Reviews tagging 'Sexual harassment'

Kings Rising by C.S. Pacat

4 reviews

danay415's review against another edition

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adventurous tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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lowercaselettersnumbersandunde's review against another edition

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medium-paced
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes


There's crazy enough subject matter that one would expect more attention given to those issues, like sex slavery and child abuse, but the author's style seems to revolve around hinting at solutions rather than solving the problems more plainly. 

The only ever admission of "sex slavery is bad" we get is at the very very very end of the third book from a character somehow less likeable than the protagonist (Damen, a rather alright guy) even after his better stance on slavery. I'm not sure why the revelation that this character (Laurent) hates slavery had to wait until the very end of the story, although the excuses would be that he himself was a victim of child abuse (the only thing left tastefully subtle in this trilogy, only because it's supposed to somehow come as a surprise to the protagonist) and would not speak out over his abuser, a man of arguably higher status. Thus, once that man was dead, Laurent was then free and able to... not admit he hated slavery? Someone else had to realize it before he could even say it out loud. I don't know, kind of weird.

Maybe subtlety is better for some people, who wouldn't mind being faced by a world in which sex slavery involving children as young as 11 is ingrained in society without being offered any kind of "hey that's a bad thing" commentary that's longer than a couple sparse lines of dialogue. I guess the author is presenting us a world in which there are issues but they're just beginning to be solved now. Realistic, in its own way. But it's clear why some people would hate it. 

That being said, this third book was the best of the trilogy after the horrible first book and (I can't bother to remember) whichever book contained rape via forced oral sex and the terrible non-chemistry of two characters who end up becoming passionately in love. My favorite parts of the third book were actually the wartime politics and scheming. I thought the climax of the book, the trial, was fantastic. One of the damning witness statements coming from the mother of a former victim of child abuse by the Reagent is one of few satisfying moments you'll get as far the pedophile-Reagent issue. 

Wouldn't really recommend this trilogy to anyone. But it was still hard to put down, I have to give that to the author. What was the whole "blonde hair blue eyes fair skin" thing all about? Weird. 
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sophie42's review against another edition

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

3.0

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louisa_pennyfeather2021's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-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

I don't know what else to say except that this book broke me and my bookmark. It broke me in a good way. My bookmark, however, won't recover. It was an amazing read.
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