Reviews tagging 'Hate crime'

The Daughters of Izdihar by Hadeer Elsbai

8 reviews

ems_book_shelf's review against another edition

adventurous emotional tense fast-paced

3.5

 i wish i did not find Nehal as selfish as i did, but nonetheless this book was a really fun read. the politics were written well, the feminine movement was exciting to read, the SLIGHT character growth in Nico was fine but i neeeed more from him. excited to continue with the next book!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Hate crime, Homophobia, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual assault, Police brutality, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Classism

Moderate: Physical abuse, Violence, and Blood

stardust_heidi's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious 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? Yes

5.0

Holy shit. Destroy the patriarchy. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Hate crime, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexism, Violence, Police brutality, Grief, Religious bigotry, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury

alicelalicon's review against another edition

challenging emotional 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Violence, Murder, and Lesbophobia

Moderate: Abortion

smoore236's review against another edition

adventurous challenging tense 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Violence, Xenophobia, and Police brutality

Moderate: Death, Hate crime, and Misogyny

Minor: Homophobia, Outing, and Sexual harassment

ender24's review against another edition

adventurous 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Biphobia, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Religious bigotry, Abortion, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Outing, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

teatowel's review against another edition

adventurous emotional 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? Yes

3.5

I just couldn't help comparing this book to Avatar the Last Airbender. The setting, so oppressive towards women and LGBTQ+, made it hard for me to get into this book. It just made me sad whenever I read, but towards the last hundred pages the pace picked up.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Violence, Police brutality, Fire/Fire injury, and War

powellki's review

challenging emotional mysterious reflective 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: Misogyny and Police brutality

Moderate: Death, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Blood, Grief, and Fire/Fire injury

haikx's review against another edition

adventurous reflective 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

3.0

Thanks to NetGalley and Little Brown Book for early access to this book.

This book reminded me a lot of The Book Eaters. I valued the message transmitted through the story, but some details refrained me from loving the book in its entirety.

The fight for women's rights and the challenge to the patriarchal system, together with the topic of hegemonic masculinities from a gender perspective, is something I haven't encountered extensively in the fantasy genre, and I appreciated it.

This book handles all of the above issues in a direct, entertaining, and nonetheless crude way. Injustices and oppressions are constantly present in the story, but also the spirit of effort for a dignified life, equality, and respect for the rights of all people, regardless of their gender or personal beliefs. I loved the incorporation of the topic of alliances among minorities, along with the emphasis on raising awareness of the privilege that cis men have in society. (Something extra that's been widely discussed in gender equality studies, that was also addressed in the story, is that being a queer male does not inhibit anyone from following the behaviors of hegemonic masculinity).

Now, some elements prevented me from giving the story a 5-stars rating.

First, the world-building is little, if not nil. It was difficult for me to situate or reference the story to a particular time period, and I mostly felt confused about how to picture a particular setting inside my head. The magic system is not something new in the genre, but it could have been managed more interestingly. It never became clear how it works, and where it comes from to the point it felt very extra to the story. Finally, overall I found the book to be predictable and the pace slowed to a point where I considered abandoning it.

It hasn't been one of my best reads, but I think that for a debut, it was pretty satisfying.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Sexism, and Police brutality

Minor: Abortion and Sexual harassment