Reviews tagging 'Colonisation'

The Unbroken by C.L. Clark

114 reviews

persephonefoxx's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-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

She was as free now as she ever would be. She could choose what she fought for. She could choose who she was willing to die for

This book has me conflicted - while it tells a story that is both confronting and important, there are elements that fell flat for me. 

This does an amazing job depicting the horrors of war and revolution, and the desperation of people fighting for their lands, their right to be treated as people, their freedom. It is confronting. It is raw. It is very real in its depiction. 

My struggle in this book stems more from the characters. I love a flawed character, it is what makes them real. However, the plot of this book ruminated on the constant backsliding and poor decisions made my Touraine and Luca. And while I believe Touraine completed a character arch, growing and changing (albeit it with constant side switching). Luca almost started and finished in the same place, just with a plethora of poor choices in the middle. 

Lastly, there are intricacies when depicting a coloniser/colonised relationship that I do not believe were hit. I am interested to see how the relationship and romance is handled and develops over the rest of the series. 

TL:DR - What this book has to say is very important. And Clark doesn’t sugar coat the horrors of colonisation and war. However, some marks outside of action and conflicts were missed. I am tentatively going to pick up the next book, and am curious to see if these marks are hit in the sequel. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Vomit, Violence, Colonisation, Blood, War, Death, Gore, and Confinement

Moderate: Torture, Classism, Sexual harassment, and Religious bigotry

Minor: Rape and Gun violence

lady_valhella's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, War, Racial slurs, Colonisation, Genocide, Racism, and Slavery

Moderate: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, and Forced institutionalization

marysunburn's review

hopeful informative inspiring slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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: Grief, Racism, Blood, Deportation, Pandemic/Epidemic, Trafficking, War, Colonisation, Cursing, Death, Genocide, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder

sophiesmallhands's review

adventurous dark emotional sad 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Colonisation, Blood, Slavery, Gore, Religious bigotry, Racism, Violence, Death, War, Chronic illness, Police brutality, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child abuse, Torture, Hate crime, Classism, Kidnapping, Animal death, Vomit, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Cursing

katclaybaugh's review

adventurous hopeful 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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Racism, Violence, Colonisation, and Genocide

Moderate: Ableism, Xenophobia, Slavery, Cannibalism, Death, Torture, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Sexual violence and Sexual assault

heather667's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Injury/Injury detail, Colonisation, Body horror, Death, Gun violence, Pandemic/Epidemic, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Chronic illness, Grief, Police brutality, Racism, Violence, Classism, Cultural appropriation, Torture, and Vomit

Moderate: Animal death, Child abuse, and Excrement

Minor: Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Homophobia, Murder, Sexual assault, Abandonment, and Rape

lady_of_the_labyrinth's review

adventurous dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation and Death

Moderate: Sexual assault and Ableism

mar's review against another edition

dark 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

2.5

this was so mediocre why did u guys lie to me :(

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Violence, Gore, Gun violence, Kidnapping, and Racism

Moderate: Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Pandemic/Epidemic, Ableism, Sexual assault, and Torture

Minor: Vomit and Animal death

lanid's review

dark

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• 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: Colonisation, War, Racism, Police brutality, and Violence

Minor: Blood, Confinement, Death, Gun violence, Pandemic/Epidemic, Sexual harassment, Ableism, and Body horror

sofipitch's review

dark 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? It's complicated

5.0

The characters are interesting, the themes are good. Occasionally explainy or clunky but overall good. Tourraine's struggle to find her place after being displaced from her homeland, the way she is not fully a part of either, and how she keeps fucking up trying to work with either were well done and really hit. Also just fun fucked up romance subplot. Good mommy issues subplot. A lot of the character arcs and work blended really well with the overall plot. How Luca wanted to be "a good ruler" but for so long couldn't see how that conflicted with being a colonialist ruler. The big flaw of this is the default no gender or sexuality power dynamics, because it smooths out the race and colonialism ones, making things less complicated. But regardless still well done especially compared to other stuff I read *cough * Baru Cormorant *cough *What more can I say other than sign me up for the sequel, although I think this would work fine as a stand alone

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Colonisation, Violence, and Gore

Moderate: Racism, Ableism, and Xenophobia

Minor: Cultural appropriation and Chronic illness