Reviews tagging 'Sexism'

He Who Drowned the World by Shelley Parker-Chan

75 reviews

pvp_niki's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• 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, Biphobia, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Torture, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Outing, Toxic friendship, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Slavery

Minor: Infertility and Vomit

klbreyfogle's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional medium-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

4.0

I’m giving this a 4 for the quality of the writing, characterization, and the political intrigue. I love morally grey characters but my goodness these characters were too morally grey for me.

We hit the second child murder in the series and the violent rape scene and it was just… a lot.

I also think for all the horrible things the characters did and experienced the author could’ve leaned further into an ambiguous ending, it felt a little like the last 5 pages transferred from a more traditional happy ending after 400 pages of plotting and intrigue. Lot of trigger warnings in this one, so definitely believe those. I wanted to like the characters more than I did. If you’re really into political intrigue and like an immoral (or amoral) protagonist then you’ll like it. Normally I support gay rights and gay wrongs but this is a few too many gay wrongs for me, personally. Also… everyone is super into using sex to get what they want.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Body shaming, Homophobia, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Transphobia, Violence, Murder, Dysphoria, and War

Moderate: Child death, Miscarriage, Sexual content, Slavery, Suicide, Xenophobia, Outing, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Torture, Vomit, and Pregnancy

adoto's review against another edition

adventurous emotional tense fast-paced

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

4.75

My only complaint is I wanted an epilogue of Zhu and Ma being happily married at the end. But other than that, Shelley Parker-Chan is so fucking powerful to get me attached to a literal fucking incel 

There were a lot of BDSM undertones that I normally wouldn't care for but I felt the author had a riot of a good time writing them so I liked them too. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Rape, Self harm, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Ableism, Homophobia, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, and Torture

Minor: Miscarriage and Pregnancy

30something_reads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful sad tense slow-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? Yes

5.0

Hey, umm how dare you, Shelley Parker-Chan??

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Child death, Death, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Grief, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail

saltyseakitten's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring reflective sad tense slow-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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Outing, Abandonment, Dysphoria, War, and Injury/Injury detail

tayrod4594's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

This is beautifully written, but I'll be honest - the sheer emotional and physical torture each character faces is very difficult to wade through. I still love the way gender dynamics are put into play here, but the constant weaponization of and disgust toward feminity started to feel very heavy-handed by the end. There was still satisfaction to ve found, however, in the well-charted character arcs that feel both earned and complete by the novel's finish. I don't think I'll reread it, but I'm very glad I read it once. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Grief, Murder, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

laurak483's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring reflective sad tense fast-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Torture

kukazashi's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, and Grief

Moderate: Infidelity, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual content, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Abortion, Pregnancy, War, and Injury/Injury detail

kat42's review against another edition

adventurous dark sad 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

4.5

Wowie! 
He Who Drowned the World is brutal but also so so good; I wasn't expecting it to make me as emotional as it did. It's an interesting exploration of being so absorbed with one desire and goal that you let it ruin your entire life and the lives of others, yet there's still some hope. I'm not sure if I can say I enjoyed this book, necessarily, but it's excellent and I'm glad I read it. Better than the first, in my opinion.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Self harm

Moderate: Gore, Rape, Sexism, Sexual content, and Transphobia

Minor: Miscarriage and Fire/Fire injury

googles's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective tense 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism

Minor: Sexual content and Xenophobia