Reviews tagging 'Xenophobia'

The Traitor Baru Cormorant by Seth Dickinson

35 reviews

hailstorm3812's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark 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

4.0

I liked it but not as much as I thought I would. It's a very interesting story and I want to see where it goes but it is also a ceaseless bummer. I almost wish they hadn't told us about
the conversation with the council and just saw Baru's actions because I had trouble buying into the relationships knowing what she will do. I did love Tain Hu though, even know what was likely to come. I was sad but I knew it would happen. Maybe that's a good thing since Baru is so vividly painted that I felt like I knew her so well.
I need to know what happens next but I know I will feel bad. Wish me luck!

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

species10026's review

Go to review page

challenging 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


Expand filter menu Content Warnings

indeedithappens's review

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-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

4.25


Expand filter menu Content Warnings

fauxpunk's review

Go to review page

challenging dark sad tense medium-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

5.0

I will never be ok again 

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

jaythemself's review

Go to review page

adventurous challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0


Expand filter menu Content Warnings

tristanc's review

Go to review page

challenging 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

The tide comes in.

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

searobin's review against another edition

Go to review page

2.5

The book itself was ok, aside from the plot...
I did not love the queer indigenous woman suppresses her sexuality and aids the colonisers to fully colonise another nation in order to somehow maybe save her own nation eventually story line

I got a bit lost in all the dukes and dutcheses and territories, so some moments were probably less poignant than they were supposed to be, but I got the gist.

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

sarah984's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • 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

I was a little skeptical about this book because I keep seeing it recommended alongside other books I didn't like very much, and the 'take an empire down from the inside' storyline can often be kind of cheesy. I'm glad I gave the book a chance (even though it hurt me severely) - this was a tragic story with fascinating characters that never lets you forget for a second the cost of empire. 

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

iellv's review

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense slow-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

Beautiful, stunning, gut-wrenching writing. Brutal and unflinching and yet still painfully human, for all of that talk about machines and scalpels. I didn’t expect to love this book as much as I did; I’m hilariously terrible at math and accountancy, but I do have a weak spot for buff women, pathetic men, and geopolitics. The book is so much more than these things, because it focuses on the horrors of empire, and the impossible choices it might present you. Terrifying and intoxicating. The illusion of control and freedom and all of that in the face of omnipresence—the hand that moves all. IMO the book EXCELLED when it came to these things where it obviously fell flat in others (pacing, lesbianism, women, emotion, introspection, consistency, even etymology and the usage of certain words—although these were lacking, they didn’t bother me so much… but you can already tell from my rating. If you come into this remembering Seth Dickinson is a cishet? white man, I think you’ll find this to be a pretty solid effort lmao. Seriously. Consider other similar works written by cishet white men. This was great compared to those! It’s not even white mediocrity; I do genuinely still believe the book is often brilliant.)

Gosh I wish I had more to say and I wish I could be more articulate about it, but this book ripped my heart out and made me swallow it and laughed at my expense, probably. Maybe I’ll post a better review when I reread it.

KINDLY HEED ALL CONTENT WARNINGS.

RIP Muire Lo, Unuxekome, Lyxaxu, and Oathsfire, my nerdy/disappointing/cringefail men. I would have liked to give Muire Lo a little kiss, plague and all. Sorry you ended up being secretary to the worst girlboss to ever girlboss. RIP Ihuake and Nayauru, baddest bitches. RIP to all the horses bc I definitely did not like reading abt animals dying in so much detail. 
Lastly… nvm I don’t even want to think about Xate Olake and Tain Hu. Damn you Seth Dickinson.

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

peachprince's review

Go to review page

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

4.5


Expand filter menu Content Warnings