Reviews tagging 'Blood'

The Traitor Baru Cormorant by Seth Dickinson

20 reviews

eegekay's review against another edition

challenging dark 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Sexism, Animal death, Blood, Homophobia, Classism, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Outing, Racism, Sexual violence, War, Grief, Murder, Colonisation, and Death

theirgracegrace's review

challenging mysterious tense fast-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

4.75

The Traitor Baru Cormorant asks the hard questions about what it means to rule in a way that very few court intrigues ever have. Baru's homeland has been conquered by the Masquerade, and she has spent her life preparing to take it down. But in order to get to the heart of its government, she needs to prove herself as the capable and brilliant ruler she is. Filled with enough worldbuilding and plot twists to keep Baru and the reader constantly guessing, I can say with certainty that I'll never read the likes of this book again.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Grief, Hate crime, Lesbophobia, Slavery, Alcoholism, Colonisation, Gore, Kidnapping, Animal cruelty, Death, Racism, Sexism, War, Cursing, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Blood, Medical content, Medical trauma, Police brutality, Body horror, Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Animal death, Biphobia, Genocide, Misogyny, Child death, Classism, Confinement, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Murder, Trafficking, Violence, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury and Gun violence

Minor: Cancer, Cultural appropriation, and Cannibalism

pineapplesurvivor's review

dark reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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: Blood, Colonisation, Death of parent, Genocide, Grief, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Violence, and War

lipstickitotheman's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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

5.0

I can't rate this yet. It's been too soon. All my brain can say is "Baruuuuuu"

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Lesbophobia, Misogyny, Outing, Colonisation, Death of parent, Homophobia, Death, Racism, Xenophobia, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Child abuse, Classism, War, Animal death, Hate crime, Body shaming, Genocide, Murder, Sexism, Torture, Violence, Ableism, Addiction, Grief, Alcohol, Biphobia, and Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Chronic illness, Cannibalism, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Confinement, Medical content, Blood, Cancer, Child death, Acephobia/Arophobia, and Suicidal thoughts

hedsek's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

This is a pretty difficult book to rate! I love the setting and the worldbuilding, although I think some of the details could have been repeated a bit more often because sometimes I felt like I was supposed to remember everything that was mentioned once for the rest of the book to understand what was going on. The plot was quite hard to follow sometimes (might also have to do with the fact that I read this before going to sleep), and I often felt like the motivations Baru had for her decisions were left implicit which confused me. Now that I have reached the ending of the book, this makes more sense though and I feel like I'll have to reread the book to fully appreciate the plot. 
Although I struggled through the first 2/3 of the book, I finished the rest in two days because the ending is just amazing and the buildup towards the climax is so well done. I am really glad I was convinced to continue reading after all. 
Finally, it is just so refreshing to read a fantasy book that is not the same white cishet patriarchal stuff I've come to expect from the genre so that is definitely a pro.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Lesbophobia, War, Colonisation, Death, Murder, Outing, and Racism

Moderate: Alcoholism, Genocide, Biphobia, Homophobia, Torture, Violence, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Alcohol, Misogyny, Sexual content, and Suicidal thoughts

chimera999's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Violence, Colonisation, Death, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Blood and Misogyny

Minor: Slavery and Forced institutionalization

coslyons's review against another edition

challenging dark 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

3.5

I liked and then did not like the gritty political details. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Violence, War, Lesbophobia, and Colonisation

Moderate: Blood and Animal death

Eugenics is a major theme.

misszoe's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Death, Homophobia, and Lesbophobia

Moderate: Alcoholism, Blood, Cursing, Grief, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, Racism, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, and Violence

jbray1018's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-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

*screams internally forever*

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Blood, Death, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Grief, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Murder, Outing, Racism, and Violence

catsy2022's review

adventurous dark emotional inspiring slow-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? Yes

3.0

Rating: B 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Violence, and Homophobia

Moderate: Genocide, Gore, and Racism

Minor: Sexual assault, Slavery, Torture, and Vomit