Reviews tagging 'Rape'

He Who Drowned the World by Shelley Parker-Chan

166 reviews

madscientistcat's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad tense slow-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, Homophobia, Misogyny, Rape, Self harm, Violence, Grief, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail

anglerfishinariver's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful reflective sad 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

This is the first book that has ever really managed to change my perspective on something. I always love revenge plots and power trips where people don't regret anything, and get annoyed when they realize they didn't gain anything, but did book did it beautifully. He Who Drowned The World is a book about power, fate, love, regret, revenge, misogyny, homophobia, transphobia, corruption, pain, and so much more. 
I loved the scheming and strategizing from different perspectives, and how much effort was put into writing out the battles and their significance, even though I thought the battle against Chen was goofy. 
Regardless, the book's real strengths were the characters and the relationships between them. I have never ever read a book that explored characters' personality in so much detail and with so much care. It was a truly incredible experience, and I felt and suffered for every character, no matter how evil they were. And they were all completely different people, they felt raw and real. None of them were perfect, but I loved them with all my heart. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Rape, Self harm, and Suicidal thoughts

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

zaferino's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional reflective 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: Suicidal thoughts, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Rape

hanz's review against another edition

adventurous dark medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Homophobia, Slavery, and Pregnancy

rachelandrews's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional funny sad medium-paced

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

4.0

definitely went some very weird ways, devastated me and strayed into implausibility a bit too much icl

also

ouyang’s death was such an injustice to the character im sorry i cried for an hour

but the zhu/ouyang duality was really giving and the ending slayed

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape

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

leonoor's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious 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

4.75

I loved the first book of this series, so I expected to love the sequel as well. And I did, but it wasn't what I expected. Like the first book, he who drowned the world is a historical war novel, but the plot is much more violent. There are graphic descriptions of murder, rape, cruelty, and (self-)mutilation. It's a story full of betrayal, pain, hate and anger. We don't see as much of the loveable characters in this book. We are confronted with self-destructive hate, and most characters in this book do unspeakable things to achieve their goals. Yet Shelley Parker-Chan has written about it in such a beautiful, elegant and vulnerable way, that I found myself feeling empathy for these characters. 

I debated giving this book 5 stars, since I found it very well-written and intruiging, but I decided on a 4.75 only because the pace of the beginning and middle part of the book is a bit slow. This, combined with the fact that some chapters are very dark and heavy to read, made me put the book away quite often. However, I always enjoyed returning to this beautifully intricate world the author has described. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, and War

Moderate: Body shaming and Transphobia

bitofadisgrace's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

Phenomenal historical fiction that manages to portray characters that are achingly real and complicated. The author manages to pack in tons of historical and cultural information that add to the story instead of distracting or boring the reader, and adds magic and ghosts without making this very serious story silly.

Apart from that, the author's explorations of gender, family betrayal, revenge, and hunger for power were unique and very moving. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape and Self harm