Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

The Traitor Baru Cormorant by Seth Dickinson

36 reviews

btrz7's review against another edition

challenging dark medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Colonisation, Genocide, Misogyny, Biphobia, Homophobia, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Alcohol, Death of parent, Child abuse, and Alcoholism

noetherian's review

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

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

A book that paces along the fence between depiction and glorification of imperialism's abuses. There are interesting ideas, compelling characters, and a world with history, but it's all chaff for the machinery of whatever may happen in the sequels. If the ends justify the means, how is one to determine whether to keep reading this series? I suspect fans of economics and war will love her better than I could.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Lesbophobia, Homophobia, and Colonisation

Moderate: War, Violence, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Sexism, Racism, Misogyny, Hate crime, Ableism, Sexual harassment, Murder, Classism, and Child abuse

Minor: Torture, Blood, and Fire/Fire injury

Eugenics

searobin's review against another edition

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.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Animal death, Sexual violence, Animal cruelty, Blood, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Lesbophobia, Medical trauma, Murder, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Vomit, War, and Xenophobia

blackcvrrant's review

dark emotional sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

upon finishing this book i am experiencing so many agonies and torments 10/10 would recommend

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Genocide, Death of parent, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, and Death

Moderate: Sexual violence

sarah984's review against another edition

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. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, War, Death, Homophobia, and Racism

Moderate: Child abuse, Confinement, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Misogyny, Murder, Outing, Forced institutionalization, Genocide, Police brutality, Religious bigotry, Torture, Xenophobia, Animal death, Grief, and Violence

Minor: Drug use, Vomit, Child death, Pedophilia, Ableism, Addiction, Cannibalism, Fire/Fire injury, Self harm, Slavery, and Suicidal thoughts

peachprince's review

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Homophobia, Racism, War, Death, Lesbophobia, Murder, Violence, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Sexism, Torture, Forced institutionalization, Misogyny, and Death of parent

Minor: Alcoholism, Sexual violence, and Suicidal thoughts

Eugenics, genital mutilation

jjjreads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative sad tense fast-paced

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Kidnapping, Stalking, Animal cruelty, Biphobia, Religious bigotry, Suicidal thoughts, Alcoholism, Animal death, Confinement, Abandonment, Classism, Cultural appropriation, Acephobia/Arophobia, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, War, Mental illness, Alcohol, Transphobia, Colonisation, Misogyny, Outing, Deportation, Gaslighting, Genocide, Hate crime, Homophobia, Sexism, Slavery, Grief, Murder, Police brutality, Racism, Sexual harassment, Trafficking, Lesbophobia, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Moderate: Child abuse, Drug use, Adult/minor relationship, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Gore, Sexual harassment, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Pedophilia, and Sexual violence

bookwormbi's review

challenging dark mysterious tense slow-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

4.75

A friend lent this to me, and at every point they said "you are going to be devastated." every time I thought I had gotten to the devastating part, I hadn't. would go through this experience again. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Death, and Death of parent

Moderate: Body horror

Minor: Racism

plushmaya's review

adventurous dark mysterious 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

2.5

My problem with this book is a problem endemic among war books: it loses itself to the story beats the author wants to hit while neglecting to meaningfully engage with its themes. This pattern is particularly disappointing in Baru Cormorant, a book that sets up ostensibly complex ideas of colonization, identity, eugenics, and power but refuses to spend much time with them. Dickinson has set up an interesting concept— a woman injured by empire deciding to become its agent— but fails to reach a meaningful conclusion. A war starts. It doesn't mean much. Characters are numerous and opaque, including Baru herself, and they die frequently, swiftly, and without much fanfare. This style of killing players off could be effective and meaningful, given the war narrative, but for all but a few cases, we aren't given enough information to care. Dickinson decides to set up mystery by revealing nothing to readers. The final twist feels especially lackluster: without enough information to know what's coming and dread it, it has none of the emotional payoff it was presumably intended to have.

This isn't to say I hate the book completely; the prose is fine and some characters are eyecatching. Tain Hu was clearly meant to be one of the more interesting characters and it works, although she remains a bit bland from Baru's perspective. Purity Cartone is probably the most fascinating character in the book, despite possessing a small part, because Dickinson follows through on what he sets up in ways that both provide a satisfying conclusion and further questions that tie in to broader ideas about both Falcrest and imperialism.

This book would be good for those who enjoyed R. F. Kuang's The Poppy War (I didn't), but best skipped by those who prefer war stories like Samantha Shannon's Priory of the Orange Tree. Maybe the sequels are better; I'm not left interested enough to read them.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, War, Xenophobia, Homophobia, and Colonisation

Moderate: Death of parent

Minor: Drug use

Eugenics discussed throughout, and some characters explicitly describe their eugenicist goals.

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