Reviews tagging 'Torture'

Foundryside by Robert Jackson Bennett

56 reviews

courtmckenz's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

3.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Slavery, Torture, and Blood

jessicalauren22's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny 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

1.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Misogyny, Slavery, and Violence

Moderate: Sexual assault and Torture

Minor: Sexual content

raneyak'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? Yes

4.25

Really enjoyed it! Good world building and an interesting magic system. Points docked for the lackluster romance buildup and overuse of the word “scrumming”.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Murder, Alcohol, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Misogyny, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Trafficking, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Pedophilia, Sexual content, Vomit, and War

skrulls's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful tense medium-paced

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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Medical trauma, and Murder

Moderate: Death, Gore, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Sexual violence, Blood, Vomit, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

beebidon's review against another edition

adventurous 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? No

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Mental illness, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Trafficking, Medical trauma, Murder, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Gore, Physical abuse, Sexism, Torture, Police brutality, Dementia, Grief, and Death of parent

Minor: Sexual content, Cannibalism, and Fire/Fire injury

aseel_reads's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

4.25

Super fun fantasy novel, big fan of the Italian inspired setting! I liked the characters a lot and I'm excited to see the magic system unfold here 

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Gun violence, Misogyny, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Trafficking, Death of parent, Murder, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

turrean's review against another edition

adventurous tense medium-paced

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

3.75

The world and its system of magic are vividly imagined. Watching the internal "rules" of the techno-magic unfold as the story develops was one of the best parts of this novel. The parallels to AI, and to troubleshooting and debugging one's magical software, were delightful. 

Less pleasant was the scene where a girl is threatened with sexual assault. Since the author repeatedly describes her as young, small, and slight (other characters call her "kid," or "young lady," as you would a child or preteen you're scolding) the scene had some revolting overtones.

The in-world term for "f~@king" was used constantly, sometimes multiple times a page. Whenever a character wants to insult or threaten another, it's always about some in-world euphemism for the male genitalia. It got old really fast. It honestly would have been less jarring to use real-world language.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence

Moderate: Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Slavery, and Torture

Minor: Trafficking

st156's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious 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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Slavery and Torture

bakezori's review against another edition

adventurous dark inspiring mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Slavery and Torture

Minor: Domestic abuse

oldladysadie's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious 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

5.0

I am floored by how much I enjoyed this book. The worldbuilding sucked me in immediately, I love how the magic of scriving works, the action continually surprised me and kept me on the edge of my seat, and Clef is just so funny. And mixing in

a sapphic romance for Sancia and Berenice

?? Say less. 

10/10, no notes, RIP my bank account picking up the rest of this series because my local libraries only have Book 1 🫠

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Torture, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Misogyny, Sexism, Slavery, Blood, and War