Reviews tagging 'Religious bigotry'

Dark and Deepest Red by Anna-Marie McLemore

12 reviews

tahsintries's review

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Racial slurs, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Homophobia and Transphobia

iridium's review

dark emotional mysterious reflective fast-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Lesbophobia, Homophobia, Transphobia, Religious bigotry, Racism, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Genocide

Minor: Bullying

sarahaf712's review

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Deadnaming, Death, Homophobia, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Religious bigotry, Outing, Racism, Sexism, Cultural appropriation, Hate crime, Misogyny, and Transphobia

Minor: Biphobia, Classism, Colonisation, Dysphoria, Genocide, Acephobia/Arophobia, Death of parent, Lesbophobia, and Police brutality

clarabooksit's review against another edition

emotional fast-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Deadnaming, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Racism, Religious bigotry, Sexism, and Transphobia

Moderate: Sexual content

Minor: Antisemitism

annalisaely's review

adventurous dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective 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

5.0

Gorgeous prose and heartwarming characters.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Homophobia, Misogyny, Outing, Racism, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Transphobia, and Xenophobia

drp_moonlight's review

tense slow-paced

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

2.0

I really wanted to love this book. I first encountered Mclemore's writing in the anthology All Out through their story Rojas which I absolutely loved. I was so excited to read a historical fiction with queer characters that was also an adaptation of a fairytale. But what I found instead were bland characters, slow pacing, and repetitive phrases. 

The book alternates between 3 POV characters (Lala, Emil, and Rosella) but the extremely short chapters cut into each character's limited development. On top of that, Alifair (Lala's love interest) was ignored almost until the end. Emil and Rosella are supposed to follow the trope of childhood friends to lovers but there is nothing to actually develop them as such. They barely interact until they are together.

The writing dragged on and on without going anywhere. It took nearly half the pages to get to the plot. I was bored out of my mind half the time. The only time I left my stupor was when McLemore would reuse the phrase "given a girl's name at birth". When I first read this phrase in Rojas, I was enthralled by it's magic but by the 5th time in this book I was annoyed. 

The ending was sweet, though unrealistic, but this is a fairytale after all.

In conclusion, read Rojas instead. It's the same plot with better writing and pacing. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Religious bigotry, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Death of parent and Blood

Minor: Sexual content

mandkips's review

challenging emotional informative mysterious tense

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Religious bigotry, Transphobia, Racism, and Torture

Minor: Homophobia

erinsbookshelves's review

dark emotional hopeful 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Transphobia, Death, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Religious bigotry, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Blood

Minor: Antisemitism, Ableism, and Violence

forcedtoland's review

emotional hopeful tense slow-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

4.5

« we are aspen trees, you and i, you cannot tear our fates apart, even to save me. »

a book just as touching as it is enchanting! the writing is beautiful, and i loved reading through the different characters’ perspectives. i really felt for them, although i have to admit i was much more invested in lala & alifair’s storyline than the 21st century one.
i would have loved to see more of alifair, actually, but i think i’m just being biased because i love alifair too much. have i mentioned i love alifair? because i do. love alifair i mean. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Xenophobia

Moderate: Religious bigotry and Transphobia

Minor: Homophobia

mirichasha's review

dark hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad 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

4.75

I will try to write more later but I loved this book. At first I didn't care so much about the plot, but loved the tone and the mood of the book. By the climax, though, I loved it.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Religious bigotry, Xenophobia, Death, Transphobia, and Racism

Minor: Homophobia, Sexism, Rape, Racial slurs, Antisemitism, and Violence