Reviews tagging 'Classism'

Czas Żniw by Samantha Shannon

10 reviews

gillian_aftanas'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? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Bullying, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Child death, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Sexual content, Torture, Xenophobia, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Alcohol

lamianoctalis's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Fabelhafte, mitreißende Geschichte, die eine alternative Geschichte der Welt mithilfe liebevoll kreiierter, gut ausgearbeiteter Figuren erzählt.
Tolle Erzählerin
Empfehlung an alle Fantasy-/Mystery-Liebhaber

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Physical abuse, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, and Classism

Moderate: Hate crime, Racism, Xenophobia, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Rape, Torture, Vomit, Medical content, Death of parent, and Alcohol

aroma_of_books's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

chasinggrace's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious 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? No

3.0

Wait because I’m so sad that I am giving this book a three star rating. I absolutely loved Priory, and I had such high hopes for the beginning of this series. However, it’s the writing that ruined the story for me. There was SO. MUCH. telling instead of showing. I also don’t think the first person POV worked to the story’s advantage here. Unfortunately, there were many obvious statements, convenient jumps back in time, and sloppy character-building. I think the magic system and world is so interesting, but the descriptors of what is what and who is who were not weaved into the story well. At many times, it felt like info dump after info dump. 

Particularly, the jump from “I will lead this rebellion” to the Bicentennial or whatever was CRAZY. We spend 400 pages watching Paige suffer and fight against the system as a stubborn individual and are so ready to follow her through the intricate steps of sowing a rebellion amongst prisoners, just for the book to…skip 2 months of scheming? That would have been INTERESTING. Instead, I now have to read 20 pages of “a few weeks ago we did this, and Jules handled this, and I planted bombs here, and shoutout to the performers who helped me do this.” Like, I would have liked to SEE ALL OF THAT, not just be told about it. Or at least go over the plans through dialogue, not just Paige telling the reader everything that’s been done point-blank.

The writing took me out of the story more times than I can count, which made me so frustrated because the story is interesting. 

Other than the frustrating prose - and the choppy world/character building that went along with it - I was enamored by the story. I found the interactions and banter between Paige and Warden to actually be done quite well. His personality and speaking style was distinct, and their interactions kept me interested without them being overly obvious or corny. 

As stubborn as she can be, I did enjoy how Paige’s past in the syndicate helped her in the lost city. She’s not a bulletproof FMC but she’s also not hopeless. Can she be dumb and rash? Yes. And a little too “let’s save everyone even though that’s illogical.” But overall, I was rooting for her and wanted to read about her more. 

My favorite aspects of this story were the dialogue between Paige and Warden, the setting within Magdalen, and the relationships Paige had between the Seven Dials and the other humans in the lost city. I also loved the ending, but didn’t want it to be the end! It ends in a way that really makes you want to read the next book, despite this one’s flaws. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Cursing, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Trafficking, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, and Classism

julienicole1106's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

loquaciousleon's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective 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

Easily became one of my favorite books of all time. Captivating world-building, and personal connection to the characters.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Slavery, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Trafficking, Kidnapping, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Death, Drug use, Blood, Classism, and Deportation

lisa00's review against another edition

adventurous challenging mysterious fast-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Eating disorder, Gun violence, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Kidnapping, Mass/school shootings, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Cannibalism

tlaynejones's review against another edition

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Trafficking, Murder, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, and Classism

risaleel's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Death, Gore, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Colonisation, and Classism

Moderate: Confinement, Gun violence, and Trafficking

Minor: Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexual content, and Grief

bookishchef's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious 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

3.25

Okay. So. 

Up until about 60-70% of this book, I was ready to give it five stars. 
I absolutely loved it. 

But then it slowly but steadily started shitting the bed. 

1. The gold cord plot point thing came out of nowhere and was never really explained. It just seemed like a convenient plot device that did not feel like it belonged in the grim world the author has created. 

2. The rebound turned SA scene was completely unnecessary, and seemed like a weird attempt to bestow the main character with more trauma than she already had (and make her be pitied by Warden and the reader). 

3. Loss of virginity being described as "an uppercut to the stomach". I hate this trope so much. No, having sex for the first time does not feel like dying. It might hurt (for many people it does not even do that). But it won't feel like being torn in half god dammit.
The average period cramp feels way way way worse unless you have a medical condition like vaginismus. 

4. The main character falling in love with her captor/slave master does not sit quite right with me. Even if he treated her nicely, that is still a weird power inbalance that should never lead to a relationship. 

5. Teenagers falling for century old creatures just makes me roll my eyes at this point. It weirds me out a bit, and it has been done so so so many times at this point. 
Maybe I could deal with it if both characters seemed to be at the same level mentally, but Warden is practically a deity compared to Paige. Not immortal, but infinitely more intelligent and quite obviously so so so much older (and not to forget, her literal owner). From the way he behaves, to the way he speaks: it has middle aged man dating teenager vibes.

So yeah. This was a fun but very mixed bag. I ordered book 2 when I was about 60% into the book because I was sure I would love it at that point. But now that love has become a begrudging like. 

I enjoyed this book for the most part, but some things cannot be unseen once you see them. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug use, Slavery, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child death, Cursing, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Kidnapping, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Classism

Minor: Animal cruelty, Gun violence, Torture, and Police brutality