Reviews tagging 'Torture'

The Spear Cuts Through Water by Simon Jimenez

110 reviews

brynalexa's review against another edition

3.0

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-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: Complicated

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Here’s the thing: I can tell this is a wonderful book, but I just couldn’t pay attention. The characters did not click for me, and the structure was difficult to understand via audiobook. I also think, half of the middle section could have been cut out. 

The setting was vivid and complex, the characters, diverse, and the plot mysterious. But overall, not for me. 

I wouldn’t say no to trying it again in print, we will see. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Gore, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism

twistykris's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective 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: Death, Violence, Cannibalism

Moderate: Ableism, Animal death, Child abuse, Sexual content, Torture, Blood, War, Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Child death, Sexual assault, Suicide

cjblandford's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous challenging emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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This is a true masterwork and is composed like a piece of music, a love story told in layers upon layers and I'm still stunned by it 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Suicide, Torture, Vomit, Cannibalism, War

theluckiestlucy's review against another edition

2.25

challenging dark reflective slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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I was NOT expecting the sheer volume of violence. Including...A Lot of cannibalism. That did sour a lot of the experience for me. I thought the writing was interesting in a way I hadn't seen before, but the plot was not compelling or cohesive enough to keep me interested enough.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Gore, Torture, Violence, Blood, Cannibalism, Murder

Moderate: Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Vomit, War

magzanilla's review against another edition

3.5

adventurous dark emotional hopeful reflective 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: Yes

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It deleted our long review just as we finished it because of writing it on glitchy mobile... 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Torture, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Grief, Cannibalism, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Gaslighting, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism

Moderate: Ableism, Homophobia, Misogyny, Sexual content, Abandonment

Minor: Incest

There is a lot of descriptions of cruelty, especially from the corrupt royal family that have powers. They do things like torture and kill people (including children) as their normal baseline. Abuse and mind control/brain washing and war and locking family members up and dying are a Thing. For example, The second terror has the power to will others to do as he commands. So he attempts to get someone to commit violent incest, but this doesn't actually happen. He does, however, get to command all kinds of other messed up things for his amusement. A lot of ableist slurs because one of the major characters is an amputee in a society that heavily stigmatizes amputation as a form of punishment. And another character was heavily shunned, neglected, and mentally regressed / animalistic, so he is often compared to a child/childe. Tbh, should just assume that all the content warnings appear in some form or another.

thejval's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous challenging reflective tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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This book was absolutely incredible. It took me a few pages to settle into how it is written, stylistically unique from anything I’ve read before, but once there it was hard to set this one down. The way the structure brought the plot, characters, and reader together was unforgettable. I love a good fantasy novel, and this one had everything I needed in it. There are some important content warnings to check for, but it’s so worth it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Torture, Violence, Blood, War

Moderate: Child abuse, Confinement, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Sexual content

aurora4847's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous dark mysterious sad 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: Yes

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I was very confused about this book before I listened to it, it was nothing like I expected it to be! I anticipated a run-of-the-mill story with some interesting narrative devices, but this was truly like nothing else I've ever read. It was confusing at first, but by the end of the first day I was deep in it. I loved the little interjections from the background characters especially. It was a lot darker than I expected, which wasn't bad but caught me a bit off guard, especially with regards to

The Defect

and the

cannibalism

. I think if I completely engulfed myself into the book I would've gotten way more out of it and appreciated it a lot more than I did, but even a more surface-level read was very enjoyable!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Death, Gore, Sexual assault, Torture, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Grief, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism

Moderate: Child abuse, Confinement, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Rape, Slavery, Suicide, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Abandonment, Alcohol

Minor: Body horror, Domestic abuse, Pregnancy

This book is dark, but also things go by quick enough that you don't linger in all the horrible things. There are multiple scenes of cannibalism, from both POVs. People are mind-controlled, including to do harmful or sexual things against their will. There's a lot of upsetting stuff that happens to sentient tortoises.

directorpurry's review against another edition

4.5

adventurous dark emotional 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: Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Cannibalism, War, Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Ableism, Rape, Vomit, Fire/Fire injury

astrangewind's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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The Spear Cuts Through Water is one of those books that changes you. When you finish the book, and set it down, it demands silence, the story hanging over you.

I wish I could say something more interesting than this: it's beautiful. It's a rich tapestry of each life and their connections to each other and the world, weaving together each moment into something at once eternal and fleeting. It's melodic and intimate, utterly profound, transformative. And best of all, it's queer. 

I won't forget this book anytime soon. Thank you, Simon, for writing it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Blood, Murder, War

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Sexual content, Cannibalism, Classism

Minor: Alcoholism, Child death, Confinement, Genocide, Gore, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Vomit, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail

readandfindout's review against another edition

4.25

adventurous medium-paced

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Style/writing: 5 stars
Themes: 4 stars
Characters: 4 stars
Plot: 4 stars
Worldbuilding: 4.5 stars

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Grief, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Murder, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism

Minor: Sexual assault, Suicide