Reviews tagging 'Homophobia'

Celle qui devint le soleil by Shelley Parker-Chan

87 reviews

klbreyfogle's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark medium-paced

• 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

4.0

I enjoyed it and am going to read the second one! The characters are super morally grey, which can be frustrating when you want to root for them and they do something awful, but it also makes them really interesting to think about! I enjoyed both main characters - I have a little more sympathy for Ouyang’s moral greyness because of his traumatic past but I think I have too much Ma in me to get on board with everything Zhu does. Lots of compelling queerness, which I deeply enjoy! Plenty of action, also lots of politics. Clearly inspired by c-dramas, so if you like those you’ll probably like this.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Death, Homophobia, Sexism, Sexual content, Violence, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Dysphoria, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child death and Slavery

saltyseakitten's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny inspiring reflective sad tense slow-paced

• 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Outing, Sexual harassment, Dysphoria, War, and Injury/Injury detail

hufsatee's review against another edition

adventurous emotional reflective medium-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Homophobia, Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, Murder, and War

leonoor's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional tense medium-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

5.0

What a beautifully written, epic story full of interesting and complex characters. I absolutely loved this book. I'm a sucker for historical novels and I felt so immersed in 14th century China, even though I didn't know anything about this time period before. Apparently it's based on real events, but I don't want to research them just yet because I don't want any spoilers for the second book. Some fantasy aspects were added to the book, but very sparingly, and the end result is a beautiful Chinese drama.

The book explores some very complex themes that aren't often discussed in books, such as the dark side of ambition, self-loathing, the relationship with one's body after a medical procedure, and figuring out gender issues. The queer relationships added extra suspense to the story.

Zhu is an intriguing protagonist, and a bit of an anti-hero. While it's clear that she won't let anything or anyone stop her on her quest for greatness, she still manages to be quite likeable. I enjoy the parallel with Ouyang, who is dealing with similar issues but lacks Zhu's optimism and charm. I'm glad the story switches from Zhu's point of view to that of others regularly, since it adds more depth to the story. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism and Body shaming

Moderate: Death, Homophobia, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, War, and Classism

river_jean_sterling's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad tense medium-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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Blood, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Ableism, Bullying, Child death, Cursing, Homophobia, Slavery, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Dysphoria, and Classism

ivi_reads_books's review against another edition

adventurous emotional medium-paced

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

3.75

Beautiful world building and storytelling. If you like characters who make questionable decisions and like to learn about Chinese history this book is for you.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Homophobia, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Grief

literatehedgehog's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-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

4.0

Magical realism historical military drama... That's sort of a genre, right? But who needs to fit into categories anyway?! 
Take the complex conniving of Shogun (with maybe a pinch of the Godfather?), and the military plotting of Ender's Game, and a gloriously queer adult kind of Mulan, and you might get a taste of this sweeping epic. 
I wouldn't have minded a character list with the map, but I eventually turned the pages so fast I couldn't forget who was who. If you have to pick up and put down this 400 pager often, it may be harder to keep track of who is where and how they last betrayed that other person. 

I'm curious about the second book in this duology, but nervous it will be more court intrigue and sexualized power posturing...

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Homophobia, Slavery, and Violence

Minor: Child death, Torture, and Fire/Fire injury

alexbirdreads's review against another edition

adventurous dark reflective slow-paced

• 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

5.0

M'kay. I can't really put my finger on WHY I rated this one five-stars. It doesn't exactly have what I usually rate a book five stars for. I think I just really love the characters and the drama. I love how morally gray almost everyone is, and how tragic the one morally good character's situation is. Actually, there is an underpinning of tragedy for everyone. The story puts emphasis on the ways that desire can be the root of suffering, and asks what kind of actions are justified when characters are trying to do more than survive in extreme circumstances. I love that betrayals we see coming still hurt your feelings. I also love just how fucking WILD this book is. Zhu in particular is a special kind of crazy. The tragedy that comes from gender nonconformity in a rigidly gendered society is sprinkled throughout the book in ways that you'd expect, but also in corners here and there that you wouldn't. 

I liked that there was room for joyful queer love and joyful gender exploration amid the queer tragedy, because we have a lot of stories of queer suffering. I get that it's important and that there's a place for it (and it certainly had it's place in this book!) but it's nice to have some GOOD. It feels more authentic when a whole spectrum of experiences is represented, and, if anything, the moments of joy make the moments of tragedy feel that much worse afterwards. 

It's a little long and convoluted, and the story is really more about character exploration than direct action, so it might not be for everyone, but I really enjoyed it for some reason. 

It really was kind of crazy, though. Like, 'one-armed dingo ate my heaven-ordained baby' crazy. You gotta love Zhu. But someone get Ouyang a therapist, my god. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Blood, Murder, and War

Moderate: Homophobia, Sexism, and Transphobia

Minor: Child abuse and Child death

leannanecdote's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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

Graphic: Ableism, Body shaming, Bullying, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Slavery

crystalisreading's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional tense

• 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

5.0

Intense.  well written. Compelling.  Wonderful audio narration. Incredibly morally grey characters. Brutal. All the feels. not for the faint of heart. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Homophobia, Infertility, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Sexual content, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, Colonisation, Dysphoria, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism