Reviews tagging 'Sexual content'

Exhalation by Ted Chiang

5 reviews

pantslint's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

Every single one of these stories is a banger. I'll write a more clear review another time, but my favorite stories from this collection are "Exhalation" and "The Great Silence."

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction and Gun violence

Moderate: Death, Sexual content, and Grief

sunn_bleach's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.25

It’s hard to write speculative fiction with a social issues bent in the 2010s and beyond without accusation of Black Mirror-lite. So, perhaps readers might be interested to hear some of these stories predate the show, and that they have more in common with the tradition of Borges and other Argentinian/Chilean magical realism authors in addition to the contemporary issues of today (and yesterday, and tomorrow). I respected how the “Lifecycle” story to its extreme end, I found the title story masterful as a response to Kierkegaard’s “leap of faith”, and I enjoyed the parable-esque nature of the rest. The only one I thought a little trite was “The Truth of Fact, the Truth of Feeling”, which kinda failed on the dual-story part with the African analog seeming cliché. But it’s a small price to pay for the overall collection.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

Moderate: Cursing and Sexual content

Minor: Domestic abuse

knightzach's review against another edition

Promotes the normalization of atheism and homosexuality, Anti-Christian 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual content and Religious bigotry

talonsontypewriters's review against another edition

challenging reflective medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Body horror, Gore, Gun violence, Medical content, Grief, Murder, and Colonisation

Minor: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual content, Slavery, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, Car accident, Pregnancy, Alcohol, and Classism

Extinction and apocalyptic events in multiple stories. Dissection, though with visuals of machinery rather than flesh ("Exhalation"). Mentions of bestiality, discussion of sentient sex dolls, cruelty to and dehumanization of AIs/robots, emotional infidelity ("The Lifecycle of Software Objects"). Mentions of natural disasters, manipulation/extortion ("Anxiety is the Dizziness of Freedom").

apeck's review against another edition

adventurous funny reflective sad medium-paced

• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Addiction, Cursing, Drug abuse, Sexual content, and Torture