Reviews tagging 'Sexual content'

The Shadow King by Maaza Mengiste

7 reviews

misty_kb's review against another edition

challenging dark informative reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, Colonisation, and War

Moderate: Death

Minor: Drug use and Misogyny

stindex'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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Death, Genocide, Gun violence, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, Antisemitism, Medical content, Grief, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail

moriahleigh's review against another edition

emotional informative tense slow-paced

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

1.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, Death of parent, Murder, and War

zoes_human's review

dark emotional reflective sad

4.0

A beautifully written story of Ethiopia's fight against Mussolini's invasion. It is brutal and heartbreaking, but I don't think the truth of war can be told in any other way.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Sexual harassment, and War

Minor: Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Antisemitism, Death of parent, Murder, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail

aargot1's review against another edition

dark emotional informative reflective tense slow-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Gun violence, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Toxic friendship, Colonisation, and War

the_literarylinguist's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad slow-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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Sexual violence

curatoriallyyours's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective slow-paced

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

3.0

The positives: I learnt a lot from reading this book, even though it is a work of fiction, about Ethiopia and the Italian invasion under Mussolini. I intend to read some non-fiction on this topic as a result of reading this story. 

The negatives: Though I pitied the main character for all she endured, I did not warm to her. The author's style was also quite off-putting and made it hard for me to sink into the narrative until well into the book. If I hadn't been reading this as the final book in a reading challenge (with only a few days to go) I'd probably have abandoned it. The author's refusal to use speech marks to denote speech baffled me and made me resentful for the re-reading I needed to do every time I realised someone had started speaking without the usual indication that this was the case. I don't care to read any more from this author as a result. 

I feel that the story itself was worthwhile but the author's style really bothered me throughout the book and stopped me from ever truly being enveloped in the narrative.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, and Violence

Moderate: Confinement, Infidelity, Racism, Self harm, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Blood, Excrement, and Medical trauma

Minor: Drug use and Antisemitism