Reviews tagging 'Sexual violence'

The Time Of Contempt by Andrzej Sapkowski

28 reviews

belladonnashrike's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious reflective 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

this is definitely my favorite one so far, but I wish there was more written about geralt & ciri’s relationship. I know these characters so well because of the show & what I know about the game, but I feel that their relationship isn’t very fleshed out in what I’ve read so far, even though it’s obvious they care for each other and are a family (including yennefer. yen & geralt’s and yen & ciri’s relationships are clearly defined and have been a focus so far, but I don’t feel the same has happened for geralt & ciri.) perhaps I’ve missed it but I just find it a bit odd. hopefully there’s more with those two in particular in the following books. I still loved this though 

also… why there isn’t a single map in any of these books is BEYOND me. smh 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, War, Blood, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Sexual violence, Body horror, Rape, Vomit, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, and Sexual assault

Minor: Slavery, Cursing, and Torture

winterwoodbooks's review against another edition

adventurous dark medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Blood, Gore, Death of parent, Sexual violence, Death, Rape, and Violence

camoo3032's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.25

The author is a genius at choosing which perspective to write from. It's this creative storytelling that makes it so interesting to read

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Child abuse, Rape, Gore, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Misogyny, War, Death, Sexual harassment, Suicide, Fire/Fire injury, Pedophilia, Sexism, Sexual violence, and Violence

Minor: Self harm, Sexual content, Vomit, Alcohol, Pregnancy, Confinement, Miscarriage, Animal death, Homophobia, Slavery, Death of parent, Kidnapping, and Suicidal thoughts

stephen_welch93's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark medium-paced

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

3.75

The writing style is interesting. A lot of the action happens on the periphery of the narrative. That makes the world feel very alive. A lot happens away from the main characters. But that also makes it very complicated and difficult to keep track of what’s happening. The cast of characters is also very large, so keeping everyone straight can be tough. The plot is interesting and the characters are cool. I definitely want to know what happens next. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Blood, Suicide, Gore, Murder, and War

Moderate: Rape, Trafficking, Violence, Vomit, Xenophobia, Animal death, Torture, Animal cruelty, Alcohol, and Cursing

Minor: Pregnancy, Physical abuse, Self harm, Cannibalism, Genocide, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Fire/Fire injury, Racial slurs, Child abuse, Colonisation, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Excrement, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

tilo's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad 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? Yes

5.0

Wie immer: Unglaublich gute Fantasy und die Story ist fesselnd.
Besonders spannend finde ich nach wie vor wie facettenreich die Charaktere sind, denn hier kommen so viele verschiedene Motive aufeinander, Gruppierungen mit unterschiedlichsten Interessen und trotzdem hat jeder mit jedem irgendwie zu tun, wodurch ein faszinierendes Netz gespannt wurde.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Animal death, Blood, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide, Sexism, Sexual assault, Rape, Death, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, and Murder

Moderate: Racism, Torture, and War

Minor: Grief, Slavery, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Alcohol, Ableism, Cursing, and Vomit

leok's review

challenging dark slow-paced

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

3.0

I'm not sure what's going on here. I really liked the games.over the years, and enjoyed the Netflix series. so, I figured if both A & B are good, then C must be as well. that hasn't been the case so far. these aren't huge books, but I'm finding them difficult to get through them. I'm committed to complete the series, but I might have to walk away from it for a bit.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse and Death

Moderate: Misogyny, Murder, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, and Sexual violence

puzzle_ad's review against another edition

1.0

 So I decided to give this series another shot and boy do I regret it. And the funny thing is I was going to give it 3 stars. Like was it a sexist garbage, yes, but no more so than the previous instalments and I could possibly ignore that for the story right up until the last part and more on that at the end. Overall the structure of this book was really weird. The culmination happened like in the middle and then the rest of the book was weird and downright offensive and disgusting the last 20%, I increased the speed for the audio to like 1.75 for it to be over finally so that I can move on with my life. There was barely any Yennefer or Jaskier in this, and they are mostly the reason I even decided to read the series in the first place. There isn't a single woman in this series that's hasn't been sexually assaulted. Here are my random notes, taken while listening:

• Someone is actually called Fabio lmaoo
• I am at the age where I am very fucking annoyed with stupid teenagers in fantasy, Ciri please everyone wants to kill you be a bit more fucking careful
• The author managing to describe a woman extremely male-gazy from the literal POV of Cirila a child, a talent truly
• Wow the women slut-shaming for the clothes they wear Jesus, and being absolutely disgusting to each other awful.
• The fuck kind of important women obedience is Vilgeforz on about??
• I swear the word contempt is repeated so many times in this book. Like every second page, no I did not fucking forget the book is called Time Of Contempt you can fucking stop beating me over the head with it.
• Wow Ciris entire importance being bottled down to who she marries and her future sons and nothing about her at all is so stupid and sexist.
• The narrator singing is still the most awful thing.
• Oh wow love the "if you rape any women do it quietly" advice simply fucking love that
• This whole spiel about unicorns thinking it's suspicious for older women to be virgins and preferring young virgins is the most ridiculous sexist thing this book has thrown at me yet. Ofc it's female virgins only. Have male virgins ever been offered in sacrifice in any form of media in the world, I am genuinely asking?
• Why the fuck does Ciris crotch hurt?? Uhh I honestly don't want to go back and check anymore, I don't need to know.
• Rapefest in the last 20ish % of the book singlehandedly made this from 3 to 1 star.

So this is what happens in the end:

Ciri is captured by a band of I believe Nifgardian soldiers who threaten to rape her multiple times. She escapes and is rescued by a band of vigilantes. A boy from the band tries to rape her and is stopped by a girl that helped rescue her. And then that same girl proceeds to rape Ciri who finally "resigned" to being raped and even sleeps in the arms of the girl. The next day Ciri is so traumatised she tries to "wash away something that can never be washed away"(this specific part is giving me flashbacks to Mat being raped in Wot) but still she stays with this band. Oh and after that, we are also given a description of how the girl that raped Ciri was also sexually assaulted. Oh and Ciri is fucking 13 this entire fucking time.

Like what the fuck??? What the actual fuck!??! Fuck this book, fuck this series, fuck Andrzej Sapkowski and everything he stands for I am fucking done. I will only watch the show and they can make it as fucking fanfiction and made up as they want I don't fucking care as long as there isn't a sexual assault every 5 min I will be fine. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Infertility, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, and Sexual violence

gameoftomes's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

3.25

3.25 / 5 stars
Very harsh, a lot of players in the game without the needed characterizations or backstories. But I’m a lover of YA fantasy, which is frequently character-driven. 

I understand that in Ciri’s precarious position late in the book that there is a realistic threat of rape. But having Mistle save Ciri from being assaulted only to then have it be very unclear as to Ciri’s consent is too much for me. The text disgusts me: “a warm and wet well of resignation and helpless submissiveness. A disgusting and humiliatingly pleasant submissiveness.” I’m not sure if things were lost in translation, or if that is what the writer considers female consent is. It’s especially disturbing because Ciri is 14 and frequently described as being not far from childhood. I know she’s dealt with a lot in terms of survival and war. I know she’s been trained in violence and combat by witchers. But the unclear consent and circumstances surrounding it just doesn’t feel right. There’s no romance, no lust. Ciri’s not an adult, not in a position of power, barely in a position of safety, and the text quickly moves on from it, showing Ciri being tender with Mistle and being a full member of the gang.

There are a lot of great plot twists and switching allegiances before that. Unfortunately I feel like there isn’t as much of a story payoff as there could be, considering the reader gets very little detail and characterization of the key players beforehand. I think the Netflix adaptation of these storylines could greatly improve upon this narrative and give the viewer a satisfying, thrilling, and enthralling watching experience. Fingers crossed.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Violence, Blood, and Death

Moderate: Xenophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Murder, Animal death, Misogyny, War, and Kidnapping

Minor: Grief, Sexual violence, Suicide, Cursing, Trafficking, Vomit, War, Rape, and Torture

rosehock93's review against another edition

adventurous fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.5

Slow to start but the action picks up about 2/3 of the way through.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual assault

Minor: Sexual violence

bookaholic_in_wonderland's review against another edition

adventurous dark slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual harassment, War, Violence, Vomit, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Physical abuse, Murder, Misogyny, Kidnapping, and Blood

Minor: Cursing and Pedophilia