Reviews tagging 'Racism'

The Fiery Cross by Diana Gabaldon

12 reviews

flyintothestorm's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

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

4.5

Este libro es más pausado que los anteriores, y eso me venido bien, que estoy leyendo los libros seguidos y este ha sido un descanso.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Violence, Racism, Racial slurs, Slavery, Murder, Death, Rape, and Sexual assault

devlev7's review against another edition

adventurous emotional lighthearted mysterious slow-paced

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

4.0

I’ve been loving reading the Outlander series. The books are slow but worth it for the adventure and the descriptive, thorough language. In this one, I particularly enjoyed the lengthy details of day to day life on Fraser’s Ridge. It made me want to learn to make beeswax candles and dye clothes and

make syringes out of snake fangs.

I will say, I was wary of the way Gabaldon would approach writing about Native folks and enslaved people in 18th century North Carolina, and I have finished the book still feeling like I’m not sure what I feel about that aspect. It certainly wasn’t the worst approach it could’ve been. She neither ignored the obvious issues of racism and colonization altogether, nor condoned them. But some of the language and plot points were a bit tactless in my opinion. The non-white characters lacked depth or true feature in the plot, with momentary exceptions. The violence of slavery and colonization were lightly addressed, but not witnessed by any of the characters, nor were they much discussed.

I was also a bit disturbed in the evolution of the relationship between Roger and Brianna following their marriage. Brianna is such a dynamic, strong character, and it seemed hard to believe she would defer so much to her husband, or allow others to go to him for final decisions about their family, even when being in the 1700s.

All in all though, I still very much enjoyed the book, the plot twists, the tender moments, and appreciate the depth of research that must have gone into writing it. Looking forward to the next book!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Blood, Death, Slavery, War, Rape, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, Medical content, and Animal death

Moderate: Racial slurs, Child death, Sexism, Religious bigotry, Violence, Racism, Injury/Injury detail, Cursing, and Colonisation

infjill's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Pregnancy, Torture, Violence, Colonisation, Fire/Fire injury, Religious bigotry, Sexual content, Racism, Stalking, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Chronic illness, Confinement, Medical trauma, Death, Murder, Slavery, War, Blood, Bullying, Child death, and Grief

alreads13's review against another edition

adventurous emotional medium-paced

• Loveable characters? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Violence, Death, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Racism, Stalking, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, Domestic abuse, War, Blood, Body horror, and Colonisation

Moderate: Sexual assault

Minor: Genocide

kate_reads14's review against another edition

adventurous emotional slow-paced

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

3.5

Outlander season 5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Colonisation, Death, Medical content, Rape, Animal death, Grief, Racism, Slavery, and Violence

cmcdonnell's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Death, Medical content, Sexual content, Injury/Injury detail, and Violence

Moderate: Physical abuse, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Slavery, War, Alcohol, Racial slurs, and Racism

Minor: Sexual assault

tiana_king's review against another edition

adventurous dark informative slow-paced

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

4.5

Buckle in for DETAILS

I have a sneaking suspicion that the author ran into writer’s block several times and to remedy it she just figured she’d write this out day by day. It’s not until 8 hours and 45min (audiobook) into the book you finally see the wedding, to give you an idea. Personally I didn’t mind the day by day as much as some people but once things would get interesting I would be like “why isn’t more of the book like this?”. The end really picks up. Still a good book though and necessary to finish the series of course.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Colonisation, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Classism, Drug use, Religious bigotry, War, Slavery, and Racism

readwithzoe_'s review against another edition

challenging slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Medical trauma, Racism, Torture, Violence, Vomit, Blood, Alcohol, Sexual content, War, Murder, Gun violence, Medical content, Pregnancy, Colonisation, and Slavery

kirstym25's review

adventurous emotional medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Rape, Death, and Murder

Moderate: Racism

meganpbennett's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional tense slow-paced

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

2.5

I find the Outlander series really hard to rate. They're interesting, but they're way too long. The Fiery Cross could easily have been 400 pages and not have lost anything, instead of the bloated 980 it came out to. I find the series to feel more like a book you're required to read for a school assignment instead of something you pick up for fun. It's a slog and not a fun one at that. Like the rest of the series, this book has unnecessary and unnecessarily graphic content that could have been left on the cutting room floor without detracting from the story (it would be an improvement if certain scenes were left on the cutting room floor as they add nothing to the plot but graphic depictions of violence and body horror). 

I don't like Brianna, and she's becoming a very major character as the series progresses. Same with Roger. Makes it hard to read a book that is both unnecessarily long and unnecessarily graphic when half of the book involves characters you don't really care for. 

If you like long, hard, complicated slogs with characters you don't like that feel like trying to climb a mountain during mud season, this book is perfect for you. I couldn't wait for it to end and was eagerly counting down the pages until the end. 2.5 stars. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Sexual assault, Medical content, Medical trauma, Rape, Vomit, Physical abuse, Murder, Slavery, Gun violence, Alcoholism, Racism, Suicide, and Gore

Minor: Animal death