Reviews tagging 'Xenophobia'

He Who Drowned the World by Shelley Parker-Chan

13 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

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

jesshaleth's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

If there had been slightly fewer moments meriting a content warning it would've been 5 stars for me, so maybe it will be for you. But yeah - I think it ticked more content warnings than it didn't, so, at your own risk.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Grief, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Murder, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, Outing, Sexual harassment, Dysphoria, War, and Injury/Injury detail

helfire124's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Homophobia, Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Outing, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

wrenaldreads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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

this was a heavyyyyy read. My goodness. So incredibly complex and moving, much like the first book. There is so much to say - I’ll be processing it for a few days I think. Also def read content warnings beforehand if needed 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Miscarriage, Misogyny, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual violence, Violence, Xenophobia, and War

shibh's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious 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

A bittersweet end to the duology. These books look at gender and the human experience of it in a way that has left me feeling exposed and crying. In a good way though.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Homophobia, Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Abortion, Murder, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, Dysphoria, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

niamhyjay'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? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, and War

Moderate: Xenophobia

spootilious's review against another edition

dark reflective fast-paced

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

4.0

 Read: December 22, 2023
 Title: He Who Drowned the World 

Series: The Radiant Emperor #2 

Genre: Fantasy / Historical Fiction / LGBT 

Rating: 4 / 5
 Review: 

I occasionally come across a book that I really struggle rating and I was shocked to find that this is one of those books. 

I came into He Who Drowned the World with very low expectations. I didn’t care for She Who Became the Sun, for a number of reason listed in my previous review. 

However, almost everything that made me dislike She who Became the Sun didn’t make it into the sequel which I am very thankful for. To be honest, I was concerned with the massive amounts of recommendations I received in regard to this series and how many awards She Who Became the Sun has won. I was praying that He Who Drowned the World would make up for what (I felt) was an extremely lacking novel. I was not disappointed. 

Parker-Chan is a beautifully talented writer (Which I knew from book 1) and tends to lean towards the very dark and morose. In fact, a bit too dark for my usual taste which may be why I wanted to give this book (He Who Drowned the World) a 3.5 and not a 4. However, Parker-Chan’s ability to write horrific imagery in a such a simplistic and straightforward manner makes the imagery all the more effective. This includes a number of sexually explicit scene, which paints sex as nothing more than a tool, punishment, or means to an end which, while I once again did not like, I can respect. The reader’s response to a story is just as much of a plot device as the sentences on a page. I was appropriately repulsed. 

I will also say that I didn’t care much for the lack of morality in ALL the characters in the novel. It left me without a ship to sail and was, perhaps, the main issue that I still hold over from She Who Became the Sun. 

All that being said, the fast pace and action-packed plot had me devouring this book, and I could not in good faith rate it lower than 4 simply due to my distaste. (i.e. the 4 star rating is more my personal rating of 3.5 and the acknowledging that some of the reasons it’s a 3.5 is because of my own personal biases against the lack of moral characters, rape, and very dark tones). 

Overall, one of the best books I’ve read this year. I will definitely recommend to individuals who love reading Dark Fantasy and Historical Fiction. 

 

 

QUOTES: 

“The most dangerous person in a game is the one nobody knows is playing.” 

“Nobody would lift a finger to change the world for us. To make a place for us. What choice did we ever have, but to do it ourselves?” 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Deadnaming, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Outing, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

le_mur's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny 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: Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Grief, Murder, Outing, Dysphoria, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Ableism, Genocide, Homophobia, Misogyny, and Xenophobia

Minor: Animal cruelty