Reviews tagging 'Body shaming'

He Who Drowned the World by Shelley Parker-Chan

42 reviews

chasinggrace's review against another edition

adventurous challenging 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? No

4.0

A much more emotionally taxing story than its counterpart, He Who Drowned the World eclipsed its predecessor in all ways. I was surprised to find myself crying, when at other parts of the story I had to force myself to continue reading. 

I really appreciated the continued depth with which the author explored gender and identity in this series, as well as mental health. 

This story forces you to ask yourself, “is it too late to change the fate that I chose?” And “who am I once I turn away from everything I’ve always believed?”

While not a 5⭐️ duology for me personally, I think it is worth the time. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Body horror, Body shaming, Cursing, Death, Gore, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infertility, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual content, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Pregnancy, Dysphoria, War, and Classism

evann140's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Hate crime, Homophobia, Incest, Infidelity, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual content, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, Dysphoria, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

pvp_niki's review

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

tbd24's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

5.0

gay wrongs. what’s not to love

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Death, Gore, Homophobia, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, and War

Minor: Emotional abuse, Rape, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Pregnancy, Outing, 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

linde_ahobbit's review against another edition

adventurous dark sad 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? It's complicated

4.75

A great ending for this duology. Well and skillfully written. I really enjoyed the interactions between Zhu and Ouyang. I already want to reread this books, since it has been two years since I read the first one. And I'm hoping for a future book in which Ouyang and Esen find each other again in another time, pretty please!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Body horror, Body shaming, Death, and Self harm

abnormal_shadow's review against another edition

5.0

The twists, the turns, the death, the life the way that the story interacts with itself. The way it fuels itself and how you can see and sense the characters losing their resolve or failing to achieve their goal. Additionally the Strain that desire puts on the characters and the people around them is just so amazing. This is the first time that I've seen wanting something and having desire pictured as something both good and bad, selfishness that can be wielded into determination.

I love how religion and the belief system of this period mingle in with the story so well how Buddhism is so effortlessly referenced consistently. And oh my God the ghosts I love the way that the ghosts interact with the story being both a conscious member of the plot and a subconscious anchor it is absolutely astonishing.

I absolutely love this book and it's probably one of the best duology I have read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Body shaming, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Deadnaming and Abortion

Minor: Child death

ablanket42's review against another edition

challenging emotional medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Death, Homophobia, Misogyny, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual violence, Transphobia, Violence, War, and Classism

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