Reviews tagging 'Racism'

The City of Brass by S.A. Chakraborty

67 reviews

adlane22's review against another edition

adventurous reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Gun violence, Racism, and Religious bigotry

Minor: Rape and War

mice_are_nice's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Child abuse, Genocide, Sexual content, and Alcohol

Minor: Rape

kornwaiisms's review against another edition

adventurous tense

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

5.0

i am devastated (this book is fantastic) here's a few thoughts!

- so strong in its writing and story from start to finish, when i tell you it got me hooked,, (if you say it's boring even in the slightest did we read the same book?)
- the characters are SO intricately written i want to see more of all of them (yes even the ones that pissed me off

*guh guh dara guh guh*

)
- i must admit i need a history book to understand and study the history of this world completely but IT'S OKAY WE'RE VIBING
- ..what WAS that last part. WHAT WAS IT. i'm on the floor sobbing i just want my little darling characters to be ok
 
special notes to the characters:

1. NAHRI SHOW THEM WHAT YOU GOOOOOT
2. ali pls survive
3. jamshid pls survive
4. muntahdir pls don't do anything stupid

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Violence, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Death and Slavery

Minor: Sexual violence

taliaalongi's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Racism, Slavery, Violence, Murder, and War

Moderate: Rape

peachmoni's review against another edition

adventurous tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Death, Racism, Slavery, Murder, and Colonisation

Minor: Ableism, Bullying, Confinement, Racial slurs, Rape, Police brutality, Grief, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Cultural appropriation, Abandonment, and Alcohol

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

juliana_reads's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense slow-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

I loved this. It does start slow, but once Dara and Nahri were on their way I was hooked. So much fantasy is just repackaged medieval Europe, so this held my attention for nearly six hundred pages. I read it on my Kobo to look up words and also had a hard copy to easily reference the map and glossary. It was worth the effort to fully understand this world. 

My only issues:

I don’t mind a romantic subplot, but the one between Dara and Nahri seemed abrupt and just based on lust. I would have liked to see it unfurl slowly. He’s also…a millennium older than her. In addition, I felt that dropping pieces of Daeva lore through both Ali and Nahri’s perspectives made it difficult to follow or figure out what was true and what was manipulation. I needed like a blurb or a “once upon a time” at the beginning.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Racism, Violence, Blood, and Religious bigotry

Minor: Rape and Sexual violence

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

n_odonnell's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark 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? It's complicated

4.0

It took me a little time to get into the story, but once I did, I was hooked. This book is incredibly magical and complex, the political intrigue and discrimination add so many layers to the story. I’m hoping the next books answer all the questions I have burning through me. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Racism