Reviews tagging 'Gore'

Celui qui noya le monde by Shelley Parker-Chan

46 reviews

jordiehp's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful tense 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

4.75

Shelley Parker-Chan is dangerously talented. I found my heart aching for characters who are, for all intents and purposes, terrible human beings. Terrible... and yet still human beings. Parker-Chan walks a delicate line of never excusing or justifying the heinous acts of some of these characters. (The characters themselves definitely try, though, and it costs them dearly.)

The Radiant Emperor duology is a beautiful exploration of gender, ambition, grief, and hope. Highly recommend.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Death, Grief, Dysphoria, War, Sexism, Self harm, and Misogyny

Moderate: Murder, Transphobia, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Rape, Physical abuse, Ableism, Homophobia, War, and Violence

Minor: Miscarriage, Dysphoria, Gore, Child death, Torture, Abortion, Injury/Injury detail, Pregnancy, and Slavery

lizziaha's review against another edition

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

good fucking soup. The way that Shelley Parker-Chan writes about people and the relationships they have is just so delicious. I can’t wait to read more from them. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Sexual assault, Death, Misogyny, Murder, Violence, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Self harm, Domestic abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Miscarriage, Homophobia, Ableism, Body horror, Emotional abuse, Grief, Mental illness, Rape, Kidnapping, Child death, Physical abuse, Torture, Sexual violence, and War

Moderate: Confinement, Slavery, Sexual content, Transphobia, Pregnancy, Classism, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Outing

kers_tin's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective 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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Violence, Toxic relationship, Torture, War, Sexual content, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual violence, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Rape, Physical abuse, Child abuse, Murder, Infidelity, Transphobia, Blood, Body horror, Child death, Dysphoria, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, and Grief

Moderate: Outing, Pregnancy, and Homophobia

stephanelli's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense slow-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Grief, Ableism, Blood, Gore, War, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Rape, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, and Torture

Minor: Vomit

leweylibrary's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional tense slow-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

4.75

The deduction is for the slowness which did drag on a little bit in spots, not as much as the first one, but honestly I liked this one so much more than the first one! It's such a good compliment to the first one, it really rounds out a lot of stuff that's set in motion in the first one in such a great way.

I love seeing how the characters have developed and continue to develop, especially Zhu and Ouyung. I love the symbolism with the Mandate of Heaven and it's light and the drowning, and I love how the book approaches and discusses gender identity and expression throughout. 

This one was also definitely much more exciting with the big battles and crazy scenes (I'm NEVER going to forgot

those pickled hands or Zhu convincing her army to drown itself and be resurrected to get through the ghosts to Chu's army

. They really helped keep up the pace of the book overall. Also

Ouyung's ending is so freaking shocking and sad, holy f. He didn't deserve that. But I think it makes sense for the story, like it does really shake Zhu to hear about it and to realize that she could meet a similar fate in not making her own fate come to fruition. </Spoiler>

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Infertility, Blood, Ableism, Gore, Dysphoria, Murder, Miscarriage, Mental illness, Grief, Homophobia, Deadnaming, Child death, Body shaming, Body horror, Death, Sexual content, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, War, Physical abuse, Outing, and Violence

anxieteaandbiscuits12's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional inspiring sad 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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body shaming, Ableism, Murder, Self harm, Violence, War, Body horror, Death, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, and Torture

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Child death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Kidnapping, and Slavery

fijibubbels's review against another edition

3.5

Had beautiful writing in some parts, but the sexual violence was too repetitive and graphic. The ending felt very rushed and incomplete.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Torture, Gore, Rape, Sexual violence, Transphobia, and War

Moderate: Animal cruelty

tangerineflame's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, War, Rape, and Violence

warlocksarecool21's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad 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

4.5

He Who Drowned the World was a stunning conclusion to the Radiant Emperor duology. Shelley Parker-Chan’s writing is beautiful and captivating. I think she does excellent character work, I was fascinated by the major characters even if I didn’t like them. Having the four main perspectives be the four people vying for the throne was such a cool juxtaposition because they all had the same-ish goal but you really got to analyze all their differing motivations. I also really loved that the book explores how a patriarchal society can really fuck somebody up, including how it manifests in misogynistic and homophobic beliefs/practices that infests everything and everyone. It was really interesting to see that on a deeper level when we were presented with our main characters. They all experience the effects of the patriarchal society they live in differently. I especially adore the way the author explores gender in this series, how it’s not a neatly defined thing, but rather a uniquely complex experience. I thought each character’s development over the course of the story was well done, and I liked that for some, their development was a downward spiral. 

I have ✨thoughts✨ about each character that I must share so here they are: 

-Baoxiang was such a fascinating character bc he had such a different skill set than Zhu and Ouyang and it was interesting to see the political maneuvering of what he was doing.

Watching him grapple with his gender expression and sexuality was very interesting to read, even if it was uncomfortable at times. I thought the shift of his personality from being sharp and cunning to spiraling into grief and desperation was so chilling to read. <Spoiler>I loved how in the last section he realized that his anger and revenge did nothing to change the past, that all it was hurting was himself. 

-I’m going to talk about Zhu and Ouyang at the same time bc they had such a strong connection in the book. I was obsessed with their dichotomy of how they are the same kind of person but they both make choices that alter their destiny. The idea that they were running the same parallel course but they ultimately went different ways. Ouyang’s journey broke my heart, because all he needed was for someone to show him understanding and love, that he wasn’t broken. He kind of got that with Zhu but he was so far gone that he couldn’t accept that he was deserving of those things. That in order to fulfill his revenge he also had to suffer. And Zhu, who had that same driving ambition to defeat the Khan, but instead of believing that her path was finished beyond that, she took the world and made it her own.

At the end, when she made the choice that the world does not need to be harsh and unforgiving, that she could move into the future without causing anymore pain was so good, I loved that that was her conclusion. After all she went through I’m glad she decided that violence and anger could be things of the past.

 

I have one thing to say about Madame Zhang: her character was so excellent, I hated her like actually despised but I still felt so bad for her. she was so strong in a society that was brutal towards women and I really liked the exploration of feminine rage and the performance that women have to put on to survive in a society like this. 

In regards to the plot, I thought it was really cohesive, all the different sections and viewpoints really worked to bring about the end. There were certain chapters that I thought could’ve been condensed but I still think it worked. I did think that when

Ouyang killed the Khan and Baoxiang came out and revealed he was controlling everything and that Ouyang’s sacrifice was for nothing was a little underdeveloped. Like I fully believe that Baoxiang was responsible for manipulating all this and I knew that he was moving all the pieces together, but I wish we got more in his pov about this specific reveal. 

While I was really happy to see that Ma had such a vital role in helping Zhu become emperor at the end, I was a little sad she wasn’t as important in the rest of the book. I really like her and how strong she is in her convictions about life and if she was involved from the start she would’ve had everyone in line 😂. And I adore her relationship with Zhu they deserved more moments together.

If you read all of this, then congratulations 😂. This duology was really well done and is definitely worth a read (it’s really brutal though so watch out). 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Gore, Self harm, Sexual content, Death, Dysphoria, Torture, Blood, Child death, Injury/Injury detail, War, Body shaming, Homophobia, Murder, Grief, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Violence, and Rape

gracewiley's review against another edition

dark sad tense 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Grief, Homophobia, War, Ableism, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Self harm, and Gore