Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

The Invasion of the Tearling by Erika Johansen

18 reviews

h_scharff's review against another edition

dark inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Hate crime, Homophobia, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Blood, Trafficking, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Murder, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

anonblueberry's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.0

I have A LOT of questions, that I suspect won't be answered in the final book. I don't know.

Massive warning for sexual assault and domestic violence throughout the book (not against or by a main character, but it's very prevalent)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse and Sexual assault

The domestic violence and sexual assault aren't by or against any of the main characters, except they kind of are, as the MC is experiencing someone else's life. It's complicated and I was not expecting it.

kiandrareadsbooks's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious 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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, and Violence

jennijennijenni's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense 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? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Murder, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

katrinarose's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious reflective fast-paced

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

3.0

Another three star rating for the second book. Again, I did enjoy this book but its’ problems were too big for me to go up another star. First the good: I like Lily’s point of view and always found myself looking forward to her perspective. I enjoyed learning about the world before the crossing and trying to predict how the crossing would happen. The writing style was straightforward yet engaging and kept me picking the book back up even in slow parts. However, the magic made no sense. The sapphires seem to play a big part of the magic system since that’s how Kelsea has power yet it’s never explained in a way that justifies their power. It almost seems like Kelsey all of a sudden is unstoppable which makes her decisions even more questionable. The villain(s) were also very weak and unbelievable which kind of made the whole Kelsea storyline weaker. I have hope that the last book will really pull everything together but I can’t say at this point that I’d recommend this series to anyone, even though I have enjoyed it for the most part.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Homophobia, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Religious bigotry, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child abuse, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Racism, Slavery, Xenophobia, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, and Classism

mazomazli's review against another edition

medium-paced

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

2.5

I’m really not sure how I made it to the end and still want to read the next book. I found a lot of the worldbuilding to be the main reason I kept going because I want to know how things came to be. However this book is very much packed full with triggering content, often done carelessly and thrown in for what feels like shock factor. The main character is not likable at all, though I’ve never liked her to begin with. Here are the following that the author did that doesn’t sit right with me: 
- constant obsession with beauty equaling goodness and fat phobia (only when the main character loses weight and magically takes on someone else’s appearance is she pretty) and the other evil queen would never be beautiful. How tragic to be ugly I suppose. 
- one of the most graphic homophobia scenes I’ve ever read. A gay church member is castrated and his wound is left to get infected. There was no reason to put this in. There’s no commentary it’s just to show how evil the new church leader is
- graphic rape and constant sexual assault. Graphic domestic violence in full detail. Repeatedly. 
- graphic self harm that is also deeply concerning because it seems the main character is always reopening her wounds by the slightest movements. There was no need to describe her start into it. 
- bizarre portrayal of a woman with albinism being magical and wicked and very sexual…?! That was deeply uncomfortable and I think ableist
- stereotypical orientalism with describing a neighboring king of having a harem with 20+ wives and how the main character was offered to be the highest rank
- improper “seizure” care where they held down the MC and put things in her mouth - huge no’s 
- slavery is used as a casual tool 
And so much more. 

Jonathan deserved better than to meet an end of self sacrifice. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Hate crime, Homophobia, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Religious bigotry, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Ableism, Animal death, Racism, Slavery, Vomit, Abortion, Dysphoria, and War

vjlp22_reader's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful slow-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? It's complicated

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Torture and Murder

kalmia31's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Hate crime, Homophobia, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Trafficking, Religious bigotry, Murder, Sexual harassment, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Child abuse, Infertility, Pedophilia, Slavery, Kidnapping, Abortion, Fire/Fire injury, and Gaslighting

shinypurplepants's review against another edition

adventurous sad tense

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

The second entry into the Tearling series didn't hold me in the same way of the first. The realities of war made this one feel heavier and

the changes it brought to our Queen of the Tearling made it difficult for me to continue rooting for her. <\spoiler>

In addition, the dual narrative starring Lily, while a relevant glimpse into the Old World, felt like it slowed the pace of the book dramatically.

Overall, I would still recommend those that enjoyed the first book give this one a try with the caveat that it is quite different from the first entry in the series.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Religious bigotry, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Sexual content, Gaslighting, and Classism

callmebella's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Torture, Violence, Outing, and Sexual harassment