Reviews tagging 'Sexual violence'

The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin

75 reviews

thewileyseven's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

5.0

I would give this even more stars if I could. Jemisin's writing is beyond unique--a once-in-a-lifetime manipulator of voice and crafter of story. This is a must read for anyone looking for the future of science fiction. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Slavery, and Torture

Moderate: Sexual assault and Sexual violence

delphinaris's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad 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? It's complicated

4.5

what the fuck, like actually. There's genuinely so many different moving pieces to this book. I have so many questions, just like, wow. I fucking called it that all POVs were the same person, I knew it. Also Syenite pissed me off so much, like it was just one stupid move after the other. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Cannibalism, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

This book is majorly fucked up; especially the scenes in the Fulcrum. Read at your own risk.

talasterism's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective 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

WAHHHH THE ENDING PART IS JSUT SO PERFECT. ITS JUST SO GENIUS PONDEROUS STORY i love the worldbuilding/lore and the conflict and the tWISTS and the last part is so fucking good and juicy and painful in the best way. WHAT A GREAT FUCKING STORY

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse and Child death

Moderate: Mental illness, Pedophilia, Sexual violence, Slavery, Xenophobia, and Pregnancy

zombiezami's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

4.75

I was very confused in the beginning, and I’d say I didn’t quite understand what was going on until about 75 percent of the way through the book, but by the end I was very invested. N.K. Jemisin is a genius

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Gore, Racial slurs, Violence, Blood, Grief, and Murder

Moderate: Animal death, Confinement, Hate crime, Sexual content, Slavery, Torture, Vomit, Stalking, Pregnancy, Alcohol, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Pedophilia, Sexual violence, and Cannibalism

cheye13's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-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? It's complicated

3.0

This is a masterfully composed story and an expertly crafted world. I particularly enjoyed the interludes that broke the story here and there - beautiful passages that also foreshadowed and added subtext seamlessly.

There was a consistently morose tone and happy moments were few and far between, which I found trying at times. But overal an excellent book that I would recommend widely. Can't wait to see where the rest of the story goes.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Grief, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Forced institutionalization, Murder, and Abandonment

Minor: Homophobia, Pedophilia, Sexual violence, Slavery, Transphobia, Trafficking, and Cannibalism

galacticvampire's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense slow-paced

5.0

"Stupid, stupid woman. Death was always here. Death is you."

I was enamoured by the concept of The Fifth Season from the first time I heard about it years ago, added to overall praise for the series, I was coming with high expectations.

And it delivered. Everything and more.

The execution not only lives up to the concept, but surpasses it. The suspense isn't there to pull the rug from under your feet in a gotcha moment, it's carefully crafted into the story, where the reveals are satisfying and spark the need for more, even when you caught what the foreshadowing was trying to tell you.

The world is so rich and complex that the initial struggle to follow what was going on (including the recurrent second person pov) has an immense pay-off. The feeling of wonder didn't leave me for a second.

I'm very much on the transition from YA to Adult Fantasy, so the very real darkness and grittiness surrounding everything was unexpected, but I couldn't have picked a better book to make me fall in love with the genre.

This is a story about Pain. This is a story about Grief. This is a story about enduring them and surviving them, because you have no other option.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Slavery, Violence, Blood, and Grief

Moderate: Bullying, Racial slurs, Rape, Sexual content, and Abandonment

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Hate crime, Pedophilia, Racism, Sexual violence, Xenophobia, Alcohol, and Colonisation

alexijai98's review against another edition

adventurous emotional 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Racism, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Grief, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Child abuse, Hate crime, and Cannibalism

Minor: Pedophilia and Sexual violence

ghostofefrant's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Physical abuse, Death of parent, and Classism

Moderate: Bullying, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, and Pregnancy

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Pedophilia, Medical trauma, and Pandemic/Epidemic

alba_marie's review against another edition

adventurous dark reflective tense slow-paced

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

4.0

This was a hard review to write. The Fifth Season was incredibly very well written and the world building was intricately done.

The issue with it was that The Fifth Season was a bit too stylised. It required a deep dive into the book, investing in at least 50 pages to really immerse oneself in the text, style and world. And normally, I might be into that. Normally I'd probably love that, even. But it was certainly not the right book to read with a newborn! It was supposed to be done before the baby arrived, but the baby had other ideas and he came early. This is a book that requires full concentration and focus. Not a book you'd dip your toes in here and there in between feeds. For that reason, I struggled a bit to connect with it and follow the various characters and time lines.

But it's clear that Jemisin is a very good writer and visionary. She is amazing at world building, and characterisation. She pulls at one thread and a butterfly flaps its wings 300 pages later.

It takes a long time to get into the story, and to see how all of the stories collide and combine. But when they do, there's an "oh shit" moment that I might have caught earlier on if I had been less sleep deprived.

Beware though – one of the POVs is written in "you" format; the style is obtuse and the purple prose is sometimes difficult to understand. This is high brow fantasy. This is the book that proves that fantasy doesn't have to always be fun and games; that fantasy can also be literary fiction.

At its core (pun intended), the book centres on earthquakes, thermal energy, geology, and earth movements – and the people attuned enough with the earth to control them. It takes the reader across barren landscapes, apocalyptic earths, through earthquakes, past ancient lost civilisations, into crowded cities, and onto pirate ships, secret islands and into the heart of the (evil?) institution at the heart of it all.

I will certainly be reading book 2... when my baby is a wee bit older!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Sexism, and Violence

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Sexual violence, and Toxic relationship

drips's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

so good

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Animal death, Child death, Cursing, Death, Genocide, Hate crime, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, and Colonisation