Reviews tagging 'Gaslighting'

The Traitor Baru Cormorant by Seth Dickinson

7 reviews

abbyschalupa's review

challenging dark slow-paced

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

2.5

I struggled with this book far more than I thought. There were such great reviews, and it’s grouped with books and genres that I love. I was really hoping to have found a new favorite. I’m so disappointed that this was quite the opposite. It dragged on for an exceptionally long time. This book did not need to be as long as it is. The action truly only began happening by the last 1/4 of the book. 

The first set of chapters hooked me. Baru’s childhood is raw, detailed in rich prose and the wounds are eminent there on the page. Immediately, I was rooting for her. So what happened? 
Unfortunately, the writing. Everything from there on fell. While the beginning brought the lens to focus on Baru, showing her experiences and all she endured, it felt like the writing style switched. Maybe that was the intention. 

However, the writing no longer gave a lens into Baru’s world. It wrote from an outsider’s view, in black and white tone, as though a script were documenting all that occurred. There became an extreme lack of detail, we are no longer shown Baru’s world but instead told about it. The color went away and all became black and white. The rest of the book read like text for socioeconomic studies, detailing who said what, and what that meant, and what Baru must now do. All told, never shown. 

Everything here is detached. I no longer cared for any of the characters, or Baru herself. She skyrocketed through the ranks, in ways that felt incredibly unrealistic, becoming arrogant, ruthless, and coldhearted. Although repeatedly called a savant, she ended up putting herself into multiple bad situations that were entirely avoidable. There were several situations I saw solutions to, but this savant never saw coming, and gave stern replies to people she supposedly cared about, only to never see them again before they died. It became incredibly frustrating. 

I debated quitting halfway. Instead I skipped through chunks of chapters, glad to not have tried reading through them. It felt more like dragging through socioeconomic dense text compared to reading. Far more detached telling then showing. I ended the book disappointed that with such a great start, I never could get hooked back into the story or the character again. Unfortunately, the writing took such a detached and reporter like stance that I found no possibility of drawing further into the story, caring about the characters, or getting further invested. A huge bummer for me. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Emotional abuse, Colonisation, Murder, Sexual content, Death, Homophobia, Gaslighting, Misogyny, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Abandonment, Death of parent, Grief, Genocide, and Medical content

Moderate: Gore, Violence, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Ableism

indeedithappens's review

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

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Abandonment, Body horror, Sexual content, Addiction, Animal death, Cursing, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Kidnapping, Racism, Sexism, Ableism, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Biphobia, Blood, Body shaming, Chronic illness, Colonisation, Bullying, Child abuse, Violence, Classism, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Misogyny, Pandemic/Epidemic, Sexual harassment, Death of parent, Terminal illness, Excrement, Forced institutionalization, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Vomit, War, Xenophobia, Infidelity, Murder, Physical abuse, Lesbophobia, Police brutality, Suicidal thoughts, Self harm, Slavery, Torture, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship

bookycnidaria's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Gaslighting, Murder, Violence, Alcoholism, Genocide, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, and Torture

Moderate: Outing and Pandemic/Epidemic

elizafiedler's review

Something about the way this book talks about colonization struck me as a bit off even at first, but I thought maybe it was just because the beginning was a bit rushed. No, it felt more off as I went along, and so did the LGBTQ characters. After reading a few critical reviews going into the problematic representation in the book, I'm no longer interested in reading it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Gaslighting, Colonisation, Homophobia, and Sexual assault

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

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

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