Reviews tagging 'Sexual violence'

The Ruin of Kings by Jenn Lyons

17 reviews

poetry_birb's review against another edition

dark funny 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? Yes

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Torture, Violence, and Trafficking

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Gore, Sexual violence, Alcohol, and Colonisation

gummiefox's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

4.0

this book is complicated, but i loved it! one of the few that i feel the need to go back and reread immediately after finishing it. i'll definitely have to reread it before i start the next in the series.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Incest, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, and Classism

meg_leigh's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

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

3.0

This book was recommended to me as "Game of Thrones but without the gratuitous gore and violence against women/children). That person and I must have different definitions of "gratuitous." 

It was also just so freaking hard to follow what was happening. I thought it was me but reviews show I'm not alone. I'm curious what happens in the next book, but I don't think I'm curious enough to delve back into this world. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, and Violence

Minor: Homophobia and Incest

vigil's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious 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

4.0

i can see why this book wouldn't work for everyone but it did for me. i absolutely devoured 500 pages in three days, in the time where i'm still slagging through an arduously obnoxious 291 pages of another book as of writing this review. i love storytelling that comes to you in puzzle pieces (though the author graciously gives you exactly what you need, if a plot point hinges on previously given vague information) and odd narrative structures. i love stories where the world feels truly lived in, where you are given so much worldbuilding and lore, especially stories that just have so much going on in them, whether its in the scope of the main plot or not. Because of this, i did enjoy the footnotes (not to mention here, the footnotes had a plot purpose and explanation that i found satisfying) despite generally being a footnotes hater in fiction. i'm very impressed with this being the authors debut novel, and i will definitely be continuing with the series. 

also, mild critique / wants for further installments

this book was very obviously interested in sex and sexual abuse in a way i found thoughtful, but somewhat wanting. i found the execution to be well done, but i would enjoy a deeper exploration of the topic, especially from one of the sex workers / slaves, since i think their perspective was sorely lacking in this book. however, i do hear that is something that is followed up on in later installments, so i'll withhold judgement on this front. i would also like more handling of khirin's trauma as well. i understand why it couldn't be lingered on for too long for practicalities, but as we enter territories regarding relationships for him in the coming books, i think it would be a good way to tackle it more. despite everything, it still seemed to haunt him over the novel, but wasn't addressed much. 

also shout out to jenn lyons for creating a male protag i actually enjoy. not very many cases! 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Rape, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Homophobia and Incest

adragoninspace's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

4.25

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Body horror, Death, Gore, Homophobia, Incest, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Blood, Vomit, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

sophiesmallhands's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious slow-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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Physical abuse, Slavery, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Sexism, Sexual content, and Sexual violence

anxiousnachos's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

5.0

Love love love love. The best of epic fantasy. It has such a huge, complex world that you really need the 800 page novel to dive into. It is so rich and detailed, you could never learn all there is to know about this world.

It has a fantastic, interesting structure. I am always one who loves a bit of a puzzle or weird structure to my novels and this definitely satisfied that urge. Told in two (and a half) POVs, to and from a jailer to their prisoner + footnotes from a third individual, this follows two different timelines as they slowly converge to explain how the jailer and prisoner ended up in their current position. The complexity of this structure is absolutely not for everyone. It is such a slow paced fantasy book, it weaves and wanders and you have to accept that you will not know what’s going on for the vast majority of this book. But I loved that about it!! I loved that each chapter ended on almost a mini cliffhanger. I loved getting to guess at what was happening and racing to read on. I found each POV section equally as interesting so even though the cliffhangers happened, I was still interested in the switching stories. It was just fabulously written. 

The characters are brilliant, as book 1 of a 5 part series I’m very excited to see how they develop. I believe the later books are poly? And the main character Kihrin is bisexual. Anyway I have the rest of the series on order, and I am horrific at reading sequels so that is truly a sign of how much I loved this! Please note, this did get very very dark though so note below content warnings. 

Content warnings: slavery (inc sexual slavery), death, violence, torture, rape, murder, blood, domestic abuse, physical abuse, child abuse, war, misogyny, incest

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Incest, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail

andromeda_1998's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

4.0

This book took me a long time to read and the funny thing is that I didn’t mind. The book is written in a very cleaver way and I would really recommend it. But before you start reading it, beware! This is one of those books you need to finish before having an opinion. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Incest, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, and Classism

anapthine's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious slow-paced

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

1.5

I really didn't enjoy this book, especially due to its tone. It was so boring and had so much sexism. Women were essentially 'slaves' and were property of men. Most of the time I had no idea what was going on and none of the characters were that likeable. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Deadnaming, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Incest, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Trafficking, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Biphobia, Homophobia, and Kidnapping

Minor: Pedophilia and Pregnancy

kschabel's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.0

Can be a little complicated as far as character relationships go. Sometimes can feel like it’s complicated for the sake of complications. 
The story was varied and interesting, great world building and interesting hierarchy of people/classes. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery

Minor: Death, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence