Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

Foundryside by Robert Jackson Bennett

38 reviews

turrean's review

adventurous tense medium-paced

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

3.75

The world and its system of magic are vividly imagined. Watching the internal "rules" of the techno-magic unfold as the story develops was one of the best parts of this novel. The parallels to AI, and to troubleshooting and debugging one's magical software, were delightful. 

Less pleasant was the scene where a girl is threatened with sexual assault. Since the author repeatedly describes her as young, small, and slight (other characters call her "kid," or "young lady," as you would a child or preteen you're scolding) the scene had some revolting overtones.

The in-world term for "f~@king" was used constantly, sometimes multiple times a page. Whenever a character wants to insult or threaten another, it's always about some in-world euphemism for the male genitalia. It got old really fast. It honestly would have been less jarring to use real-world language.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence

Moderate: Sexual assault, Slavery, Physical abuse, and Torture

Minor: Trafficking

aubreyprobably's review

adventurous dark mysterious 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

5.0

The book pulls you in with an exciting intro into a story full of unexpected twists, personal dilemmas, and slowly overcoming trauma. Overall a wonderful and exciting read and looking forward to the sequel. 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Sexual assault

this__nerd's review against another edition

adventurous challenging funny reflective fast-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

5.0

This book is not only a story about the dangerous work of a hired thief who finds herself mixed up in some major political espionage and sabotage, it’s a story about challenging yourself, understanding your worth, scientific discovery, and critique of the human condition. The main character is smart, funny, and a total bad ass. All the main cast of characters see some degree of development and evolution through their involvement in the story. And there’s a talking key who’s funny as hell. I was engrossed and couldn’t put the story down

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Slavery, and Confinement

Moderate: Violence and War

Minor: Sexual assault

All of the triggering content provides context for the characters’ mindsets and decision making processes

m_yinger's review

adventurous emotional tense slow-paced

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

4.25

The writing style is very frank, so the bigger twists at the end I could see coming. However, the overall plot and themes of the story are wonderfully relevant and poignant. It also moves at a good pace, but the frank writing style did slow it down quite a bit for me

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery

Moderate: Sexual assault

jjjreads's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional inspiring mysterious sad tense fast-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Vomit, War, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Violence, Xenophobia, Confinement, Excrement, Gun violence, Medical trauma, Suicidal thoughts, Child abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Blood, Bullying, Classism, Torture, Physical abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexism, Slavery, Stalking, Suicide, Trafficking, Body horror, Suicide attempt, Emotional abuse, Colonisation, Eating disorder, Genocide, Gaslighting, Mental illness, Misogyny, Death, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Sexual assault, Cursing, Drug use, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Alcohol, and Rape

gladiolus17's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious sad tense fast-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 read Robert Jackson Bennett’s City of Stairs series and LOVED it, but going through college and grad school, I don’t have the time to read anything more. Now I’m so glad to get back to his work. I feel like I’m coming back to an old friend.

Foundryside’s characters are SO lovable and distinct. I thought this before for the City of Stairs, but Bennett really has a gift for dialogue and worldbuilding. Everything is so carefully crafted and well-thought over. The magic system—so unique and interesting. 

75% in Sancia’s thoughts about herself hit me like a gut punch. And when she overcomes herself—!!!!!!

My only complaint is a minor one, but I still wish it wasn’t there. Foundryside is diverse and progressive in many ways, such as having LGBTQ characters and POC characters, but the casual fatphobia is still in it. The fat characters and fatness in general were depicted as greedy and evil, a common trope. There is one instance of gaining weight as a positive, where Gregor’s body size is commented on and he thinks (paraphrasing)

Spoiler

I gained weight because I was starving before in the war,

but that’s the only instance.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual assault and Sexual harassment

Minor: War and Fatphobia

wysperias's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Confinement, Body horror, Murder, Physical abuse, Mental illness, Sexism, and Slavery

Minor: Sexual assault, Vomit, and Cannibalism

laguerrelewis's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad fast-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 came across this book thanks to its mention in an essay about creative commentary through sci-fi/fantasy systems, in which it was lauded in the same breath as N.K. Jemisin’s The Fifth Season. I am happy to report that it lives up to this comparison. The “magic” system of this book is incredibly unique and inspired, and Robert Jackson Bennett skillfully increases how complexly it is applied in a very rewarding way. His style is similar to Brandon Sanderson, with a nice balance of humor, despair, and optimism. And the best part is this book is basically a series of heists with ever increasing stakes and reality-warping magic! This would be a 5 star review if not for some politics regarding policing that feel outdated from a 2023 perspective and the handling of a certain characters’ trauma. I think that element could’ve been handled more tactfully. Ultimately, though,  this book was quite the enjoyable read, and I’m excited to read the next installment!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Sexual harassment, Blood, Body horror, Confinement, Gore, Grief, Alcohol, Slavery, Torture, Cursing, Fire/Fire injury, Medical trauma, Violence, Vomit, War, Police brutality, Sexual assault, Classism, Death, Medical content, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Cannibalism and Death of parent

lanid's review

adventurous dark funny mysterious

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Gore, Gun violence, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Blood, Body shaming, Classism, Sexual assault, Violence, Confinement, Death, and Body horror

sequelmage's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious 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: Blood and Violence

Moderate: Infidelity, Slavery, and Sexual assault

Minor: Death of parent