Reviews tagging 'Sexual violence'

The Wolf in the Whale by Jordanna Max Brodsky

15 reviews

emakay's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Sexism, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Confinement, Domestic abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Death of parent, Outing, Colonisation, and War

kabookworm's review against another edition

I really liked the beginning, like really liked the beginning, but a quarter of the way through it just became a bummer. I kept going bc things will get better, right? The foreshadowing was enticing, so I figured it’d be worth it in the end. 

Then new characters are introduced, and with them came transphobia, truly awful SA (not that there’s any other kind), and explicit sexual scenes that frankly I didn’t want to read or need to read. No amount of foreshadowing could convince me to continue. 
 
I had heard really good things about this book, and I want to support stories with diverse casts, but I simply felt like garbage reading it. It’s a no from me. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Transphobia, and Outing

bookishthots's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful 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? It's complicated

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Violence

Moderate: Body shaming, Sexism, Transphobia, and Blood

Minor: Death, Gore, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Xenophobia, Excrement, Vomit, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Pregnancy

claudiamacpherson's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful inspiring 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? It's complicated

4.5

Omat has her foot in two worlds: born with her father's spirit in her woman's body, Omat is destined to follow in her grandfather's footsteps as an angakuk, a link between the Inuit and the spirits. When tragedy strikes, Omat must go on a journey to save her family. Along the way, she meets gods—both Inuk and Viking—and finds help in unlikely places.

4.5 stars

Wow. I absolutely loved this book: the history, the mythologies, the hero's journey...it was all told so beautifully! Please check the trigger warnings for this book, though:

I had some trouble with the rape scenes (one is part of the Inuk mythology, one happens to Omat) as well as some of the hunting/animal violence (though it's all very respectful of the animals, it was a bit graphic).

I really liked learning about the Inuit and Vikings, because I honestly never really learned much about this period of history. I also liked how Brodsky described Omat's two-spirit identity (I used she/her pronouns for Omat while writing this because they are used in the book's description).

Happy ending meter (no specific spoilers, just my judgement of how happy the ending is because I always wish someone would tell me that before I read books):

Happy!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Death, Violence, and Blood

Moderate: Incest, Rape, Sexual violence, and Death of parent

Minor: Pregnancy

dreamybee's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder

Moderate: Animal death, Rape, and Sexual violence

There is a fair amount of brutality in this book—some of it due to the evil that people do and some of it due to the reality of survival in a harsh environment—but I don’t think it overshadows the overarching story of individual determination. I enjoyed the look at life in the Arctic as well as the blending of mythologies that brought this story together.