Reviews tagging 'Slavery'

The Mermaid, the Witch, and the Sea by Maggie Tokuda-Hall

123 reviews

riverstrongblood's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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

I cannot begin to express how thoroughly I enjoyed this book. Somebody else on this app wrote that they wished there were more witches and mermaids and "less of all the other stuff" but let me just say that this books is PACKED with fantasy and pirates and witches and mermaids. A person who simply can't care for the depth of the diversity and intersectionality in this book doesn't deserve the magnitude and life breathed into its pages. 

I'm not one for spoilers in book reviews but I have never regarded a book more highly than this. And I am so appreciative for authors who are writing queer and ethnically diverse books. It's rare. A breath of fresh air against the bland, white, straight canopy that fantasy has been for so long. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Lesbophobia, Outing, Abandonment, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, and Cannibalism

khanibonnie's review against another edition

adventurous emotional tense 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

4.75

This has the most beautiful depictions of gender queerness and the normalization of it that I have ever read and the only one that i’ve ever seen or read that is in reference to black people. the sapphic storyline was so beautiful and i now believe in love again 🙏🏾

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Slavery, Torture, Blood, Colonisation, and Classism

Moderate: Slavery and Vomit

Minor: Rape and Self harm

sn8man's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Drug use, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Slavery, Torture, Blood, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Murder, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

pipn_t's review against another edition

adventurous dark sad fast-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

I really liked this one, though It was much darker than I expected and I skimmed some parts.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Drug use, Gore, Slavery, and Murder

bookcaptivated's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful reflective 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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Gun violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Confinement, Misogyny, Vomit, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Homophobia, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Slavery, Trafficking, Grief, Death of parent, Lesbophobia, and War

alexijai98's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful 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? It's complicated

3.75

I enjoyed this read! A fun YA fantasy with interesting and diverse characters.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Confinement, Death, Gun violence, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Murder, Alcohol, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Rape and Sexual violence

Minor: Homophobia

e_riahh's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful 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

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Child death, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Grief, Colonisation, War, and Classism

Minor: Blood

anjasshelf's review against another edition

adventurous tense 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Bullying, Child death, Confinement, Death, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, and Classism

Moderate: Rape

neglected_space's review against another edition

adventurous medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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

3.25

A fun, entertaining YA read. Keep in mind it’s a YA novel, so things are kept a bit simple and not complex.

I will say that the witch plot seemed a bit…shoehorned in. I would have liked to see more development with that part of the story line. 

The queerness was such a lovely surprise (I didn’t realise just HOW many queer characters there were going to be) and it was super nice seeing various gender representations. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence and Alcohol

Minor: Slavery and Vomit

embee007's review

adventurous dark emotional hopeful medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

I picked this up after multiple people recommended it as a cozy fantasy...I would really like to have a word with them. Queer Fantasy =/= Cozy Fantasy. Happy Endings do not mean Cozy Fantasy. This book contains slavery, gore, depictions of torture...It is not a light & fluffy read. It is most similar to a YA version of Season 2 of Our Flag Means Death - dark, but not that dark.

I feel like there was a bit of a lull towards the end? Or the action was weird? Or maybe that was just me. (first full book I read with Covid) But the ending mostly made up for it. I'm definitely interested in reading book 2, at some point this year.

"There’s freedom in stories, you know. We read them and we become something else. We imagine different lives, and while we turn the pages, we get to live them. To escape the lot we’ve been given.”

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Rape, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Vomit, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Murder, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism