Reviews tagging 'Racial slurs'

The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman

3 reviews

orchidlilly's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

An immersive world of steampunk-Esque magic combined with the beginnings of a portal fantasy! The worldbuilding comes naturally, and Pullman brilliantly captures the thought process and mental state of a preteen girl left to her own devices. The side characters are well developed and often ride the fine moral grey line.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Violence, Medical content, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, and Gaslighting

Minor: Drug use, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Religious bigotry, Abandonment, Alcohol, Colonisation, and Classism

fiveredhens's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

4.5

this book: the aurora gave humans

the knowledge of good and evil via elementary particles

, adults who seem nice can be horrifically abusive, scandinavian witch communism, girls can be excitable and headstrong and even a little annoying while still being intelligent and worthy of love
10-yr-old me: wow cool ferret

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Emotional abuse, and Gore

Moderate: Child abuse, Confinement, Racism, Xenophobia, Blood, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, and Cultural appropriation

Minor: Ableism, Drug use, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Vomit, Dementia, Abandonment, Alcohol, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail

orientalism, africa as a wild monolith, romani stereotypes

yozhik's review against another edition

adventurous challenging mysterious fast-paced

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

3.25

As a kid, I really enjoyed this book; 10 years later the flaws of the book stand out to me much more. First of all it just feels like your average European fantasy- not so bad except for the racism towards Asians(the Tatars are ever so evil and they drill holes in Europeans' heads), Roma(they're called gyptians and they're kind but uneducated), and Africans(apparently zombis are just European practices but AFRICAN). Second of all I'm aware this is an older book, but Lord Asriel having the same name as the Undertale goat is so funny- I can't take him seriously. A lot of it I couldn't really take seriously- why can humans and daemons not touch each other? Why specifically is it so bad? I couldn't really get into the mindset of the world. The writing is good; I couldn't really say it's "one of the greatest" but it's certainly anything but bad. The idea of mixing steampunk(with Lee Scoresby's balloon) and fantasy(ghasts and haints) and history is cool.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Racial slurs, Racism, and Violence