Reviews tagging 'Sexual violence'

The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo

7 reviews

aseel_reads's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

I don't really know how I feel about this? 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Religious bigotry and Torture

Moderate: Antisemitism, Physical abuse, Lesbophobia, Homophobia, Violence, Sexual violence, Death, Sexual assault, Sexism, Sexual content, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder

sillyhumantricks's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Antisemitism, Sexual violence, Emotional abuse, Racism, Mental illness, Slavery, and Religious bigotry

Minor: Torture and Violence

frmeden's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious 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? N/A

4.5

picture me reading the ending on the bus with my heart in my fucking throat

leigh bardugooo you have so much talent, it felt like spain was honestly a whole other character in this book and so much love and care was given to every character, no matter how minor, that i was deeply invested in how each of their stories wrapped up

doesn’t quite join the ranks of six of crows but they’re not really the same story so probably incomparable? but it wrapped up so bittersweet and final and lovely. i liked this a lot

santángel you will always be famous and sexy

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Religious bigotry, Torture, Xenophobia, Blood, Forced institutionalization, Hate crime, and Body horror

Moderate: Death of parent and Sexual violence

riththewarluid's review against another edition

dark emotional medium-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? Yes

3.5

I enjoyed The Familiar quite a bit, but I would not call it Bardugo’s best work. She shines in world building and historical research, which comes through in this book, but for me there was a disjunct between that historical world building and the effect this world had on the main characters. They felt like they were existing in this lush world but not being truly affected by it in any way. I’m think in particular about how religious belief features in the world and is presented as an important facet of the main characters identity but it never seems to really come to any conclusion and even seems to drop off in importance with no explanation. So while I enjoyed it a lot and would recommend it for people interested in a dark alternate history set in the Spanish Inquisition, don’t go into this expecting very much character development from the main two characters; also the romance is extremely rushed and not really fleshed out or explored at all, and that was disappointing. The two main characters are so different and complicated and difficult and I wanted so much more from their relationship. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Religious bigotry, Violence, Murder, Torture, and Death

Moderate: Sexual violence and Sexual content

soniajoy98's review

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Classism, Religious bigotry, Murder, Antisemitism, Abandonment, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Misogyny, Death of parent, and Sexism

Moderate: Mental illness, Torture, Gore, Islamophobia, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Physical abuse, Sexual harassment, Violence, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Alcohol, Sexual violence, Grief, Biphobia, Ableism, Confinement, Infidelity, Lesbophobia, Infertility, and War

uranaishi's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful mysterious 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? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Religious bigotry, Torture, Injury/Injury detail, Slavery, and Confinement

Moderate: Death, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Abandonment, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Gore, Murder, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Alcohol, Blood, Classism, Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexism, and Violence

Minor: Pregnancy, Vomit, Antisemitism, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Medical content, Bullying, Child abuse, Colonisation, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Xenophobia, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Body shaming, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual assault, Terminal illness, War, Outing, Homophobia, and Rape

magpiereading's review

adventurous dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

Fantastic. 

I feel like I overuse the word lush but I really mean it this time! The jewels! The velvet! The feasts! A similar premise, on its face, to Shadow and Bone  (a woman of seemingly little importance and value is foisted out of poverty by a mysterious powerful figure and she has to quickly determine which of the new, powerful people around her mean to harm, help, or manipulate her) but that’s about it. I had to pace myself because I knew it was going to be good and once I finished I’d have to wait however many years for her next book

the ending didn’t fully make sense to me, I lost track of how this magic worked to save them both and break the curse but I don’t care because I would have lost my mind if the ending wasn’t HEA

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture

Moderate: Sexual violence