Reviews tagging 'Sexual content'

Das begabte Kind by Juno Dawson

55 reviews

sian_h's review against another edition

emotional slow-paced

• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content

ourxstorybegins's review against another edition

adventurous funny tense medium-paced

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

5.0

OH MY GOD???

Okay truly have not finished a book and immediately felt the need to go buy the next one in the series until THIS SHIT. Would've been okay with never being in

that bitch Helena's

head when we got to her POV, but even that was really well done and I overall enjoyed it.

Truly my only critique was there was a few times where the author dropped very specific brand names to such an extent that I was like "ok is this book sponsored?" But it was just a couple of times and I got over it real fast for the sake of the story.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Transphobia, Outing, and Murder

Moderate: Sexual content

Minor: Racism, Fatphobia, and Sexism

queerreaderchaos's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual content, Murder, Misogyny, Racism, Death, Homophobia, Grief, and Child abuse

shae_purcell's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

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

3.75

I didn't like this book as much as I thought I might. I enjoyed the multi-POV chapters and the diverse representation. I liked a lot of the characters and relationships. I don't know what it is. It fell a little flat for me, like the characters could have been fleshed out more maybe.

A word of warning: Don't go into this expecting a tidy ending. It ends on a huge cliffhanger. I was ready to start the second book until I was halfway through that last chapter. Now I'm really irritated and thinking about taking a break. I'm sure as an author you want readers to be so excited for the next book that they'll run out and pick up a copy immediately. This ending didn't make me excited for the next book. It makes me dread reading it, even though I still kind of want to hang out with the characters a bit more. I may pick it up eventually but I'll feel sour about it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Medical content, Death, Child abuse, Sexual content, Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Cursing, Outing, Transphobia, Animal cruelty, Blood, and Animal death

Moderate: Murder, Misogyny, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Lesbophobia, Eating disorder, Incest, Islamophobia, Pandemic/Epidemic, Suicide, Classism, Homophobia, Self harm, Drug use, Alcohol, Colonisation, Torture, Racism, Sexual harassment, Emotional abuse, and War

There is a lot of intentional misgendering in the chapters told from the

anti-trans character's

POV.

katharina90's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.0

I enjoyed the themes, like the politics and dynamics at play among the covens and witchy parts of society, but the plot really didn't wow me. It was a little boring. 

The book has LGBTQ and BIPOC rep but I would have liked for Theo to play a bigger, more active part in the story.

I listened to the audiobook and Aiofe McMahon is a favorite narrator so that helped get me through the book when the story dragged.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia

Moderate: Fatphobia, Confinement, Violence, Racism, Death, Murder, and Religious bigotry

Minor: Sexual content, Domestic abuse, Ableism, Infidelity, and Abandonment

dani_reis's review against another edition

informative reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

2.75

I had more hopes for this one. It is strong regarding transgender politics and belonging in the magic world. But the magic was so limited it didn't pull me far enough out of reality to enjoy it. This would be more enjoyed by a lover of women's literature driven by characters instead of plot. The first half was fairly boring. Maybe the last 25% plot really started happening. I'll probably listen to book 2 because of Nicola, but Nicola would be the main reason I push through. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Deadnaming, Transphobia, Sexual content, Animal death, Sexism, Child death, and Grief

Minor: Eating disorder

Child death

fetus graphically sacrificed in a ritual

Animal death

bull graphically sacrificed in ritual

emilywrayburn's review against another edition

challenging 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

4.0

I started this book in audio format, but I am finding lately I haven’t had a lot of time to invest in listening to books, so I decided to switch to the paperback. I’m so glad I did, because after taking at least a couple of weeks to listen to the first 40%, I read the other 60% in a matter of days, and I’m pretty sure I enjoyed it all the more for being able to properly absorb myself.

HMRC draws on a lot of English witchy folklore, with references to Pendle Hill and such, but also examines the ways in which witchcraft narratives have developed over the years to favour certain types of stories. The four main characters are bound by childhood oaths but they are now very different people, hardened by a war that made them grow up too quickly, with different values and different attitudes to the world around them.

I was impressed with Dawson’s ability to handle the different POVs in this book, particularly those who are in opposition to her own values. Niamh was definitely my favourite character, though I enjoyed Leonie and Elle’s perspectives too. Helena is a compelling character to read even though she is an absolute piece of work. Seeing her transformation from “Well, she’s wrong but maybe we could sit her down and explain why she’s being unreasonable” to “wow, she went completely off the rails” made for some compelling reading.

I know that some people are going to say that Dawson was “heavy-handed” because I found myself thinking that, too, before reminding myself that discussions of issues affecting marginalised people are allowed to be there on the page. An author doesn’t have to seamlessly weave their exploration of issues into the story and never explicitly mention it for it to be acceptable.

The cliffhanger ending does feel a little cheap or unearned, but I am keen to see where the next volume takes us! I already had it on hold at the library before I had finished this one and I’ll be diving into it soon! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, War, Murder, and Transphobia

Moderate: Death and War

Minor: Animal death and Sexual content

sfdogmom's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

fantastic book. Very well written. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Gaslighting, Racism, Outing, Misogyny, Murder, Sexual content, and Transphobia

Minor: Kidnapping

scrubsandbooks'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

4.5

This was one hell of a ride but one I immensely enjoyed: queer witches, powerful women, politics mixed with magic and amazing world-building. Theo was easily my favorite character from the get-go and I enjoyed the TERFs getting their asses handed to them in a way that I wish we could see this same fate for these kinds of people in the real world. 

With the topic being transphobia, this book may not be for everyone. I know for a fact that TERFs and their supporters would hate it, but generally speaking, the transphobia is heavy handed and I had to take some breaks in between to punch a pillow and have some cookies and soothing music before I went back into it. I was thoroughly invested though and know I will complete the entire trilogy the moment it all comes out.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Transphobia, and Death

Moderate: Misogyny, War, and Sexual content

Minor: Racism

emmajh91's review against another edition

challenging tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Transphobia, Death, and Murder

Moderate: Violence, Cursing, Injury/Injury detail, Infidelity, Hate crime, Car accident, Forced institutionalization, Kidnapping, Dysphoria, Confinement, Alcohol, Sexual content, Blood, Vomit, War, and Toxic friendship