride, with a lot to say about finding community, that revolutions are not made by single acts, but rather by finding and creating community, and what it means to refuse to participate in a cycle of violence. 

The biggest issues I had with this book were that Ryker, the love interest, felt incredibly flat. I truly could not fathom what drew Tierney to him or why he was so irresistible given that he has definitely skinned girls like her alive before. And it's honestly never addressed, which felt weird given that Tierney calls out the other men in her life for being complicit in terrible systems. I get he's also a victim, but there was barely even a throwaway line. Also, the last, like, three paragraphs were nonsense.   

If Tierney dies in childbirth, what was the purpose of her learning how to tell ally from enemy, how to navigate a system by finding community, that she's part of something bigger? It felt like nothing and I truly felt the last few paragraphs just rendered Tierney's revelations so pointless.

 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Sexism, Sexual violence, Violence, Death, Sexual harassment, and Misogyny

Moderate: Pregnancy

Minor: Rape

w1ckedn0nsense's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

Very good book with two minor complaints. One is that each divider has to end with a bold statement or dramatic phrase. This is fine for some chapters but the dividers can come as often as every few paragraphs and it gets comical at times. Other than that minor gripe which is probably only going to bother me, the prose is quite vivid.

secondly, I disliked the direction of the book during her stay with Ryker and I'm still not happy about it, but in the end I believe it redeems itself.  I do not buy the romance, I do not find him hot, I think it undercuts things to have her fall in love with a man. But the birth of her daughter and the ultimate message of the book is strong and her stay with him is short, I would just prefer we spent that time getting to know the girls a bit more.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Gore

Moderate: Vomit and Bullying

Minor: Rape and Sexual violence

nziam's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

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

You know how sometimes you read a book from a few decades ago and think "wow, this author was really progressive and ahead of their time!"? This book is the opposite of that. It's a very specific brand of hard-to-stomach, pretentious white "feminism" that might have seemed progressive if it had been released oh, twenty or thirty years ago. 

But for a book released in 2019? Big yikes. This reads like it was written by an author who thinks she has figured out the dynamics of oppression, but has never actually stepped outside of her own bubble. Reading the author's note only makes the situation worse. Oh yes, please tell me more about how you witnessed a moment in the life of a completely random family, made a snap judgement about how they feel about their daughter without ever actually interacting with them, and decided to write an entire preachy novel about what this 5-second non-interaction says about society. I cannot stress enough how cringe-y that motivation is. It just makes Kim Liggett come off as a pretentious, judgmental know-it-all. Plus, the plot is extremely silly and the "romance" is straight up Stockholm Syndrome. 

I am all for novels that examine oppression and misogyny and all of the other flaws in society, but this novel does not actually do that.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Sexual violence, Misogyny, and Child death

haley49's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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

Wow, I don’t even know where to begin. This book was a lot. Pretty traumatizing, especially at the beginning but once I got into the plot I couldn’t put it down. I would love to sit down and analyze this book to pieces with someone. It broke me for a while after reading it. Check the trigger warnings because there was a lot but if you’re interested in a feminist dystopian where you don’t know how it’s going to end—definitely check it out! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Trafficking, Vomit, Violence, Body horror, Death, Cannibalism, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Blood, Gaslighting, and Child abuse

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Drug use, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Medical content, Suicide, Cursing, Torture, Toxic relationship, Sexual violence, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, and Gore

Minor: Grief, Adult/minor relationship, Kidnapping, Lesbophobia, Outing, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, and Excrement

promptus's review against another edition

adventurous tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Violence, Body horror, Cannibalism, Death, Child death, Gore, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Confinement and Schizophrenia/Psychosis