Reviews tagging 'Religious bigotry'

And I Darken by Kiersten White

6 reviews

4riareads's review against another edition

medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Grief, Homophobia, Islamophobia, War, Abandonment, Misogyny, Religious bigotry, and Violence

Minor: Physical abuse, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Infidelity, Bullying, Child abuse, Racism, Murder, and Slavery

thaliareads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.0

For me, the beginning of the book felt a bit meandering and by the time I made it to the end I understood the setup and enjoyed the story overall, but I think if I hadn't been listening to the audiobook I would have stopped reading pretty early on because it didn't grab my attention until about halfway through. However, I'm glad I did finish it. I would read or listen to the next book in the series. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Sexism, Abandonment, Child death, and Confinement

Moderate: Death, Murder, Islamophobia, Homophobia, Slavery, Religious bigotry, War, and Torture

Minor: Death of parent

I want to start by prefacing that the author does not come off as homophobic, islamaphobic, or otherwise bigoted. These content warnings are present because of the time period and context of when the book takes place. Spoilers to clarify:

Spoiler

In this book the two main characters are basically sold to the primary ruler of the region in exchange for more support fighting his battles. The region where this ruler presides is primarily Islamic and while one of the MCs finds it fascinating and comforting in their time of crisis, the other doesn't want to be forced from the religion they've grown up in and does come across as bigoted. In addition, due to the time period, women are seen as secondary citizens and really lack the respect of the men. This is a consistent recurring theme throughout the entire book where one of the MCs is denied equal treatment and denied the ability to follow her desired path in life. The next issue is that one of the MCs realizes that they're gay however, once again, due to the time period it wasn't safe for them to be open about who they are. While they do find solace in certain people who feel the same way they do, there's still an overwhelming sadness about the closeted nature with which the MC must live. Finally, as it is war time on and off throughout the book there are instances of torture, death, and murder throughout the entire plot, including one of the MCs accidentally killing a child during a conflict.

k_galloway's review against another edition

challenging emotional tense slow-paced

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

3.0

slowwwwwww pacing. it felt like pulling teeth trying to read this.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Xenophobia and Violence

Moderate: Murder, Toxic relationship, War, Gore, Homophobia, and Religious bigotry

andrikkk's review against another edition

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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Death, Deadnaming, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Islamophobia, Blood, Sexism, Violence, War, Bullying, Gore, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, Misogyny, and Murder

Moderate: Rape, Xenophobia, Cursing, Grief, Sexism, and Homophobia

sarahsbooklife's review against another edition

adventurous dark medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Murder, Violence, Religious bigotry, Rape, Sexual assault, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Islamophobia, Misogyny, Sexism, Physical abuse, and Trafficking

Minor: Child death and Death of parent

queer_bookwyrm's review

adventurous challenging dark inspiring mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

3.0

 And I Darken by Kiersten White wasn't what I was expecting. This was one if those books that I bought on Thriftbooks, because the cover looked pretty, and I thought it was going to be fantasy with royalty. Not a lick of magic or fantasy to be found. Instead it is a story set during the Ottoman empire as historical fiction. 

We follow Lada and her younger brother Radu. Lada is ferocious, mean, quick to violence, and ugly (She's no Disney princess). Radu on the other, hand is very pretty and is very sensitive and cries easily. They go through the horror of being sold as collateral to the Ottoman Sultan. 

Once there, they meet Memed, one of the sultan's sons, and they both promptly fall in love (one awkward love triangle). I did like how the friendships were written in this; Nichoae and Lada and Radu and Nazira. They were sweet and I wished we had focused on that more. 

I loved Lada's character even if she wasn't particularly likeable, but because of the sheer badassery of this woman. She learned to fight, lead the men and have some serious power and influence, which was unheard of for a woman. Radu is a soft boi and must be protected. 

Although was and interesting read, I don't think I care enough about this plot or these characters to continue with this series, when I have so many other books I'd rather read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Rape, and Slavery

Moderate: Trafficking and Religious bigotry