Reviews tagging 'Colonisation'

Chainbreaker by Tara Sim

6 reviews

colorcrystals's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Murder, Blood, Colonisation, Misogyny, Racism, Homophobia, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Confinement and War

monniebiloney's review against another edition

adventurous emotional lighthearted mysterious 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? No

4.0

I enjoyed this book over all more then the first book, but I disliked how it ended in a cliffhanger. 
In the books defense, it HAD to end in a cliffy or the book would be way longer the the first book.

I liked how I guessed correctly about things forshadwed in the first book (how Clockspirits are made)
And I was a little sad that my guesses of what was going on in this book didn't come true. I do think that it's not really possible to guess what's going on, as we don't have enough information inorder to make any real guesses, but I also skimmed most of Daphnes chapters so...I could be wrong, lol 😂 maybe they did foreshadow what the water could mean, who knows

I think our main couple is a lot better, and Corten gets lots of development.

The historical elements from our real world felt pretty weird to me, but Idk

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Content Warnings

Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Hate crime, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Outing, Child death, Cultural appropriation, Gore, Body horror, Blood, Classism, Colonisation, Racism, and Torture

starshine1's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Colonisation, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Violence, Slavery, and Chronic illness

Minor: Misogyny, Outing, and Racism

maggiefae's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious 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? It's complicated

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Murder, and Blood

Moderate: War, Racism, Violence, Blood, Colonisation, and Sexism

Minor: Homophobia, Classism, Cultural appropriation, Police brutality, and Sexual harassment

thebakersbooks's review

mysterious sad slow-paced

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

2.0

Gotta admit, I wasn't expecting so much both-sidesing of the British occupation of India from a half-Indian author. Ninety percent of the book does a solid job of acknowledging the atrocities of British colonialism, but the entire climax consists of the (British) main character being horrified at Indian people around him trying to free their country. A direct quote: "There's no black or white here. You think one side is the villain and one is the hero, but that's not the case. It's more complicated than that." Maybe one can ascribe this to the MC being deliberately written as flawed, but because this issue comes to the forefront at the very end of the book, there's no time to unpack or counter it.

I also dislike that, while the author made the deliberate choice to make gayness/same-sex relationships accepted (or at least tolerated) in Britain, she made it so they were outlawed in India. This is frustrating because in real life, queer people had a place in precolonial Indian culture and that only changed with the imposition of western morays as a result of imperialism.

Besides these considerable flaws, the book was also poorly paced. The first book was told from main character Danny's perspective, while this one was split between Danny, Daphne, and Colton; I suspect attempting to juggle three POVs is a large part of what weighed the pacing down for the first half of the book. In my opinion, steampunk worldbuilding and an interesting story concept do not make up for the above, and as such, I do not recommend this book and I likely will not finish the series.

content warnings: several mentions of colonial violence, some systemic; anti-Indian racism throughout; killing an animal for sport (by antagonistic character); homophobia and threats of forced outing of gay characters 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Racism and Colonisation

Minor: Homophobia

silver_lining_in_a_book's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious 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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Physical abuse, Kidnapping, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, and Torture

Moderate: Colonisation, Terminal illness, and Confinement

Minor: Homophobia, Racism, and Sexism