Reviews tagging 'Medical content'

The City of Brass by S.A. Chakraborty

48 reviews

flyinglark's review against another edition

adventurous 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

4.0

Going into The City of Brass, I knew the anticipation was going to pay off. The first half was on the slower side to establish the world and politics of Daevabad. It felt like a YA novel. Then the second half arrived, especially the last 30ish percentage and the novel clicked. 

The cast of characters is diverse, but each has strong convictions which inevitably clash. I love and am annoyed with them. 

Another part of the novel I was intrigued by was the world itself. It's not every day you get a non-eurocentric world. In addition, who gets to control the narrative of history? What happens when one goes against the status quo? This book is definitely on my list to reread and overanalyze.  

I am going to let The City of Brass settle in my brain before jumping into the next book, but wow I liked this a lot!

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Content Warnings: 

Blood/Injury Detail, Racism, Violence, Discussions of Human Trafficking, Discussions of War, Discussions of Slavery, Depicts Death of Child (Ch 17), Mention of Rape

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POV: 3rd Person - Dual POV 

Format: Audio - Single Narrator

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child death, Racism, and Slavery

Minor: Rape, Medical content, Trafficking, Alcohol, and War

Depicts Death of Child (Ch 17)

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

chloelai12's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.0

Wow this woman can write politics. One of the most complicated and enriched fantasy worlds I’ve read. 

I will start by saying I want Nahri to destroy the lives of every single one of those men. My girl didn’t deserve any of that. Dara had me in the first half and I was rooting for him whilst Ali annoyed me for 60% of the book. But you lost me at the forced coercion my guy. And actually, as much of a self righteous brat Ali could be, he was the only one was truthful to Nahri when everyone else lied to her face but still expected the most from her.
I hope if anything (though I doubt it will happen) that Nahri rinses these men for filth, takes over the city for herself but keeps Ali as a friend because she does not need that stress . 
I’m still pretending those ears aren’t a thing.

ALSO IM RIHJT ABOUT THE UNCLE DAD?

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Genocide, Gore, Hate crime, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail

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

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

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

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

queerreaderchaos's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional tense slow-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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Death, Genocide, Hate crime, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Slavery, Xenophobia, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, and War

Minor: Cancer and Religious bigotry

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