Reviews tagging 'Racial slurs'

A Song of Wraiths & Ruin by Roseanne A. Brown

7 reviews

annorabrady's review against another edition

challenging dark tense slow-paced

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

3.0

Karina's story and narration are both engaging and worth reading. Malik's, though, is hard to enjoy. I like the way that his struggles with anxiety are handled. But I struggle with connecting to his story enough to want to hear his POV. And his POV made the romance between him and Karina impossible to care about.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Gaslighting, Murder, Animal cruelty, Child death, Classism, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Animal death, Blood, Child abuse, Death of parent, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide attempt, Racial slurs, and Mental illness

Moderate: Vomit

Minor: Police brutality, Trafficking, and Slavery

anni_swanilda's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional informative 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Animal cruelty, Gaslighting, Blood, Classism, Confinement, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Gore, Murder, Animal death, Suicide attempt, Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Vomit, Xenophobia, Injury/Injury detail, and Violence

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury and Self harm

Minor: Sexual content, Child death, Domestic abuse, Child abuse, Physical abuse, War, Abandonment, Emotional abuse, and Slavery

ruthiedr89's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Racism, Murder, Toxic relationship, Death, Gaslighting, Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, and Violence

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Abandonment, Classism, Genocide, Gore, Hate crime, and Racial slurs

Minor: Child abuse, Confinement, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, and Animal death

beldaran1224's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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

If you're looking for the best of YA, this is it. The setting is very rich, heavily rooted in African mythology and history - I noticed heavy inspiration from Egypt and Morocco, while there are likely inspirations I'm not as familiar with that I missed!

The book follows two POVs. There's a lot of depth and development there, and the themes and tropes involve a number of heavy and important topics. Expect to think about mental health, colonialism and more.

The moment I finished this book, I immediately put the second book on hold at my library.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Self harm, Death of parent, and Panic attacks/disorders

Moderate: Racism, Mental illness, and Colonisation

Minor: Abandonment, Classism, and Cultural appropriation

strawberrytheauthor's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

This book was so good! There were wonderful tropes I love and also magic and mythology I hadn’t heard before. I love fantasy stories that include mythology based off of places on Earth. This was based of West and North African Folktales.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Colonisation, Death, Xenophobia, Vomit, Violence, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Animal death, Classism, Confinement, Death of parent, Grief, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, and Racism

Moderate: Child abuse, Physical abuse, Self harm, Slavery, and Domestic abuse

Minor: Sexual content

vashtanarada42's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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

5.0

I loved how the author approached many difficult topics, it was trauma-informed in how it approaches the complexity of situations and mental effects of long-term abuse. I cannot recommend this series more!   

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Confinement, Death of parent, Mental illness, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Slavery, and Gaslighting

alizam's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad 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

4.75

This is the example of what YA fantasy can and should be. A brilliant story that knows when to subvert and when to use standby tropes, wrapped in an immersive setting and beautiful mythology. I appreciated the way mental health was handled as well. The protagonists are flawed, yes, but deeply sympathetic and complex.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence, Racial slurs, Racism, Murder, Mental illness, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Death, Death of parent, Colonisation, Blood, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Abandonment, and Xenophobia