Reviews tagging 'Sexual content'

Celui qui noya le monde by Shelley Parker-Chan

73 reviews

nikenacs's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional inspiring tense slow-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Violence, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Blood, Rape, Vomit, Animal cruelty, Sexism, Animal death, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Death, Self harm, Pregnancy, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Abortion, Miscarriage, and Infertility

ysary's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense slow-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? It's complicated

4.5

I loved this book! 
The plot is amazing with a lot of twist and turn where you don't expect it. Seeing all the POV of the different Mandates makes you root for each of them and want to scream at the other when they fall into their traps. It's a very gruesome book with a lot of detailed violence that made me sometime have to take a minute before continuing reading.

In the end I knew I wanted Zhu to win but I had no idea how she would do it, everything was against her. Some of her action where more than questionable and some of them I did not understand but all of it is for the greater good. She scarified so much to get her empire but was it worth it? To me it wouldn't and I love that she also as moments of doubt because I was right there with her.

I usually don't like military books but I could not put this one down because more than armies they  are people and they aren't just fighting for power but for their future. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Misogyny, Violence, Blood, Classism, Death, Racism, Injury/Injury detail, Self harm, War, Gore, and Sexism

Moderate: Sexual content and Homophobia

Minor: Abortion

erinreadsbooks's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful 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? Yes

4.5

Wow. A surprising but also seemingly fateful end to this epic duology. There were several moment in this book that made me audibly gasp in horror at the brutality and gruesomeness of the characters’ actions, but nothing felt out of place or inserted for shock value. The events build on each other until the tension feels almost too much and you are wondering if what you felt was fated to happen this whole time might not actually occur. There were some lulls that felt a bit drawn out but overall I was just as rapt and invested as I was in the first book. It didn’t feel like a second book but rather a natural second part to the first, and the ending was satisfying.

Although the story ending with Zhu on the throne feels inevitable and does not come as a surprise, the path taken and the characters you get to know along the way are richly developed and interesting, which keeps the reading experience interesting and worthwhile.

It didn’t seem to matter that I never truly grasped the movement of the armies or the complete geography—the focus on the characters and their motivations and interactions was engaging on its own and the characters’ intertwined arcs were logical, satisfying, and moving. 

Read if you like sweeping  political drama and brutal historical fantasy. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Death, Ableism, Misogyny, Sexual content, Sexism, Violence, Murder, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Physical abuse, and Rape

Moderate: Homophobia, Torture, and Bullying

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Trafficking, Body shaming, and Blood

shibh's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense 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

5.0

A bittersweet end to the duology. These books look at gender and the human experience of it in a way that has left me feeling exposed and crying. In a good way though.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual harassment, Slavery, Violence, Grief, Physical abuse, Self harm, Injury/Injury detail, Abandonment, Animal death, Homophobia, Body shaming, Classism, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Medical content, Sexual assault, Ableism, Animal cruelty, Bullying, Domestic abuse, Murder, Abortion, Confinement, Genocide, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Rape, Lesbophobia, Addiction, Misogyny, Child death, Colonisation, Dysphoria, Gore, Infertility, Pregnancy, Blood, Body horror, Cursing, Death, Infidelity, Toxic relationship, Child abuse, Pandemic/Epidemic, War, Vomit, Xenophobia, Sexism, Transphobia, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, and Torture

wtheriac's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense fast-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

4.5

An excellent follow up to finish the duology. I loved the story even as this entry focused a lot more on sex-as-politics/power and had a lot of scenes that technically are not consensual sexual encounters according to modern definitions.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Domestic abuse, Racism, and Murder

moonmisandrist's review against another edition

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

4.0

What a book. 

Shelley Parker-Chan is an amazing writer, the world they have created is alive and so dark (much darker than I anticipated (or was comfortable with at times!), and the characters fully reflect the story they exist in. Before reading the book, for some silly reason, I was worried about this one having such a focus on Baoxiang (sorry I love Ouyang and Zhu a lot). Unsurprisingly SPC proved me <i>soo</i> wrong. Baoxiang the man that you are... 

I really loved spending time with all the characters in the first book again - apart from Baoxiang though, I did not care for one other new major POV character unfortunately. 

While I was reading this book, I had a great time. I ate it up and let myself feel all the emotions along with the characters. Overall I had a great reading experience (except for one scene). Once finished, my heart and brain recovered, and here are some thoughts.

Loved: the characters, the overall story/journey, Ma (best character), commentary/portrayals of gender, the grief is never-ending but so is the love. and my god the YEARNING in this book.

Disliked/questioning: the pacing, the conclusion of what it is to be feminine, the explicit darkness of some scenes - including the over represtation of some dark themes, and the ending feeling a bit sudden and underdeveloped. 

- The pacing and tone of the book jumped around a lot. At the start it felt too slow, then it was all too quick. Paired with the jump from a very intense dark scene to characters doing...very little in another chapter made it feel hard to stay grounded in the story.

-How sex was used in the story. Much of the story involves politics. Of course, sex will be involved in a royal court setting. Unfortunately, I struggled to understand what SPC was trying to say about sex (and sexual violence) with this story. And at worst, I landed with the feeling that (vague spoilers)

everyone who is 'feminine' (with the understanding that gender is different to us all, and femininity is not a confined easily to describe concept!) must use sex as a tool - in fact, it may be the only tool you have, as every major character in this book (save one??) used sex to gain power in this series with their femininity. I would have much rather preferred one or two characters to have done so, while the others did not, as this creates a discussion about society and power and the characters themselves. For everyone to be doing it...leaves me feeling quite disillusioned. Especially Zhu's scene...

- A new POV Character (major spoilers)

I am still unsure of Madame Zhang's place in the story. I think I will be thinking about her for a long time, and while I do not hate her, I found it hard to care for her/her motives. In many ways, I think she could have existed as a character in Baoxiang narrative without being a POV character. I feel much that she does/happens to her could have been inferred/uncovered by Baoxiang and it'd further show how isolated he is - we'd have no insight into his world save his POV scenes. It goes without saying, the sexual assault scene, is a lot. And as I couldn't understand her character, I feel like I don't have the 'closure' of that scene or its purpose.

Once again I must say how much I enjoyed the initial journey I went on with this series. I will reread one day, and I look forward to revisiting my thoughts. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape and Self harm

Moderate: Violence and Sexual content

grace_b_3's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective 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: Torture, Rape, Murder, Grief, Violence, Transphobia, Sexual content, Self harm, Infidelity, War, Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, and Gore

saphfics's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-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

5.0

This book really managed to outshine the first book in many ways. From adding new interesting POVs to really diving deep into the themes of gender expectations and gender performance. 

It can feel very slow at times but that is because puzzle pieces are moving all the time. I feel like it needed like a couple of pages more at the end because it felt to me that the story stopped very abruptly. However, I think that the ending still does justice to everyone's character arc.

I would warn anyone to really look at the content warnings because it really is dark at times. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Rape, Self harm, Ableism, and Death

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Sexual content and Suicidal thoughts

spec_tacles's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective 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

5.0

After She Who Became The Sun, I knew I would love this, but i’m still shocked by how much. I was just as immersed in this one, despite different perspectives, and the emotional payoff was huge. 

This is a 5-star read, no question. If I were Shelley Parker-Chan, I would feel so proud to have created such a dynamic work of art.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Transphobia, War, Body shaming, Death, Kidnapping, Medical content, Self harm, Child death, Grief, Emotional abuse, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Classism, Homophobia, Medical trauma, Sexism, Bullying, Murder, Slavery, Torture, and Misogyny

Moderate: Sexual content, Sexual assault, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Pregnancy and Chronic illness

Most content warnings come from the fact that the story is about war, but it’s still challenging regardless, especially the torture.

chroniquesdekellen's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, Domestic abuse, Death, Grief, Homophobia, Dysphoria, Murder, Self harm, Pregnancy, Blood, and Outing