Reviews tagging 'Slavery'

The Invasion of the Tearling by Erika Johansen

9 reviews

jamalee's review

adventurous dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Trafficking, Rape, Self harm, Slavery, Pedophilia, and Sexual violence

katrinarose's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious reflective fast-paced

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

3.0

Another three star rating for the second book. Again, I did enjoy this book but its’ problems were too big for me to go up another star. First the good: I like Lily’s point of view and always found myself looking forward to her perspective. I enjoyed learning about the world before the crossing and trying to predict how the crossing would happen. The writing style was straightforward yet engaging and kept me picking the book back up even in slow parts. However, the magic made no sense. The sapphires seem to play a big part of the magic system since that’s how Kelsea has power yet it’s never explained in a way that justifies their power. It almost seems like Kelsey all of a sudden is unstoppable which makes her decisions even more questionable. The villain(s) were also very weak and unbelievable which kind of made the whole Kelsea storyline weaker. I have hope that the last book will really pull everything together but I can’t say at this point that I’d recommend this series to anyone, even though I have enjoyed it for the most part.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Death, Gun violence, Sexism, Sexual assault, Torture, Violence, Rape, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Sexual violence, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Racism, Domestic abuse, Kidnapping, Medical content, Slavery, Xenophobia, Child abuse, Classism, Blood, and Cursing

mazomazli's review against another edition

medium-paced

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

2.5

I’m really not sure how I made it to the end and still want to read the next book. I found a lot of the worldbuilding to be the main reason I kept going because I want to know how things came to be. However this book is very much packed full with triggering content, often done carelessly and thrown in for what feels like shock factor. The main character is not likable at all, though I’ve never liked her to begin with. Here are the following that the author did that doesn’t sit right with me: 
- constant obsession with beauty equaling goodness and fat phobia (only when the main character loses weight and magically takes on someone else’s appearance is she pretty) and the other evil queen would never be beautiful. How tragic to be ugly I suppose. 
- one of the most graphic homophobia scenes I’ve ever read. A gay church member is castrated and his wound is left to get infected. There was no reason to put this in. There’s no commentary it’s just to show how evil the new church leader is
- graphic rape and constant sexual assault. Graphic domestic violence in full detail. Repeatedly. 
- graphic self harm that is also deeply concerning because it seems the main character is always reopening her wounds by the slightest movements. There was no need to describe her start into it. 
- bizarre portrayal of a woman with albinism being magical and wicked and very sexual…?! That was deeply uncomfortable and I think ableist
- stereotypical orientalism with describing a neighboring king of having a harem with 20+ wives and how the main character was offered to be the highest rank
- improper “seizure” care where they held down the MC and put things in her mouth - huge no’s 
- slavery is used as a casual tool 
And so much more. 

Jonathan deserved better than to meet an end of self sacrifice. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Sexual harassment, Torture, Fatphobia, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Classism, Body horror, Domestic abuse, Rape, Hate crime, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Death, Blood, Homophobia, Self harm, and Violence

Moderate: Slavery, Vomit, War, Ableism, Abortion, Dysphoria, Animal death, and Racism

audreyshreve's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape and Sexual violence

Moderate: Slavery, Homophobia, and Trafficking

Minor: Pedophilia

kalmia31's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Violence, War, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Blood, Hate crime, Homophobia, Religious bigotry, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, and Trafficking

Moderate: Addiction, Fire/Fire injury, Abortion, Infertility, Child abuse, Gaslighting, Pedophilia, Kidnapping, and Slavery

imds's review

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

3.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Sexual violence, Religious bigotry, Police brutality, Rape, Child abuse, War, Misogyny, Slavery, Physical abuse, Incest, Gun violence, Trafficking, Domestic abuse, Self harm, Violence, Death, and Confinement

Moderate: Racism

sabrina22's review

Things became incredibly quick and difficult to follow. Also there was a lot of unnecessary character development that revolves around self harm. Didn’t enjoy the jump between time periods or the chapter were

three separate men visited her chambers in one chapter

Also the length of the chapters bothered me 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery and Trafficking

Moderate: Self harm

smashlyn09's review

adventurous reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Drug abuse, Medical content, Physical abuse, Rape, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Slavery, and Trafficking

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, and Drug use

cawaza's review

dark mysterious tense

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

2.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm

Moderate: Slavery and Rape

Minor: Pedophilia, Physical abuse, and Domestic abuse