Reviews tagging 'Gaslighting'

The Empire of Gold by S.A. Chakraborty

12 reviews

kenzibir's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense slow-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? It's complicated

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Violence, and War

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racism, Slavery, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Antisemitism, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

karydiazc'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? Yes

5.0

These books have been some of my favourites this year so far. 
It was a bit hard for me to submerge into the story when I first started this books because of the culture I knew almost nothing about, but three books later, here I am, absolutely in love with this magical world and it's characters. 

This was a fitting ending for the series. 
I must admit I'm usually expecting at least a few deaths from the principal characters in the last book of a story about war, and when everyone survives or there was just one or two characters lost I'm a bit disappointed. This book is the exception. 
Everyone who survived lost many things along the way and the political maneuvers were just right in my opinion. 

Every single character kept following their path and growing either into their own darkness or their own ligh, respectively. 
I didn't actually hate any of the characters because none of them were villains just for the sake of it (okay, maybe just one or two, but not as important), everyone had their motivations for the way they acted and they truly were thinking that their decisions were the best ones for their current situation and that, in my opinion is what makes a great character. 
They weren't just doing things for the sake of the plot getting a bit interesting, they felt like real people who tried their best to maneuver in a political environment keen on ending their lives, while also doing what they could to save their respective people and loved ones. 

The world building was exquisite. From the busy streets of Cairo, in Egypt to the great city of Daevabad, even after being consumed and destructed by the war. 

I also have to say that I'm absolutely thankful to the author for bot making this story centered on love and who was going to end with whom.

Now, for the spoilers:

The ending made me so sad. Dara saying goodbye to Nahri, the love of his life, knowing they would not see each other ever again. Because despite everything they suffered in the war and at the hands of Manizheh they still cared for each other (even if for Nahri it wasn't love anymore).
I knew Dara would go to retrieve the amulets of the enslaved djins, but still it was sad seeing him go (I would love to see more of him on his journey to retrieve the relics).

I did wanted Ali and Nahri to end up together, but my heart broke for everything Dara was put through. Being forced into slavery once again and by no less than by the woman he followed and trusted to lead the Daeva to their past glory. 

Speaking of Ali, he was so charming in almost a naïve way because of his innocence in some aspects, while being the most cunning in others. 
His life was and absolute rollercoaster during these books, which helped him to grow up so much as a character. I think he deserved the way his family (the most important part, at least) managed to stay alive and relatively safe. 
I would be completely up for Chakraborty to write novellas of Muntadhir and Jamshid, and of  Zaynab exploring outside of Daevabad. Even if the siblings weren't principal characters, they have my heart too. 

Nahri was absolutely one of my favourites not just from this book, but I think she has become also one of my favourite female leads in a book. She was just so smart and always did the best she could with what she was given. 
From the start she was thrown into an entirely different world filled with magic and revelations of her life. Instead of crumbling and wasting away at the hands of her enemies, she pushed through an managed to gain the life she wanted at the end. 
I'm also really thankful that she want thrown into the "I'll speak my mind to absolutely everyone, no matter how powerful they are and get away with it somehow", as I've seen in quite a lot of books trying to portray a strong woman.

I honestly don't know what else to say. I loved this books so much and I'll probably be re reading them in the future. 

I'm sure that if I had read this series in the past, they would have become my absolute personality. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Racism, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Self harm, Gaslighting, and Classism

Minor: Kidnapping and Pregnancy

saracat's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful 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

Chakraborty continues to weave amazingly complex characters and stories in a way that feels so heart wrenchingly well. That characters and those around them go through so much. But is it any more than some have endured in our history? Or even still today? There is so much to learn from the examples of the characters in this story. Yes, they are fictional. And yes, maybe they are a bit optimistically naive. But I think our world could use more than a few more Bahri’s in the world. And more Dara’s and Ali’s once they have learned and grown by the end of the books. 
The roller coaster that readers are taken on in these books is so well worth it in seeing all the pieces fall together. And knowing the characters have given everything and continue to strive for better. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Genocide, Gore, Slavery, Blood, and Grief

Moderate: Child death, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Torture, Violence, Medical content, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Colonisation, War, and Classism

Minor: Rape, Kidnapping, and Religious bigotry

emmasafford725's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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? No

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Blood, Excrement, Islamophobia, Grief, Death of parent, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

espressoreader's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful 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

This series is beautifully done. It covers uncomfortable topics such as racial diversity religious diversity, class diversity, and even sexual diversity without appearing to beat the socially woke drum.  For this reason, this book actually makes a person consider these difficulties that other’s face without turning them off by making them feel drowned in a political concept, rather than in a story with dialogue. None of the characters in this book are perfect. All of them have their own individual preferences, and even prejudices regardless of how high up they are how low down they are all of them demonstrate a level of prejudice. However, this book allows you to look beyond their flaws and watch them grow above them Prince, Ali is considered to be a religious extremist. Though many, of his perceptions are not ones that I would share he holds them, and grows to respect people with whom he does not agree.  I think Prince Ali is perhaps one of the most well written characters, and one that I identify with the best. He maintains his religion, understand the precepts that say some thing is wrong, and still treats those people with respect and recognizes  their dignity.  

Beyond this political intrigue, there is also a beautiful story line with friendship, betrayal, reconciliation and ultimately understanding. The story shows the impact of generational abuse post traumatic stress, and gaslighting. It shows the impact of unhealthy relationships at all levels, and it shows very competent people suffering from and overcoming the physical and emotional abuse.

It does all of these things, without appearing to be activist propaganda. It relates real  emotion experiences and actions rather than just glossing over everything as he’s racist and he’s too religious. I find that this book was extremely respectful of all ideologies, and showed the strengths and weaknesses inherent with those ideologies, and the flawed ways they were represented by their followers. This was overall a great trilogy, and I would love to see more from this author.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Slavery, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

thoseoldcrows23's review against another edition

adventurous 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? No

5.0

I can't imagine a more perfect ending to this series. Chakraborty does an excellent job of following through on the world and the characters she's established, and I feel like everyone ended up in a place that felt real and earned. This has cemented The Daevabad Trilogy as an all time favorite series for me and earned it a spot on the very short list of series that I feel get better with each instalment. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Genocide, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, and War

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Homophobia and Pregnancy

laurenkimoto's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad 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

4.5

Wow this was a rare series where the sequels either stayed the same quality or got better. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Dementia, Trafficking, Grief, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

tinybluepixel'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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Dementia, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, and Colonisation

lais's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Blood, Grief, Murder, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Slavery

instalovewithbooks's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

5.0

All I am gunna put right now is inconsolable crying over chapter 46 because holy shit.
Empire ruined me. I thought Brass and Copper have, but no, Empire is where I broke 😭
 
  chapter 46, where Dara is saying goodbye forever to Nahri absolutely devastated me. I was trying to read as my eyes are turning blurry with tears ruined me. I'm so lost on that, and I KNOW it makes sense but that does not take away how much it hurt to see them finally separate I really hope Dara got some happiness. My Afshin.../

This series has honestly been a trilogy where it has kept me wanting to read it over and over again. I have now read City of Brass 3x, Kingdom of Copper 2x, and now Empire of Gold once. I did not know what to expect from this book, I honestly felt lost through it, and it wasn't because it was a bad book, it was quite the opposite. It was one of those books that you really aren't sure what the direction of the story will take, and what will happen next.

I am very much glad we are getting River of Silver this year as a physical book because I must have it. I really need something more to carry me on as this trilogy has taken a year off my life, I swear.

Honestly, this review is a mess, and I just don't care. I love this book so very much, and I plan to return to this world as many times as possible. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Toxic friendship, and War

Moderate: Slavery and Gaslighting

Minor: Confinement