Reviews tagging 'Xenophobia'

The Ritual by Adam L.G. Nevill

3 reviews

gawdz0rz's review against another edition

dark tense fast-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

3.5

includes a peek into some more recent parts of norwegian history. i won’t say more than that outside spoilers. 

kinda feels like the book splits into two different books like halfway through? 

author writes a little weird about women’s bodies. “he was smelling her cunt through a nose he knew to be smashed flat.” no he wasn’t. that’s not true. 

some other thoughts:

the tie-in of black metal and the 90s church burnings in norway to the characters’ backgrounds was great. and luke pointing out the conflicting beliefs (different tattoos, getting sacrificed to what was believed a pagan god on an inverted cross, etc.) showed the timeline of some people in that same scene moving between satanism and paganism (or what is now called “odinism”), sincerity not required. and then there’s showing the bigoted beliefs of some in the black metal scene—burzum, for example, being one of the bands fenris listed, was founded by varg vikernes, a nazi. and that wasn’t the only nazi band listed. 

finally, i’m not sure i like how the beast in the woods was kinda just brushed off as some random demon or “mother” or whatever, rather than something way more important to the story.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Fatphobia, Misogyny, Torture, Grief, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Animal death, Homophobia, Suicidal thoughts, Xenophobia, and Vomit

charlieeee's review against another edition

dark tense slow-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, and Blood

Moderate: Body shaming, Confinement, Cursing, Fatphobia, Hate crime, Homophobia, Sexism, Xenophobia, Islamophobia, Religious bigotry, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Kidnapping, and Alcohol

The first part was fabulous. Some really good examinations of people growing apart; philosophy of life (for male-socialised people anyway); it was tense and had some great metaphors and other strong writing. And then part two happened where I would have sworn I was reading a completely different book altogether! The metaphors were over the top, made no sense in the context of the scene and the characters were really stereotypical - and the less about ‘Surtr’ and the constant repetition about her breasts, body and ‘smell’ of her genitalia the better. Was so disappointed by part two. So so disappointed.

And the reveal of the big beastie ‘the god’ in the woods at the end was such a let down. Everything was leading up to this point and the pay off was so disappointing - we barely get a paragraph. There’s letting your mind fill in the blanks and then there’s this.

miranda_redmond's review against another edition

dark tense medium-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

2.0

I enjoyed the first half but didn't like the weird turn it took towards the end. Also not a fan of the misogyny that keeps popping up throughout the book any time a female character is mentioned. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Misogyny, and Blood

Moderate: Fatphobia, Xenophobia, Religious bigotry, and Injury/Injury detail