Reviews tagging 'Child death'

Los pilares de la tierra 1 by Ken Follett

12 reviews

cheazcakeguy's review against another edition

dark emotional tense slow-paced

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

2.5

I only finished this because I read it for a book club. Way too much unnecessarily explicit SA & pedophilia (just because it's "historically accurate" does not mean I want to read full details of a 14-year-old being r*ped by someone twice her age), characters were mostly one dimensional and often more like caricatures, and the pacing was uneven. The plot and the character Philip were the only things keeping me going, as it is ultimately a good story. The descriptions of the cathedral and the building process were also great. However, all of the tension and story beats ended up feeling super repetitive and recycled, and for the last couple hundred pages I was rolling my eyes at the dramatic twists and turns which felt contrived and meaningless at that point. I really wanted to love this book, but ultimately it was unremarkable. Hard to recommend, unless you like to read soap operas with one-note characters and you're okay with repeated graphic SA. I suppose if you *really* like drama and architecture, and have extreme patience, this is the book for you.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexual harassment, Child abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Sexism, Sexual content, Adult/minor relationship, Gore, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, and Stalking

Moderate: War and Emotional abuse

Minor: Child death, Alcohol, Animal death, Antisemitism, and War

krosa's review against another edition

This book is clearly trying to be a more nuanced story about medieval history but it can't seem to avoid the "rape is realism" trope seen in so many similar books. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy, Murder, Death of parent, Animal death, Child death, Rape, and War

delvesinshelves's review against another edition

I spent quite a while weighing the merits of this book and my own interest in the material against the gratuitous rape scenes and obscene misogynistic perspectives. 
I don’t shy away from challenging books, but there has to be a strong why when it comes to this degree of sexual violence. 
The most recent series  I read with content of this sort is the Poppy War trilogy, which deliberately covers a parallel to the rape of nanking. 
This book is not covering real historical events, and not all of the rape/attempted rape seems to be serving a purpose of any kind in the story. 
I was really excited to read about the building of a historical cathedral over the decades, but I think this book may be harmful without sufficient redeeming qualities for me to push through. DNF. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Violence, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Sexism, Gore, Death of parent, Death, Rape, Pregnancy, Misogyny, Grief, Child death, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Miscarriage

susanknights'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? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Torture, Violence, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Misogyny, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Murder, Physical abuse, Rape, Religious bigotry, War, Sexism, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Bullying, Child death, and Child abuse

turtlebucket's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Amazing read (twice) but I cannot give a 5 with the gratuitous and constant violence and sexual assault of women and the overt ways all male characters describe women. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Domestic abuse, Islamophobia, Miscarriage, Antisemitism, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Violence, Blood, Xenophobia, Classism, Grief, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Animal death, Pedophilia, Pregnancy, Sexual content, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Infidelity, Gore, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual violence, Torture, War, Injury/Injury detail, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, Murder, Physical abuse, Racism, and Rape

melina_30's review against another edition

challenging dark slow-paced

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

3.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Death, Rape, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Child death, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Child abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Sexism, Domestic abuse, and Grief

Minor: Suicidal thoughts

worm_book's review against another edition

adventurous informative sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Violence, Bullying, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Gore, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, War, Grief, Murder, Physical abuse, and Abandonment

Moderate: Antisemitism, Colonisation, Misogyny, Ableism, and Religious bigotry

maaikeloopt's review against another edition

adventurous fast-paced

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

2.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Rape, Gore, Misogyny, Religious bigotry, Blood, Child death, and Death

marginallist's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective relaxing sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Murder, Animal cruelty, Child death, Death, Blood, War, Violence, Torture, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Religious bigotry, Pregnancy, Physical abuse, Mental illness, Death of parent, and Domestic abuse

thecatladybooknook_penny's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense 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? No

4.0

Wow what a great story!  I loved the setting and characters, their growth as well as how Follett kept you hanging on wanting to know more!  There were definitely a lot of violent scenes (lots of killing and descriptions of that which I don't mind so much because it is true to the historical facts but also lots of sexual assault scenes as well as being in the head of the scum committing those.  I did lots of skipping over those as well as skipping a few lines when we were in the scum's head when he started thinking of the next victim.)  There were also a lot of sexual situations and being in the head of a couple main character's heads which I didn't care to read either so skipped over that.  You still get the gist of what's going on without having to read that.  Highly recommend this book IF you are willing to do the "skip method".

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Child death, Sexual assault, Sexual content, War, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Violence, Rape, Physical abuse, and Abandonment