Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

The Women's War by Jenna Glass

9 reviews

em815ily's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional fast-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

4.75


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pellepanda's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny inspiring reflective sad 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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maddness22's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional 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? It's complicated

5.0

Amazing, amazing, amazing book. The world-building and introduction of the magic system is one of the best I've read in a fantasy. I thoroughly enjoyed all of the storylines but Ellin was probably my favorite. And THAT ENDING. I WAS SCREAMING. What hell! What THE hell! My goodness! I haven't had my attention captured so deeply by a fantasy in a long time. I started reading this at 6PM on Saturday night and couldn't put it down until I finished around 8PM Sunday night. I wish it explored more of the "Curse" 's impact on the lower class and with LGBTQ+ folks, but hopefully the sequels give those areas that focus. I also low-key wish that it didn't focus so much on the romance aspects but obviously the biggest impact the Curse would have would be on romantic relationships and the dynamics there. 

I'll definitely be reading the sequel when I can! I still can't believe that ending my god!

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jenna36's review against another edition

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dark emotional slow-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? Yes

4.0

I really enjoyed this book! It was definitely a slow, politically heavy read, but the writing was fairly simplistic and easy to understand. I actually wish that the author had used a little more subtlety in the dialogue. Often characters would say exactly what they meant with very little to no subtext. Everyone always seemed to understand what everyone else was thinking. That meant that there were not many surprises in the book, although that isn't necessarily a terrible thing (I am a huge critic of the misunderstanding trope). Although that meant that it hit even harder on the rare occasion there was a surprise. I was going to wait a while before moving on to the second book, but after that ending (!!!) I think it is going to be the next book I pick up. I really like all but one of the main characters, so I'm excited to see what happens next. I also believe that a lot of the issues I had will probably get better as the author gains experience writing in this world. 

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nightowl22's review

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5


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thoughtsstained's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

Likes

  • STRONG “fuck the patriarchy” vibes. That had to be hands down my favorite aspect of this book. While it was really hard to read about how women were treated–often poorly, with abuse and neglect and judged as inferior not rare occurrences–it was also super empowering as some of our characters began to fight back, as the bricks of these patriarchal societies began to get torn down and how inspiring these women were. I’ve been ready to smash the patriarchy for a while now, but after reading this? I was vibrating and unable to sleep.
  • How emotionally invested I got. I got really emotionally invested in some of these characters, Alysoon and her family, in particular. It’s because of that invested that I literally read the last 200+ pages in one sitting and resigned myself to stay up until 1am to see how this ended. But also, FUCK Delnamal. Like, fuck him to the highest degrees possible. He’s like Joffery, but worse.
  • The ending. I can only speak in GIFs to respond to how I am feeling about that ending:

Dislikes

  • Hard to keep track of who is who. I definitely struggled throughout this for most of the book. We have a lot of POVs and many different players within this–which makes complete sense for the political narrative that it is–yet I struggled to keep up with who was who, and how they all fit together in the larger scheme of things.
  • Fatness equated to evil. This upset me a great deal, because why was this a thing? A few characters, including Delnamal, who are depicted as vile and evil because of the thing they have done, yet another aspect that is included to help “confirm” his evilness is definitely his being fat. This is mentioned multiple times and, considering there is no positive fat rep, that’s the obvious conclusion that’s being drawn. Which, as a fat person who is in recovery for ED, that was…not great to read.
  • Where do queer people fit into this world? I was also really disappointed that we’re presented with a novel that is labeled as a feminist fantasy that…doesn’t include any queer people anywhere, nor any clues on how they fit into this world? Like, c’mon loves, seriously?

Rating

Obviously, this was a mixed book for me! I really enjoyed the vibes and seeing women grow into power and fight back against oppressive systems, but the negative fat representation and lack of diversity in other ways–not to mention reading a book that is on-the-page oppressive towards women–challenged any attempts to fall completely in love with it. However, I did enjoy it enough (and was floored enough by the ending) to want to continue reading this series! 

I rate this 3 out of 5 gems!


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catvackarian's review against another edition

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adventurous dark tense slow-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? No

2.0


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the_wendybirb's review

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dark inspiring tense medium-paced
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

This was a self indulgent read for me, about women taking their own power in a patriarchal world. It can be rather ham-fisted and isn't subtle, but it was fun, and a book I plan on reading again the next time I'm frustrated about modern politics. :-)

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kayo32's review

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adventurous emotional tense fast-paced
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5


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