Reviews tagging 'Sexism'

The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzi Lee

81 reviews

littlesnowcloud's review against another edition

adventurous emotional reflective 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

Significantly heavier in topic than the summary blurb suggests, with a bit more magic involved than expected. A good read with good characters. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Racial slurs, Physical abuse, Misogyny, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Homophobia, Death, Alcoholism, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Domestic abuse, Death of parent, Classism, Racism, Drug abuse, Xenophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Mental illness, Alcohol, Sexism, Emotional abuse, and Child abuse

Minor: Infidelity

sbbailey's review against another edition

adventurous funny lighthearted 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

5.0

i love this book with my entire soul 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Physical abuse, Homophobia, Sexism, and Misogyny

marsh_mall0w's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny lighthearted 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Alcohol, Child abuse, Classism, Chronic illness, and Racism

Moderate: Medical trauma, Grief, Gun violence, Death of parent, Homophobia, and Slavery

Minor: Infertility, Sexism, Self harm, and Racial slurs

snapshotmaestro's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Physical abuse, Colonisation, and Racism

Minor: Sexism and Slavery

mickij's review against another edition

adventurous emotional 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

5.0

Ooo! A book got 5 whole stars! Usually, that means it did something extraordinary, and it did exactly that! I have never been so sure I wanted to buy a book in my life!

Beyond that, I suppose I should talk about the book. This book is utterly fascinating for a variety of reasons. For one, it's grounded in history but it's not bleak for the characters of color. Slavery is mentioned, as it somewhat has to be for a book set in the 18th century, it's not weighing heavily on the narrative. A second thing is that 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Alcohol, Body horror, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Police brutality, and Racial slurs

Moderate: Child abuse, Chronic illness, Deadnaming, Racism, and Vomit

Minor: Alcoholism, Forced institutionalization, Religious bigotry, and Sexism

adalinemccormick's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny mysterious fast-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Racial slurs, Sexual content, Alcohol, Classism, Homophobia, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Death, Racism, and Sexism

Moderate: Chronic illness, Classism, Colonisation, Forced institutionalization, Outing, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, and Violence

nonnavlis's review against another edition

adventurous tense medium-paced

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

4.5

This was such a delightful read! The writing style of the author is so marvellous. It's not at all short on evocative prose, but never the sort that trips you up; it reads so smoothly and is also quite witty. I'm someone who is just branching into more modern writing and often struggle with a dislike of the style of it, but this was great. The completely unrestrained queerness was also very delightful and the characters are engaging. It's unrealistic in the good way--you probably won't see the story beats coming and they're a bit silly when they do, but in a way you want to happen because it's all the more fun.

It was also lovely to see some unexpected disability representation later in the story! (I am not considering this is a spoiler as it's something I would've wanted to know as a disabled person, but sorry if anyone feels a bit cheated in my saying so).

The only problem I had with it was the handling of racial tension within the story. I respect the author's desire for some diversity and their certainly earnest and well-meant attempt at handling it, but it did feel pretty simplistic and glossed over in a way I expect a reader of colour would find even more awkward/uncomfortable than I did as a white reader. It's unfortunately one of those stories that probably would've benefited heavily from some sensitivity readers that it seems it did not have. The fact that the author even has an author's note chapter at the end of the book dedicated to summarizing her historical research and influences (where she refers to slave-owners as masters rather than enslavers which felt to me like a pretty glaring sign of lack of knowledge in this area), but still fumbled this as much as she did is why I've removed half a star from my rating. I did see after finishing that this is part of a series so I'm hoping it will be handled better in future stories, since we all have room to learn.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Alcoholism, Physical abuse, and Child abuse

Moderate: Slavery, Vomit, Kidnapping, Homophobia, Self harm, Sexism, Colonisation, Ableism, Classism, Blood, Cursing, Sexual content, and Racism

Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Forced institutionalization, and Infidelity

akrafi's review against another edition

adventurous medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Minor: Alcohol, Medical content, Racial slurs, Gore, Suicidal thoughts, Sexism, Vomit, and Physical abuse

percys_panda_pillow_pet's review against another edition

adventurous funny hopeful informative lighthearted mysterious tense 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

4.75

*slaps cover of book* Finally! A historically accurate depiction of pirates and privateers that also isn't boring! This makes me so happy as someone with not only a moderate interest in pirate history but also someone who wants to write their own pirate-themed novel one day. (If you're curious, I already have quite a bit planned and written out, but that isn't relevant to this review haha).

In all seriousness, though, I was very glad to see such dedication within a book to make things historically accurate, including language, but also be such a fun book to read with both interesting characters and plotlines. I especially enjoyed the characters as they were all so carefully constructed and developed. I enjoyed the balance of the main character Monty's own issues, with his privilege as a white male aristocrat. It never felt overly self-flagellating in any direction, and he genuinely grew as a character as their journey went on. 

I also really liked the balance of humor and seriousness. There were plenty of serious situations our group of characters found themselves in, however, there was also a lightheartedness that gave their adventure a sense of wonder. It felt true to how life can really be sometimes. I think my favorite bit of humor was when Monty accidentally flashed a great deal of upper society. I laughed so hard, I almost cried. 

I have high hopes for the sequel, The Lady's Guide to Petticoats and Piracy, and hope Mackenzi Lee continues what great work she's done in The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Alcohol, Chronic illness, Racism, Misogyny, and Sexism

Moderate: Child abuse and Physical abuse

water_violin's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, Police brutality, Racism, Violence, Vomit, Grief, Biphobia, Blood, Body horror, Homophobia, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Child abuse, Medical content, Medical trauma, Ableism, Misogyny, Self harm, Gun violence, Classism, Racial slurs, Xenophobia, Islamophobia, Kidnapping, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Colonisation, Death, Cursing, Confinement, Death of parent, Drug use, Forced institutionalization, and Slavery