Reviews tagging 'Xenophobia'

Il Regno di Rame by S.A. Chakraborty

24 reviews

gmrb04's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous 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? It's complicated

4.75

Encore meilleur de le tome 1 

J’ai adoré le premier tome mais alors LÀ je sur kiffe le 2e. Je trouve qu’il est meilleur que le premier. 
 
L’histoire commence 5 ans après les événements du tome 1. On suit toujours les points de vues de Nahri et Alizayd mais avec un point de vu en plus, celui de Dara. Avec Nahri on suit se qui c’est passé durant les 5 ans à Daevabad. On suit Alizayd exilé de force à Am Gezira par son père. On en apprend plus sur la façon dont il a réussi à reconstruire sa vie Am Gezira. Et enfin celui de Dara, dans la construction d’un plan. 
 
Ali reste toujours mon personnage préféré. J’aimais déjà moyennement le personnage de Dara dans le tome 1 mais là il a plongé encore plus bas. Pas jusqu’au point de le détester mais à la limite. 
 
L’intrigue principale reste toujours très politique mais elle reste facile à lire et les touches de romance toujours very slight. 
 
Encore une fois il faut avoir le coeur accroché dans les derniers chapitres 🤣 
 
On peut sentir la belle plume de l’auteur en VO. Le travail du traducteur aussi est incroyable. 
 
J’ai tellement hâte de commencer le tome 3 surtout avec la fin 🫣
Expand filter menu Content Warnings

mice_are_nice's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark emotional 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

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

_forestofpages's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny inspiring mysterious reflective 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

Despite this sequel having far less action than the first book, I loved it even more. I was enthralled by the continuation of the insane final chapters of book 1 and then the time jump in book 2. The author leaned heavily on the themes she touched on in book 1 and went hard on the politics and war. In my opinion, this was handled so well and was always engaging to read.

There was never a time where I felt like the author was trying to tell me how to feel and instead had these incredibly complex characters and morals and different wills and beliefs all mixed up, and it was realistic and frustrating and compelling at every turn. I was frequently yelling at the pages, these characters who I like so much. 

The last 200 pages took me for a ride and had me constantly tense and worried for everyone. I had no idea what would happen. Exhilarating and wild ending. I cannot wait to pick up the third and final book.

Nahri finally did what I wanted and made her own choices! She seems much more matured and cautious. I also grew to love several other characters I didn't like or just didnt understand in the first book. 
Expand filter menu Content Warnings

kylosten's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous 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? Yes

4.5

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

raavi's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense 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

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

emmasafford725's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional 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

4.25

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

stuckinatimeloop's review against another edition

Go to review page

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

amazing. it starts off a bit slow especially in the middle, but it sets up perfectly for the main events towards the end.
the character development was great in this one. we got to see a lot more of muntadhir, who's a very interesting character. one moment you hate him and the other you want him to be happy and safe.
alizayd as well, i loved to see him humbled and bring himself back up. he's probably my favourite character.
and nahri is awesome as always.
this is one of the best fantasy series I've read, and the politics is so well written. I usually prefer characters over plot, but the author does the plot so good you get very invested in it. there is no good side or bad side, everyone has done questionable things so you're kind of rooting for both but neither at the same time.
Expand filter menu Content Warnings

madison_mls's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark emotional 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? Yes

4.75

Really strong sequel to the first book! The last 40% had me GAGGED!! The world and character building is developed further in this book in a way that is done really well without any heavy info dumping. Plus it’s all paced so incredibly well. Can’t wait to read the third and final installment!!
Expand filter menu Content Warnings

elizabeth_lepore's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark emotional 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

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

singalana's review against another edition

Go to review page

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

2.0

Even though I listened to it as an audio, I had to SLOG through this book!

It has been about a year since I listened to the first part of the trilogy. It was a huge mistake to wait that long because I spent about the first 20 % of the book wondering who that character was, what that word meant and what happened in the last book.

After I got over that, the book started dragging for a different reason: NOTHING MEANINGFUL HAPPENS! It feels like there are no stakes, and so much time is spent on describing the most meaningless things. As one reviewer pointed out, everything that the characters try to do is thwarted by someone more powerful. 

About 60 % in, I realized that I do not care about any of these characters. Except maybe for Dara, because he is at least a little bit interesting. There’s no real feeling of danger, and I knew nothing bad would happen to the characters. The main character, Nahri, is insufferably righteous, the same as Ali. As one reviewer put it: 99 % of the characters are magical racists, religious fanatics or war criminals. Not exactly a likeable bunch.

Spoilers!
If I remember correctly, there’s a little bit of romance between Nahri and Dara in the first book, and I started rooting for Dara. In this book, Nahri is forced to marry King Ghassan’s son, and we get to see how evil and manipulative Ghassan is. Dara is brought back to life to serve Manizheh, who plans to oust the Qahtanis and restore Nahid rule to Daevabad. HOWEVER, it turns out that Manizheh is the evil one, and when she and her forces attack Daevabad, ALL of the characters forget what kind of  a**hole Ghassan was, and everyone is very sad that he’s dead. RIP. Nahri is, of course, a smart and spunky heroine and saves the day, yay!
 

But in all seriousness, I could not give a damn about any of these characters, especially since they are all so infuriatingly dramatic all the time. It sucks out any real impact a really dramatic scene should have when the characters are gasping and staring in shock about half of the book. If the author succeeded in something, it was when in the first book, I started to like Dara, even though he is practically a war criminal. Then, in the second book, I’m supposed to root for the Qahtanis, I guess? 

In addition to that, this book is all over the place about the shafit, the “mixed-bloods”, who are part human. The shafit are treated as something to be saved, and when they lash out for being treated like cattle, they are suddenly wild animals.

This book has way too many elements, it’s way too slow, and everything is so damn dramatic all the time. I’m so glad this is over. Let’s see if I pick up the last part of this series in a year or so after I have forgotten how messy and frustrating this was. 
Expand filter menu Content Warnings