Reviews tagging 'Fire/Fire injury'

The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett

30 reviews

saintmaud's review against another edition

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No

When I started this book I did not care about the writing or plot I just wanted the sheer length to keep me entertained. The plot points, terrible treatment of women, and just general dullness though got annoying pretty quickly. Only someone like Follett could make mediaeval Spain look boring. Still I kept going for about 850 pages before starting to skim. Would not recommend unless you're really used to the 00s fantasy novel type of misogyny and have several hours to waste. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Physical abuse, Rape, Violence, Death of parent, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: War

Minor: Suicidal thoughts

rideauriverreads'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? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Death, Gore, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Antisemitism

heartfelthullabaloo's review against another edition

challenging tense medium-paced

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

4.0

I honestly am struggling with what to rate this because on one hand I want to give it five stars for an epic tale, but on the other I want to give it two for all the rape. Oh my gosh! I’ve never experienced so much rape before in my whole life! I bet if you took every single movie I’ve watched, every book I’ve read, every person whose told me they were raped and put them together it still wouldn’t add up to all the rape that happened in this book. It was crazy! And descriptive! Like super descriptive! Also, the author is clearly a tits guy. He looooves to talk about big tits, and nipples and how heavy they are, and soft and the way they hang and sway and move and feel. There was a lot of sexual stuff going on for a book about monks. Maybe the author was fascinated enough about the way cathedrals were built to write a book, but he’s equally fascinated with top heavy women. 

William was the WORST bad guy! I absolutely loathed him and I cannot believe how much he got away with, it was OUTRAGEOUS!!!!!!! So, kudos to the author for writing someone to root against. 

The politics of the Catholic Church! The things that they sanctioned is sickening and infuriating. Trying to play a giant chess game to rise to power and using God as a tool to justify your actions is awful. I can’t imagine why anyone is still catholic to this day. Sure, they’re not all like that and they did some good and helped some people but man, the corruption is hard to look past. 

The actual story itself, was great. Will I read the next one? Sure will because we’re about to go on a plague kick and I’ve heard that’s coming up next.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, Violence, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, and Alcohol

aether_seawo1f's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

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

3.0

Glacial pacing for the first 600 pages, the last 400 are decent. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infertility, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Antisemitism, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

dielilla's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional inspiring tense slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, and War

Moderate: Animal death, Cursing, Infertility, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Grief, and Alcohol

christina_chen's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark informative inspiring medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, Murder, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

cheazcakeguy's review against another edition

dark emotional tense slow-paced

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

2.5

I only finished this because I read it for a book club. Way too much unnecessarily explicit SA & pedophilia (just because it's "historically accurate" does not mean I want to read full details of a 14-year-old being r*ped by someone twice her age), characters were mostly one dimensional and often more like caricatures, and the pacing was uneven. The plot and the character Philip were the only things keeping me going, as it is ultimately a good story. The descriptions of the cathedral and the building process were also great. However, all of the tension and story beats ended up feeling super repetitive and recycled, and for the last couple hundred pages I was rolling my eyes at the dramatic twists and turns which felt contrived and meaningless at that point. I really wanted to love this book, but ultimately it was unremarkable. Hard to recommend, unless you like to read soap operas with one-note characters and you're okay with repeated graphic SA. I suppose if you *really* like drama and architecture, and have extreme patience, this is the book for you.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Religious bigotry, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Emotional abuse and War

Minor: Animal death, Child death, Antisemitism, Alcohol, and War

breadwitchery's review against another edition

adventurous slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual violence, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Pedophilia, Antisemitism, and War

Minor: Confinement, Fatphobia, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol

sonygaystation's review against another edition

So many parts of it are boring and when they’re not boring they’re exceedingly graphic. Sex scenes are wholly unnecessary and always written with the male gaze so the woman’s perspective is so unrealistic. I can’t deal with the graphic rape, assault, and abuse; the graphic descriptions of stoning cats; the unrealistic and boring “love” between Tom and Ellen; and the weirdo random anti-semitism sprinkled here and there throughout. I LOVE fantasy but I don’t understand how people can stomach this book and find it not only read-able but actively enjoyable. Y’all have suspect taste

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Rape, Antisemitism, and Religious bigotry

kiwialexa's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative reflective tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Blood, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail