Reviews tagging 'Slavery'

Sabriel by Garth Nix

21 reviews

samanthalh's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore

Minor: Slavery

naomi_k's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Death, Violence, and Gore

Moderate: Death of parent and Slavery

limiwh'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? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, and Death of parent

Moderate: Murder, Slavery, and Violence

Minor: Vomit and Animal death

babudarabu's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Death, and Murder

Moderate: Blood, Death of parent, and Body horror

Minor: Child death, Animal death, Alcohol, and Slavery

shieldbearer's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious fast-paced

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

3.0

I really liked this one more than I expected. The worldbuilding is superb, and the magic system is extremely interesting. However, loses points for a few unnecessary lines and the weird Vibes that were in the last confrontation with Kerrigor

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Violence, and Death of parent

Moderate: Body horror, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Confinement, and Slavery

Minor: Animal death, Vomit, Child abuse, Gun violence, Infidelity, Sexual assault, Alcohol, Pregnancy, and Sexual content

Death- the entire book is centered around necromancy,

Sabriel dies at the beginning and end, her father dies, the officer from the start of the book, Touchstone describes the death of his Queen, many unnamed characters and slaves die,

, Violence- people are slashed and impaled, the army uses bayonets at one point, Child death-

Sabriel, at the beginning and end, though it doesn't take. Some of her classmates die. Unnamed children are implied to die as part of being used as bait.

Death of parent-

Sabriel's mother dies in childbirth, Sabriel's father dies at the end

Body Horror- some of the dead spirits have bodies or forms that are warped- mouths too wide, arms too long that drag, etc. Injury-

Sabriel gets bruised severely, stabbed through the stomach, Touchstone breaks a leg

Fire- a spirit in the form of flame appears a few times Confinement-

Touchstone is confined in a wooden figurehead

Slavery- a few scenes where the dead use living slaves or where humans force children to be their decoys when scavenging in the dead areas,

Mogget is enslaved by his collar

. Child abuse- aforementioned child slaves Sexual content- Sabriel admires a naked male and hears a couple having sex through the wall of her room Sexual assault- the

villain forces a kiss on Sabriel

Pregnancy- Sabriel's mother dies in childbirth at the start of the novel, Infidelity-

Touchstone is the bastard son of the Queen

Vomit- Sabriel feels she may vomit at one point Alcohol- characters consume beer Animal death- Sabriel feels an animal die, hunted by its natural predator Gun Violence-

the army combats the dead with guns

bearystarry's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Vomit, Animal death, Body horror, Death, and Gore

Moderate: Death of parent

Minor: Child death, Slavery, and Child abuse

nonidude's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder and Death

Moderate: Violence

Minor: Animal death, Slavery, and Death of parent

skai's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Slavery, War, Violence, Murder, Grief, Death of parent, Death, and Child abuse

Minor: Vomit

starry_ayed's review against another edition

0.25

I told myself I could forgive Sabriel for everything I hated in her,

if she simply freed Mogget at the end of the book. But the writing never required her to acknowledge that Mogget was right to hate her and her whole rotten family. Instead Sabriel's mind twisted the further the story went, bending to justify Mogget's enslavement. It reminded me of what became of Mrs Auld, after she was forbidden from teaching little Freddy Douglass to read. I wished like burning that Mogget could escape, that he could disappear, and become his own being again. I saw how Sabriel was impatient and irritated with Touchstone when he spoke submissively to her; how she loathed Mogget for speaking familiarly with her, or even being the slightest bit rude; how she had no reflexive gratitude to him; how she was even relieved by his apparent death. The ending brought me to tears. Mogget is put on par with rotten-hearted Kerrigor, who bled his own mother dead, who sought to poison the spring of magic for his own sake - their defeat is synchronised, Mogget's re-enslavement celebrated. For me this poisons the whole of this world, kills dead any interest I had in continuing this series. I can have no love in my heart for white slavers.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery

bencaroline's review against another edition

adventurous dark reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.5

This book disappointed me, to be honest! I read the series as a kid and remember really enjoying it but it didn't pull me in nearly as much as I expected or hoped.

This is one of many fantasy worlds in which bloodline is not only relevant but sacred, and can we be done with that bullshit please? And while we're at it let's abolish forced hetero romance that there's no established reason to care about, also present in this book.

That being said, I still appreciated the way this book explores death and its meaning and its fantasy possibilities, and while the heteronormativity is pretty major, this seems to be a world with very little gender bias or sexism. I'm looking forward to rereading the rest of the series.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, and Gore

Moderate: Animal death, Violence, Suicidal thoughts, Slavery, Trafficking, Murder, and Body horror

Minor: Vomit, Torture, and Adult/minor relationship