Reviews tagging 'Islamophobia'

The City We Became by N.K. Jemisin

20 reviews

jaysaysnope's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark funny inspiring mysterious fast-paced

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

4.25

I want to love a place the way N.K. Jemisin loves New York City. The ending was a little anticlimactic for me, but

the betrayal of Staten Island

was so good (and honestly, realistic to the character), I cannot wait to find out how it’s dealt with in The World We Make.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Cultural appropriation, Body horror, and Violence

Moderate: Classism, Islamophobia, Gaslighting, Mental illness, Colonisation, Hate crime, Sexual assault, Misogyny, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Police brutality

ceesea's review

adventurous mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

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

4.0

Stylistically beautiful lovecraftian (and digs at Lovecraft) tale. I have never wanted to visit every aspect of New York City more, in fact I feel like I already have!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Homophobia, Islamophobia, Hate crime, and Police brutality

Moderate: Sexism and Sexual assault

repunzee's review against another edition

adventurous challenging mysterious 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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Xenophobia, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Islamophobia, Transphobia, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, and Lesbophobia

Moderate: Death, Police brutality, and Rape

litliz's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Xenophobia, Misogyny, Racism, and Sexism

Minor: Addiction, Alcohol, Cultural appropriation, Fire/Fire injury, Islamophobia, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Fatphobia, Hate crime, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Lesbophobia, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Alcoholism, Cancer, Car accident, Cursing, Death, Deportation, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Sexual content, Abortion, Antisemitism, Cannibalism, Classism, Colonisation, Gaslighting, Racial slurs, and Rape

jjstallone's review

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Colonisation, Cursing, Sexual harassment, and Police brutality

Minor: Gun violence, Lesbophobia, Violence, Xenophobia, Ableism, Cannibalism, Homophobia, Hate crime, Islamophobia, Miscarriage, Racism, Sexism, Transphobia, Cancer, Deportation, Genocide, Misogyny, Abortion, Antisemitism, and Blood

blewballoon's review

funny inspiring 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? Yes

4.0

I read this with a couple friends as a sort of impromptu mini book club. I would recommend it for a book club as there are a lot of interesting concepts in terms of the fantasy and social commentary. As one of my friends put it, this book definitely goes by the idea that "subtlety is for cowards" and most of the social commentary is completely overt. Our group was mixed in how much they liked how heavy handed it was. Some found it refreshing, others found it broke immersion in the story. One of the characters, to me, was especially unbearable and I would groan when I got to her chapters. The fantasy aspect of the human avatars of cities was amazing and I loved the concept of using constructs to channel their power. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Racial slurs, Sexual harassment, Cursing, Homophobia, Sexism, Toxic friendship, Classism, Islamophobia, Racism, and Xenophobia

Minor: Alcoholism, Emotional abuse, and Abortion

voxelbee's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious tense 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body horror, Sexual violence, Classism, Sexual assault, Sexism, Racism, Misogyny, Death, Xenophobia, Violence, Hate crime, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Blood, Cancer, Transphobia, Kidnapping, Islamophobia, Antisemitism, Cannibalism, Sexual harassment, Religious bigotry, Racial slurs, Police brutality, Panic attacks/disorders, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Alcohol

sarah984's review against another edition

mysterious slow-paced

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

1.0

I just can't see what seemingly everyone else saw in this book. Bland prose (everyone’s thoughts and motivations are listed like we might otherwise miss them, like "[character] thinks dark things are evil because she sees that in the media" is essentially an actual sentence in this novel) padded with pointless bickering and boring New York in-jokes. Every character is an ethnic stereotype and they all sound so similar to one another that I kept forgetting one of them was supposed to be 70 until she brought up Stonewall again. The antagonist’s minions are like cartoon villains and they're all written in the most cringe-inducing way possible.

I did like the idea behind how the antagonist’s plan worked, and using white and light colours as something dangerous. Unfortunately, the one interesting city formation concept is dropped almost immediately after it comes up and the ending didn't make any sense with what was already established.

I feel like the author could have saved me a few hours of reading time by just typing up a Tumblr post about how much she hates Staten Island and leaving it at that.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism and Xenophobia

Moderate: Body horror, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Sexual harassment, and Antisemitism

Minor: Car accident, Classism, Colonisation, Drug use, Islamophobia, Police brutality, Stalking, Cancer, Cannibalism, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, and Mental illness

joisaddler's review

funny reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Islamophobia, Racial slurs, Racism, Religious bigotry, Toxic friendship, Classism, Colonisation, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Ableism

laurenkimoto's review against another edition

adventurous 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? Yes

4.25

As per usual some disjointed thoughts about this book 

• Amazing cover: the matte city scape with the shiny tentacles and colour detailing ties in so nicely to the story *chef kiss* The person who designed the cover deserves an award
• Chapter titles really should make a comeback 
• We love some reluctant heroes who really just want to say to hell with saving the world just let me live my life in peace 
• I am a fool I did not realize this was part of a series and now I’m sitting here waiting for the next book :(
• The petty book hill I will die on is that short chapters are superior to long chapters 
• This is different than other fantasy books partially because it’s urban fantasy but also because the first half of the book the characters don’t know what’s going on so you don’t know what’s going on. Jemisin doesn’t info dump or use a naive character at the start to explain this world but rather you learn as the characters learn which I find is a fresh take. 
• This book has the most diverse set of characters I have ever come across and it does so without any “token” characters because their identity and diversity is tied in to who/what they are. With this comes addressing so many timely and everlasting issues and Jemisin does so without sacrificing plot, pacing or anything else. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Cursing, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Colonisation, Cultural appropriation, Racism, Police brutality, Gaslighting, Abortion, Body shaming, Addiction, Alcohol, Antisemitism, Homophobia, Islamophobia, Lesbophobia, Racial slurs, Rape, Transphobia, Bullying, Drug use, Religious bigotry, Biphobia, Classism, and Violence