Reviews tagging 'Racism'

Il Regno di Rame by S.A. Chakraborty

20 reviews

brodi's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious 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

4.25

Really enjoyable read, following the different characters gave perspective. Really informative as I didn't realise this was a trilogy and read this without any context and couldn't I had missed a book before it. 

---

Content Warnings

Minor: Death, Emotional abuse, Racism, Slavery, Blood, Murder, and War

Nothing to indetial but definitely touches on these topics

erebus53's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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

Wading back into the fraught and politically interwoven world of the Daeva, could begin to get overwhelming. I was very interested to see what happened to my favourite characters though.

This book finally sees people talking about what happens when the heir to the kingdom, Muntadhir, falls in love with a man art arms. Dammit why can't you all just let them be happy! And wait, in the last book didn't we find out that Jamshid has even more secrets about his person that even he is probably unaware of...? I had to find out more, and I do wish it took less that 20 chapters to unfold! But there is so much to unfold in a place where you arrange marriages for political reasons, and when everyone is lying to each other - things get messy in a great bit hurry.

Meanwhile back in the small desert town of Bir Nabat, the exiled prince finally seems to have stopped getting regular visits from assassins. He's knuckled down in serious service to the community as an irrigator and well builder and is starting to bring prosperity to a place that was dwindling into the dust. Less said about magical water powers the better, but everyone close to him knows that he doesn't come up for air nearly enough to seem.. normal, and he's awfully good at falling asleep in random places and accidentally waking up having "found" a brand new spring. 

And then one of his rich cousins turns up with a year's worth of taxes in cursed salt, that only someone with their bloodline can return to Daevabad, and if it doesn't get there then there might be military retribution so .. he's wrangled back to his home city, consequences be damned.

Seems that everyone is preparing for the biggest festival in decades, and also that everyone who ever wanted to attack anyone is waiting for that time to do all their "plans".

Nahri petitions her father-in-law Ghassan, to bankroll a rebuild of the hospital her people once used, and to be able to treat the half-blood Shafit there as well as anybody else.  She and Ali are working to try and patch up relations within the city, but their idealism can only get people so far..

Civil unrest is at an all time high, and meanwhile, plotting in the background Manizheh has her own plans, and central to them is re-re-resurrecting Darayavahoush. Again. Poor b*stard. We get to find a bit more about the history and magic of the land, the nature of Ifrits and the Marid.

Oooh this gets messy. I'm not a super fan of battles, but I do like big reveals. It's tense and frustrating when you have enough information to cobble together what's going on, but the characters haven't been told yet. Why do revolutions have to be so messy!!? That poor library. That tower... hey people were using that! I might ned a bit of a break before I delve into future volumes.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Cursing, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Slavery, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

brynalexa's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

5.0

I was consistently shocked through the  entire book. The story never goes where you’re expecting it to. Somehow a cast of treacherous characters making terrible decisions works. Brilliant. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Alcohol, War, and Classism

madamenovelist's review against another edition

adventurous dark sad tense 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

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Death, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

laurenkimoto's review against another edition

adventurous 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

4.0

wow I’ve been reading too much contemporary romance that I forgot that high fantasy has themes and/or acts of genocide</>spoiler 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Hate crime, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Cultural appropriation, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Homophobia, Infertility, Infidelity, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Alcohol

kowtherq's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark inspiring mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.25

shannon never disappoints!!!

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Hate crime, Grief, Murder, and War

Moderate: Racism

Minor: Blood

taylah13's review against another edition

adventurous sad tense 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

4.75

This book was slightly slower than the first, however this isn't to say it was boring! It just focused a lot more on politics, deceit and alliances etc rather than big events however the ending picked it back up again. I specifically loved the development and storyline of Ali, cant wait for the next book!

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, and Fire/Fire injury

achingallover's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful tense medium-paced

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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Confinement, Death, Genocide, Gun violence, Infidelity, Racism, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol

annalisaely's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.0

A bit slow in the middle, and some characters *cough* Dara *cough* are a little hard to listen to winge after a while, but overall I liked seeing the continuous world building and getting to know our characters more and seeing how what has happened to and around them has shaped them. It's definitely interesting to look at the question of how to stop racism when everybody hates everybody and all three groups have done horrible things whenever they have been in power. Usually in books these issues are simplified a lot, so it's nice to see S.A. Chakraborty really going in on them.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Gun violence, Hate crime, Infidelity, Misogyny, Racism, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Alcoholism, Genocide, Medical content, Grief, and Mass/school shootings

ehmannky's review against another edition

medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

 Spectacular. Show stopping. Amazing. I throw all the praise at this book, because it's so beautifully written and it builds so well on the previous book. It dives deeper into the meaninglessness of vengeance vs. the true healing power of justice. Because the shafit aren't wrong and the Daevas aren't wrong and those clamoring for a better life aren't wrong, but since no one can address the pains of the past without murder, no one can devise a way to move forward. Well, Nahri and Ali could, but no one ever listens to the best characters.

This book also skyrocketed Ali to the top of my list of favorite characters. The previous book of "the oppressed can have some rights" is burned away as he gains more confidence in his own moral clarity and is able to see a life outside of the palace (also, Aqisa and Lubayd are the best additions the vast cast of characters). Muntadhir plummeted pretty far down the list with the petty jealousy and the fear his father beat into him taking over his love for his siblings, Jamshid and what he knows is right. Like, the whole

lie to embarrass Ali and then causing a massacre and like only realizing after the fact that all this death was his fault? Fuck him. Though the ending reconciliation was pretty damn satisfying. But also, fuck him.

 

 I empathize with him, but it's also part of the cycle of revenge and status quo and trying to please their abusive father to become an abuser himself. I also liked the expanded role for Zaynab and Hastet, and it was nice seeing Nahri finding female allies. Additionally, Dara (a character I like in spite of my morals) slowly figuring out Just Following Orders is a paltry excuse when he's doing atrocities. 

Overall, a stunning sequel. I cannot wait to read the final installment. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Racism, Slavery, Torture, Xenophobia, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Sexism, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

Minor: Miscarriage