Reviews tagging 'Dysphoria'

He Who Drowned the World by Shelley Parker-Chan

34 reviews

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

nightmarebees's review against another edition

slow-paced

• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

twists and turns! intrigue! gender! betrayal! gay sex! i loved the addition of more perspectives, particularly madame zhang’s. i don’t usually love military-heavy fantasy and this kept me hooked. 

the only things keeping this from a full 5 for me are:
1) ma is my favorite and she got less page time here
2) some big character deaths felt anticlimactic

this duology whips ass. gonna be thinking about it for a while 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, and Dysphoria

Moderate: Homophobia

pixelpigeon's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark sad tense fast-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

5.0

It is absolutely wild that these 2 are the author's first books cause holy fucking shit. I just blew through the last third of this book and stayed up WAY too late.

A personal character flaw of mine is I secretly always hope for happy endings. What you get with this book is an ending as complex as the rest of the story. But I will say the ending does feel satisfying. 

Anyway I will probably be thinking about these books forever. Shelley Parker-Chan please write more books, this unworthy reader begs of you!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Dysphoria, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Miscarriage and Pregnancy

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

edelyra's review against another edition

dark emotional informative 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Body horror, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Slavery, Torture, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Dysphoria, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Miscarriage

jesslinkletter's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

5.0

I will be emotionally devastated by this book for years to come. I found myself unable to put down He Who Drowned The World and was completely enraptured by all the twists and turns it took. The way Parker-Chan has captured such complex characters that you simultaneously empathize with their struggles and emotions but are horrified by the brutal extents their actions reach is unlike anything I've ever read. I cried my way through so much of this book as I saw what the characters went through and what fraught emotional states their trauma led them to. By the end, it seemed as though every character had descended into madness. This was an incredible feat of storytelling. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Rape, Self harm, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Murder, and Dysphoria

Minor: Infidelity, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Fire/Fire injury

blueberry0531's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Child death, Death, Homophobia, Self harm, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Dysphoria, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Kidnapping

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

kirstinlwx's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-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, Death, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Torture, Violence, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Ableism, Emotional abuse, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Blood, Outing, and Dysphoria

judythedreamer's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

2.5

  I had the impression after the first book that Shelley Parker-Chan has difficulties maintaining tone and was proven right, because I just read the most hippie ending to an exceedingly grimdark and trigger-filled book. It's such a weak ending compared to all the existential horror and gore that came before. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Body horror, Bullying, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Abortion, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, Dysphoria, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism