Reviews tagging 'Classism'

The City of Brass by S.A. Chakraborty

36 reviews

perfectcupoftea's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Genocide, Homophobia, Infidelity, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Torture

praaliine's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-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? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Genocide, Racism, Sexism, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Religious bigotry, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Torture

yruss972's review against another edition

adventurous dark medium-paced

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

From a world building and fantasy fiction perspective, a good book. Would rather it if more of the magic system had found closure by the end of the first book. It's still unclear what the rules are. 

From a message perspective, touches on lots of issues but, sadly, takes a stand on none of them.  Comes disturbingly close to legitimizing terrorism especially naming the rebel group Tanzim.
Blurs all the lines on both sides of the conflict so no one is innocent and, when guilty, they are not at fault.
The author needs to visit Israel post October 7 and get some new perspective.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Hate crime, Racism, Religious bigotry, Murder, and Classism

saracat's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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

5.0

I devoured this book. If I had started this book at the beginning of a weekend, I would not have slept before finishing it. 

I did listen to the audiobook, so sometimes I lost track of who was who since many of the characters have titles and/or nicknames that they are called by.  But, typically, back tracking about 30 seconds after pausing to think about who was in the scene typically straightened things out for me. 

I loved the main characters and was really drawn in to the story. I really appreciated how one of the main characters just didn’t automatically become perfect at something simply because of some innate abilities. I also loved how grey things felt. 

I can’t wait to jump into the next book. Especially after the epilogue in this one. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism

Moderate: Death, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Slavery, Trafficking, Grief, Religious bigotry, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Genocide, Racism, Rape, Torture, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Murder, Abandonment, and Alcohol

dreadspawn's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Genocide, Slavery, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Murder, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Rape

reddeddy's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Hate crime, Racism, Self harm, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Confinement, Cursing, Genocide, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Sexism, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Grief, Death of parent, Alcohol, and Dysphoria

Minor: Biphobia, Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Drug use, Homophobia, Infertility, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Police brutality, Antisemitism, Islamophobia, Pregnancy, Outing, Cultural appropriation, and Sexual harassment

bookswithcuppatea's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

5.0

I devoured this book, reluctant to put it down! Rich and deep world building, complex characters, and unusual fantastic beings, this was an excellent opening to a series. I look forward to reading more, to seeing Nahri continue to grow, to see what happens next.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Violence, and Classism

jenn_amanda's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Cursing, Death, Genocide, Hate crime, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, War, and Classism

seanml's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious 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

4.0

There are many conflicting words and opinions that The City of Brass brings about. The most important one though is this: promising. It's marketed as adult fantasy, and yet you'll find many instances of tropes and ideas popular in young adult literature. The person of low social class thrust into a very powerful position of luxury, the romance between a normal person and a god-like but very dangerous but VERY hot individual, a healthy dose of normal person thrust into magical world they didn't know was there a la Harry Potter. Much of the dialogue sounds very modern despite the story taking place in the 1800s and many characters being hundreds of years older than that. Moving past all that, I would still recommend this book. Chakraborty understands her world and her characters well enough to give the reader investment and interest in this world. The novel's biggest selling point is the society she creates - the conflict between a pureblood upper caste and a mixed lower caste is nothing new in literature, but Chakraborty treats the plot with precision and care. No side is made out to be a faceless villain, but there's also no preachy sense of 'both sides are equally bad' going on. There's no sense of preachiness at all: the world feels lived in and at its natural conclusion of thousands of years of buildup rather than artificially held together for the plot. The pros outweigh the cons and I hear the sequels improve in spades. 8/10.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Genocide, Gore, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Murder, Gaslighting, Colonisation, War, and Classism

Moderate: Alcoholism, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Slavery, Forced institutionalization, Police brutality, Medical content, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Homophobia and Outing

lesliehirgelt's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Racism, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Religious bigotry, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child abuse, Police brutality, Alcohol, and Classism

Minor: Drug use and Rape