Reviews tagging 'Gaslighting'

A Quinta Estação by N.K. Jemisin

41 reviews

chasinggrace's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-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? No

5.0

An adult dystopian masterpiece like no other. The main character’s development is immaculate. 

I loved how Syen was a unique view into motherhood, and how Essun looked at motherhood so differently that it’s almost unbelievable that they are the same person.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Cursing, Deadnaming, Death, Genocide, Hate crime, Mental illness, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual content, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Cannibalism, Murder, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

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

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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

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

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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

torilaird's review against another edition

Too much child abuse

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Xenophobia, Trafficking, and Gaslighting

So much child abuse.

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

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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

dahliapyne's review against another edition

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Sexual content, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gore, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Slavery, and Gaslighting

Minor: Cannibalism

A 2 year old

is found beaten to death

at the very beginning of the book. Some characters disappear and we assume they died. People die from natural disasters, mostly non-characters but a few we meet. Some characters kill other characters ruthlessly and sometimes emotionlessly. The violence/injury/gore level is not extreme, but the instances that do happen are more detailed than many fantasy novels and very icky. The F word is used frequently. Characters have sex, but most scenes are not really very descriptive; however there were 1-2 very explicit scenes (consensual,

polyamorous

). One act of pedophilia is implied, another is described by one character when accusing another. Neither technically occurs on screen but the description by the one character could be triggering (does not go into huge detail but does use graphic wording). For me personally it created more of a visual image in my mind than I want. Sexual assault besides this is the relatively non-graphic scenes of

two slaves who are ordered to have sex with each other, rather than one person wanting it

. There is clear racism against a group of people who are slaves, and they do use a fantasy-word racial slur, but characters

are reclaiming the word.

I wasn’t sure if fantasy-word racial slurs for fantasy-races should be included under the content warnings listed above or not. If this were a movie it would be rated R, but short segments (gore, the 1-2 explicit sex scenes) could be removed and make it PG-13. Definitely would not recommend for young teens without supervision but it’s not a YA book

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.

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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

hdunscombe's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Slavery, Trafficking, Grief, Murder, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body horror, Genocide, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, and Kidnapping

Minor: Animal death, Cursing, Gore, Xenophobia, Vomit, Cannibalism, Stalking, Pregnancy, and Alcohol

chantellimus's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Hate crime, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual violence, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Trafficking, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and War

ouivie's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring 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? No

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, and Torture

Minor: Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Sexual content, Slavery, Grief, Murder, and Gaslighting