Reviews tagging 'Torture'

Spice Road by Maiya Ibrahim

16 reviews

cinnamonandpancakes's review against another edition

adventurous emotional fast-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

3.25

Sometimes you read a debut novel and you don't notice until the end. This is not one of those novels. But there are some sparks of excellence in here, the descriptions are fantastic and the world building is really interesting. Unfortunately, the characters were just too frustrating. None of them make any steps along a character arc without taking a step back somewhere else.

For what it's worth, I think a fan of YA Romantasy would likely enjoy this much more than I.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Colonisation, Confinement, and War

Moderate: Animal death

Minor: Sexism, Police brutality, Racism, Alcoholism, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Xenophobia, Child abuse, and Sexual harassment

sophiesmallhands's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation

Moderate: Death, Police brutality, Animal death, Murder, Sexual violence, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, Gore, and Blood

Minor: Torture, Sexual harassment, Child abuse, War, Slavery, Domestic abuse, Death of parent, and Child death

manaledi's review against another edition

adventurous 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

3.5

An interesting magic theory with a good adventure. Might have needed a little more time in Qalia in the beginning to set up the class conflict between characters and why they hold onto beliefs so strongly. Sometimes hits you over the head with the moral questions of duty versus injustice versus family with a fairly brutal look at colonialism. Intrigued to see where we go from here.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Colonisation, Violence, Xenophobia, Animal death, and War

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Murder, Death, Bullying, Injury/Injury detail, and Torture

kirstenf's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

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

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Death, Blood, and Violence

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Domestic abuse, Grief, Emotional abuse, Murder, Classism, Physical abuse, and Slavery

Minor: Bullying, Vomit, War, Fire/Fire injury, Torture, Sexual assault, and Religious bigotry

ashli's review against another edition

adventurous emotional reflective fast-paced

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

4.25

The audiobook version was a delight. I was disappointed mid-read to realize this is part of a trilogy and, at this time, the only book that’s out. Other than that I can absolutely say that my beginning assumptions were only sometimes right. I did wish that the Djinn featured more heavily, but maybe in future books?

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Slavery, Child death, Bullying, Colonisation, Abandonment, Grief, Animal death, and War

Minor: Torture, Domestic abuse, Suicide attempt, Police brutality, and Death

beautifulpaxielreads's review against another edition

adventurous 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? It's complicated

3.5

Maiya Ibrahim's Spice Road - the first in a trilogy - is a novel that for me, worked best in its last 200 pages or so. 

I don't mean to say in this that the rest of it was bad, as it wasn't. Spice Road is a book that I am still trying to work out my feelings for. It took a long time for me to read it - over a month - and that may have had something to do with it.

I can appreciate Ibrahim's intent here, and for what I believe is a debut author, I think - objectively - that she has done some very accomplished work here. The worldbuilding and magic system was reasonably crafted and was well-communicated to the reader. The characters were well-drawn and developed, particularly Imani (our MC), Taha and Qayn. I puzzled over the motives of the latter two of these characters constantly, which I suspect was Ibrahim's intention. The action scenes were fast-paced and contrasted well with the quieter moments between.

Maybe the problem was despite the quality of the worldbuilding, fantasy elements, pacing and characters, I couldn't get into it enough, in a way that I'm really having trouble describing here. I did fly through the last 200 pages because it was compellingly written and really well-paced. But even then, I couldn't really warm up to it.

The ending of the book left me with enough potential to make me consider continuing the series when the next book is released, but I haven't decided yet.

Objectively, Spice Road is a good book. Emotionally, I'm not entirely sure.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Colonisation, Emotional abuse, Murder, Animal cruelty, Racism, Violence, and Blood

Moderate: Torture, Xenophobia, Grief, Medical content, Medical trauma, Sexual violence, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Cultural appropriation and War

espressoreader's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful reflective 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

4.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Racism, Torture, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Bullying, Classism, Colonisation, Gaslighting, Grief, Slavery, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Murder, Sexual assault, Child abuse, Addiction, Confinement, and Police brutality

marleywrites's review against another edition

adventurous emotional 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? Yes

5.0

Ibrahim blew me away with this book. I went in thinking it would be a book I enjoyed, but I didn’t expect to love it as much as I did. The prose was beautiful and unique, and I loooved the pacing of the story. Every fight and chase scene was well choreographed and epic. I felt like I was racing through the streets with Imani. I swear I could feel the wind on my face. 

I see reviews saying the love triangle is boring, but I find it interesting. It’s not crucial to the plot at this point, but I can tell it’s getting set up to be important. I like seeing the relationships fall into place. 

There were a few heartbreaking moments that really drove home the severity of the situation, and I felt my heart break with Imani’s. And at the same time, her joy was my joy. 

And every kiss with Taha was so emotional. I felt that!

If you are squeamish, there are a few gross scenes. There’s an animal death, human deaths, and description of dead bodies. They are impactful scenes, but definitely not for the faint of heart. 

I’m excited to get to know Atheer and Qayn more in the sequels. I think Amira will turn out to be incredibly important as well, as she was quite clever and helpful in this book. I’m also curious to learn more about Taha’s relationship with his father. I’m curious about their auntie as well. 

I’m wondering what the future of this series will be, but I have a feeling it will be awesome and epic. I look forward to the sequel of this trilogy. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, War, Death, Animal death, Violence, Colonisation, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Police brutality, Vomit, Torture, and Murder

Minor: Sexual harassment

Description of decomposing bodies

campisforever's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective 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

5.0

Ao3 Rating: T

5 word description: Lush. Gorgeous. Moving. Poignant. Inspiring.

This is such a lovely book with complex, dynamic characters. Ibrahim's skill with feelings, inspiring us to feel differently about different characters over the course of the story, is simply breathtaking! The story hits the major question at the heart of something like Black Panther--about isolation and solidarity. It marks the difference between an anti/decolonial narrative mediated by a white gaze versus one that isn't. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Colonisation, Death, Grief, Violence, Animal death, Xenophobia, Police brutality, and Slavery

Moderate: Blood, Trafficking, Confinement, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, Medical content, Murder, Sexual assault, and Cultural appropriation

Minor: Torture, War, and Child abuse

All content warnings are in the context of an anticolonial narrative about resistance. It is worth noting that the classism is itself not contained to a colonizer/colonized divide, but a complex discussion of class oppression *within* a colonized society.

betweentheshelves's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious 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

3.5

This was good for a fantasy debut, with an interesting concept, based on Eastern mythologies. Reminded me a little bit of [book:We Hunt the Flame|36492488]. However, I wanted a little more character development and world building. There were pieces of the world that I felt like I was missing, key pieces that would have helped with moving the main plot forward. 

The ending of the book does a good job of setting up a sequel (and maybe potentially more, we shall see!). There's not a whole lot that makes it unique in the area of YA fantasy, outside of the main magic system. I did think that was interesting. It's an enjoyable book, but not one that seems to be super memorable for me.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Colonisation, and Violence

Moderate: Grief, Torture, and War

Minor: Death, Sexual assault, and Addiction