Reviews tagging 'Drug use'

The Spear Cuts Through Water by Simon Jimenez

6 reviews

madradstarchild's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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An epic and intricately woven tale! The delicate balance of alternating perspectives

through time and generations

made this so special. 

Very dark at times, but a worthwhile journey,

its tragic cycle ending with hope, love, and healing for these incredible heroes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Gore, Violence, Grief, Cannibalism, Death of parent, War, Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Religious bigotry, Gaslighting

Minor: Alcoholism, Cancer, Drug use, Homophobia, Sexual content, Suicide, Transphobia, Vomit, Alcohol

gueniverefey's review against another edition

4.5

adventurous dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual content, Slavery, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Dementia, Kidnapping, Grief, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism

babewiththepower's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring sad 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: Complicated

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I read this and then immediately started the audio book. I felt completely immersed in this story. I enjoyed the constant back and forth between 3 perspectives. I also found it interesting that as much violence as there was, I could find empathy with the worst of the abusers. It was also a unique experience for every single character, background included, to have a voice. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Trafficking, Cannibalism, Murder, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism

itshrewsbury's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous challenging dark emotional

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore

Moderate: Ableism, Alcoholism, Animal death, Drug use, Incest, Suicide, Torture, Cannibalism

Minor: Rape

kate_museus's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous dark hopeful 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Confinement, Drug use, Gore, Sexual content, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment

strawb3rrysugar's review against another edition

3.5

challenging dark tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: N/A

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If you're looking for a grand, epic fantasy that's unlike anything you've read before, and you're patient enough for a non-linear reading experience that shifts POVs (and narration styles) and timelines every couple of pages, I recommend this book. It took a good while for me to "get into" it, or to even really know what's going on, but I believe this to be the author's intention - you will have lots of questions and few answers. Also, do look up the TWs ahead of time. This book can get unflinchingly grisly at some points; this does not reflect upon my overall review of the book, but if you can't stomach kind of intense gore, maybe pass on this one. 

As is the case with a lot of 500+ page books, this book plays the long game - you will spend a good portion of it not entirely clued into what's going on. While it starts slow and sometimes lulls in the middle, the third act is excellently crafted. Anyone who loves a gritty, deeply human fantasy would enjoy this.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Violence, Vomit, Grief, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Murder, Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Sexual content

Minor: Drug use

Violence, war, trauma, and ableism are described often and in great detail, as they're core themes to the book. So there's a lot of the above, sometimes depicted cruelly - people in power enjoying the suffering of others to a strong degree. There's also many uses of the word cr*pple, and a sickly talking tortoise that's called "the Defective one." Some of the ableism is directed at mc Keema since he only has one arm. A lot of vomit scenes/mentions. A lot of references to bodily functions in general - piss, poop, and so on. Sexual content includes references to pornographic tablets sold by a street vendor and some sexual interactions with the main two MCs, eventually

culminating into a brief sex scene at the very end

The emperor's treatment of the empress in flashbacks could allude to sexual abuse.