Reviews tagging 'Torture'

La quinta estación by N.K. Jemisin

123 reviews

precy's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark 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? It's complicated

3.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, and Slavery

Moderate: Child abuse and Torture

Minor: Rape and Cannibalism

imjumokay's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense fast-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

Best fantasy book I've ever read. I understand the reviews now. Everything lead to its inevitable end. We should really figure out climate change.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Abandonment, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Blood and Pregnancy

Minor: Animal death, Incest, Pedophilia, Rape, Transphobia, Vomit, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Dysphoria

waite_from_eve's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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

Rating: 5 stars
Format: Audible Audiobook
Length: 15 hours, 27 minutes
Series & Book#: The Broken Earth, book #1
Days to Read: 2

The Fifth Season by N.K. Jesimin is stories within stories. In the story we start with, the world is ending for Essun, primarily on a deeply personal level as she comes home to find her son, Uche, dead and her husband and daughter missing. We find out that Essun is an old hand at navigating world-ending circumstances because she has been here before.

The land Essun lives in, The Stillness, suffers from what are called Fifth Seasons where the land turns on itself and the people who live there, creating unhospitable living conditions. This has caused the people of The Stillness to live in constant fear of the next Fifth Season where they are continuously prepping for what could happen next. Not every iteration of a Fifth Season is the same, there has been a Choking Season where volcanic eruptions blanketed the world in ash, an Acid Season where the volcanic eruptions were so strong that the waters became acidic, and a Fungus Season where the eruptions happened during monsoon season and caused fungal spreading that wiped out food supplies.

Just as Essun is discovering her broken family, something is happening. Something that could lead to another Fifth Season. In her gut, Essun knows this season will be incredibly devastating and last much longer than previous seasons. Now, she has to set off looking for her daughter amidst the terror and struggles of a world-ending apocalypse.


===============


Incredible world-building and character presentation. Absolutely reading the next book!

Jemisin has given us a beautifully heart-breaking world and the people who inhabit it. This is a world where people can't grow too much because of the constant threat of the next Fifth Season. They are stuck in a continuous cycle of preparation, living through a Fifth Season, and recovery, and Jemisin outlines what that does to a world on the level of the people collectively and individually.   She also shows us the oppression of the Orogenes and what that has led to.

I can't imagine having to live in a world like this, but Jemisin brings it to life beautifully. This was a book that could not be put down and I will be adding it to my list of books I love to reread.


===============


How my rating system works:
To start with, the rating system I use isn't strictly /my/ system. I use the CAWPILE system created by Gintare Zuromskaite over at Book Roast. I took the system she has and tweaked it just a smidge so that the questions work for my brain a bit better. You can watch G talk about the CAWPILE system here: https://youtu.be/iZhinxtTMFQ?si=hKgxQkjB3HEQO-1Y


What is CAWPILE?
CAWPILE is a system where each letter in the acronym is a section that covers different aspects of your reading. The sections (for a fiction reading) are C(haracters), A(tmosphere), W(riting), P(lot), I(ntrigue), L(ogic), and E(njoyment). Each section has 3 questions for you to think about while you're reading/reviewing. Based on how you answer the questions, you assign each section a rating from 0-10 then find the average of the sections. This gives you a 0-10 rating for the whole reading which is then converted into a 0-5 star rating.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death

Moderate: Child abuse, Torture, Violence, and Murder

veeglessner's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense slow-paced

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

4.25

Was slow and hard to get into, but picked up speed and intrigue around the halfway mark. By the end I couldn't get enough and this is a series opener I'll actually read the sequel to!

Don't read spoilers (I didn't), this 3 POV book has some great devices that make you want to read again right away.

I would have benefitted from knowing there's a glossary at the back of the book... Oops.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, and Slavery

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Slavery, and Torture

Minor: Cannibalism

spellbindingtomes's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense 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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Cannibalism, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, and War

ilwaad_y's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious medium-paced

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

4.75

Loved the writing but I am not a fan of the gore 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Slavery, Torture, Violence, and Xenophobia

dkamada's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny inspiring mysterious fast-paced

• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

Loved having a two person book club for this with Meghan, so many good reveals!

Marked that there are moderate racial slurs, but it depends if you are looking to avoid specific racial slurs used in our world vs the concept of people using racial slurs if that makes sense. I.e. there are racial slurs specific to this book that are used frequently

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror

Moderate: Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Hate crime, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual content, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Colonisation, War, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Animal death, Child death, and Cannibalism

sammymilfort's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective sad tense slow-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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Abortion, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Colonisation, Dysphoria, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

witcheep's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, and Grief

Moderate: Sexual content and Pregnancy

Minor: Child death, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Hate crime, Vomit, Cannibalism, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Colonisation

lillelow's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-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

3.75

Intriguing story with solid world-building, rich history, and well-developed cultures and social structures that bring the setting to life. The characters are well-fleshed out, realistic, and their relationships evolve naturally - although I can’t help but wondering how many bad things can realistically happen to a person. The depicts a cruel world with lots of death, trauma, and jarring imagery on many different levels. While I guessed some of the supposed big reveals early on, there was still plenty to decode, and I’m sure much will only make full sense when reading the second novel.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Bullying, Confinement, Hate crime, Slavery, Cannibalism, Suicide attempt, Pregnancy, and Classism