Reviews tagging 'Body shaming'

Empire of Wild by Cherie Dimaline

5 reviews

_fallinglight_'s review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark funny mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.25

This book wasn't what I expected bc I thought it was gonna be more on the traditional, melancholic missing persons stuff (Book Riot misleading recs strikes again for me lol) but this is a fantasy almost fairy tale like adventure with Indigenous culture and issues thrown in for cohesiveness, and funny to boot, so it was even better. I wasn't too impressed with the writing at first but the author won me over. I was even handling the Evangelical Christians bashing in name of anti capitalism and all that bc even though I believe in God I'm aware this religion is beyond help until that weak ass unnecessary last minute drama reveal ending and the kid

being turned into a damn rogarou wtf

, it was so annoying! But I really enjoyed the story and Joan's quest and her love for this dude (and Victor's for her, very swoony) for like 90% and how as plot driven and fast the story is it also felt immersive and didactic for me as a reader outside of the community. It was fun reading these characters and appreciating their culture. Only the ending robbed it from being completely amazing to me. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty and Animal death

Moderate: Addiction, Death, Death of parent, Fatphobia, Racial slurs, Religious bigotry, Alcohol, and Body shaming

Minor: Abortion, Homophobia, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, and Sexual assault

caseythereader's review against another edition

dark emotional funny mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.75

 - EMPIRE OF WILD on one level reads as a wild mystery adventure, but look a little closer and it's actually a tale of the horrors of colonization.
- This book is full of messy characters (some of whom I thought could have stood to have a little more page time) and you're rooting for Joan the whole way. I was turning pages as fast as I could, and the final showdown had me gripped.
- The ending seems to have people split, and I can see why - if you read this book, come talk to me about what you think happens! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Body shaming, Child abuse, Colonisation, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Murder, Racism, Religious bigotry, Sexual content, and Violence

Minor: Ableism, Domestic abuse, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Sexual assault, and Suicidal thoughts

mikki_9's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Emotional abuse, Confinement, Grief, Racism, Religious bigotry, and Sexual content

Moderate: Violence, Kidnapping, Homophobia, Death, Child abuse, Abortion, Body shaming, and Murder

Minor: Blood and Medical content

pinecone43's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious tense medium-paced

• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

Ahhh! Another great, adventure and thrill packed book by this author. I loved the characters of Ajean and Zues the most. I loved how driven Joan was. I loved all the love in the book, from unrequited, to romamtic, familial, and friendships. Strong female characters in this book as well. I did find a few lines to pair body fat with something negative/in a negative context. Fairly subtle or maybe im "over reaching" but i swear once you start to see this trend ( in all forms of media, literature etc) it really sticks out!  Also, the scene where the rogaru has more center stage fell a little flat for me and had me a little disengaged the way it was described, reminded me of this anime or something for some reason. Anyway, that was just a slight feeling. Still overall amazing book.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Blood, Grief, and Kidnapping

Minor: Body shaming, Fatphobia, Sexual assault, and Vomit

thevietvegan's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

3.0

I just finished this and I didn't really like it e it was well written, I just don't feel like I enjoyed the plot very much. It was spooky and that was kind of tense and cool, but I feel like plot devices kept cropping up conveniently and there were a lot of unresolved issues.

The antagonist felt too omnipotent to be triumphed so easily.

I did like the allegory of what effect Christianity has on Indigenous communities though, it's not often I see the dominant religion be painted so villainously (maybe I just haven't read enough books that do that, now that I say it out loud I feel like maybe its a lot more common in literature than I think)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Religious bigotry, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Moderate: Animal death, Body shaming, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Grief, and Homophobia

Minor: Miscarriage, Racial slurs, and Racism