Reviews tagging 'Slavery'

A Crane Among Wolves by June Hur

12 reviews

kierrareads_'s review

adventurous dark tense fast-paced

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

4.0

this was fye

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Genocide, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Death of parent, Murder, Sexual harassment, and War

goldenelegy's review

adventurous challenging emotional fast-paced

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

4.75

when the author said this book reads like a historical k-drama, well i guess she was right! this book tells about iseul, a girl in a mission to seek her sister, set in the joseon era around the ruling of king yeongsan. this book describes his cruelty and it was based on the history. it looks like it takes a lot of research just for this book. 

the romance in this book was what got me the most. the MC went from trying-to-kill-each-other enemies to i'll-protect-you-even-if-it-costs-my-life lovers, making it interesting, honestly. but aside the romance, this book has such a heartwarming portrayal of sisterhood and friendship. it also deals with grief, how grief could make you so afraid to love anyone ever again. These quotes below was the ones that shattered my heart the most.

I did love my sister. The same way I had loved my parents, the same love that had left me bedridden with grief and depression, the love that left me haunted and sleepless many nights still.

 

More than ever, now, I was afraid of this love for her, afraid of the intolerable agony that came with loving anyone at all.

my only complain probably is that the plot twist wasn't that shocking. but it wasn't that much of a problem. overall, i enjoyed this book, SO MUCH actually i couldn't stop myself reading it especially near the end. so if you're looking for a romance-historical fiction with enemies-to-lovers and found family trope, try this book!!

p.s. prepare yourself for chapter 42 :)))

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Rape, Sexism, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Grief, and Murder

Minor: Suicide

a1exander's review

adventurous slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Sexism, Violence, Blood, Trafficking, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Vomit, and Pregnancy

kailanlovescats's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

Don't get me wrong, this was a good book. But I think I wasn't prepared for how heavy the book would be, despite the content warnings at the beginning. Actually, once I heard the content warnings I did get a minor sense of foreboding....  knowing some of the things in the book are historically accurate also made it feel heavier, as it was easier to put myself in their shoes! So if you struggle with what's mentioned in the warnings, proceed with caution!

ultimately there is a happy ending! You just may cry rivers to get there. Just ignore ch 42

The story is equal parts detective mystery, historical romance, and rescue mission; and has beautiful writing. It was a bit slow at times.

 I do wish some words were written in korean vs English as it would've helped with the immersion. Example, having Iseul refer to her sister as Eonni instead of older sister.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery and Violence

Moderate: Child death, Death, Rape, Sexual violence, and Blood

Minor: Suicide

spellbindingtomes's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad 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? No

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, War, and Classism

serendipity421's review

adventurous dark emotional informative mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Misogyny, Sexism, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Pregnancy

Minor: Rape

jartone93's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Gore, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

lm19's review against another edition

dark hopeful medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

3.75

Overall a truly interesting book about a terrible period in Korean history.  The first half of the book was the stronger portion for me but that might be because I never really bought into the romance between the main leads. It just ended up feeling forced and the turn from “enemies” to lovers didn’t flow as naturally as it could have been depicted.  There also seemed to be too many easy plot conveniences in the second half that just felt lazy?  I don’t usually advocate for longer books but maybe additional pages could have let the introduction of characters like “Crow” flow better.

I also wish that we got more of the actual coup from Daehyun’s perspective and even that there were more scenes with Yeonsan in the second half - he really just kind of disappeared towards the end.  And in a way I almost wanted Yeonsan to be worse?  He certainly did horrible things but so much was “told” and not enough was “show” to really build him into the terrible antagonist he was in real life. 

But in general a strong book that could have been even better with some changes to the second half.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Sexual violence, Slavery, and Violence

sorakiras's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Slavery, and Death of parent

Minor: Pregnancy

qeenb33's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional informative fast-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, Violence, Kidnapping, Murder, and War

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, and Death of parent

Minor: Child death, Incest, Physical abuse, Rape, and Suicide