Reviews tagging 'Child death'

The Spear Cuts Through Water by Simon Jimenez

20 reviews

strawb3rrysugar's review against another edition

challenging dark tense slow-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? N/A

4.0

If you're looking for a grand, epic fantasy that's unlike anything you've read before, and you're patient enough for a non-linear reading experience that shifts POVs (and narration styles) and timelines every couple of pages, I recommend this book. It took a good while for me to "get into" it, or to even really know what's going on, but I believe this to be the author's intention - you will have lots of questions and few answers. Also, do look up the TWs ahead of time. This book can get unflinchingly grisly at some points; this does not reflect upon my overall review of the book, but if you can't stomach kind of intense gore, maybe pass on this one. 

As is the case with a lot of 500+ page books, this book plays the long game - you will spend a good portion of it not entirely clued into what's going on. While it starts slow and sometimes lulls in the middle, the third act is excellently crafted. Anyone who loves a gritty, raw (but not grimdark), deeply human fantasy would enjoy this.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death of parent, Gore, Vomit, Emotional abuse, Child abuse, Cannibalism, Ableism, Death, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Physical abuse, and Violence

Moderate: Sexual content

Minor: Drug use

Violence, war, trauma, and ableism are described often and in great detail, as they're core themes to the book. So there's a lot of the above, sometimes depicted cruelly - people in power enjoying the suffering of others to a strong degree. There's also many uses of the word cr*pple, and a sickly talking tortoise that's called "the Defective one." Some of the ableism is directed at mc Keema since he only has one arm. A lot of vomit scenes/mentions. A lot of references to bodily functions in general - piss, poop, and so on. Sexual content includes references to pornographic tablets sold by a street vendor and some sexual interactions with the main two MCs, eventually

culminating into a brief sex scene at the very end

The emperor's treatment of the empress in flashbacks could allude to sexual abuse.

sarah984's review against another edition

adventurous challenging hopeful 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? It's complicated

5.0

A really original and beautifully told story. The structure takes some getting used to but it's ultimately worth it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

Moderate: Cannibalism, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Ableism, Confinement, War, Murder, Violence, Grief, Animal cruelty, Death of parent, Animal death, Mental illness, and Torture

Minor: Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Child death, and Incest

shannnne_reads_words's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, and War

Moderate: Animal death, Child death, Ableism, Vomit, and Cannibalism

Minor: Abandonment, Excrement, Homophobia, and Suicide

eatallthestars's review against another edition

adventurous emotional inspiring reflective tense medium-paced

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

5.0

This book redefined what a 5 star book is for me. It feels this masterpiece was crafted by gods and cradled by angels.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Blood, and Death

Moderate: Animal death, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: War, Alcohol, Sexual content, Child death, Violence, and Torture

immovabletype's review against another edition

adventurous dark reflective sad tense slow-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Violence, War, Death of parent, Abandonment, Ableism, Alcoholism, Child death, Classism, Death, Gore, Murder, Body horror, Cannibalism, Cursing, and Excrement

Moderate: Confinement, Grief, Misogyny, Sexual content, and Trafficking

rhi_'s review against another edition

adventurous 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Animal cruelty, Blood, Body horror, Death, Gore, Murder, Violence, War, Animal death, Cannibalism, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Death of parent, Dysphoria, Child death, and Torture

Minor: Alcoholism, Classism, Alcohol, Colonisation, Homophobia, and Confinement

mallorypen's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective 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? It's complicated

4.0

Woooooooof what a ride this was - the writing made me think of a mix between fairytale and a dream. This felt like listening to an oral history, in both how the core story was presented and in the second-person narrative outside the inverted theater.

The highlights for me:
 - This style of storytelling felt comforting, even when the subject matter got gory or disturbing. It gave the same sense as listening to a folktale, where some of the details feel nonsensical to a modern audience and you find yourself looking for and finding familiar archetypes despite some of the weirder concepts. Gods and goddesses, the anthropomorphic elements of moon and water, the heroes and antiheroes, the pacing of a journey - it all could have been told around a campfire. I also felt like the entire first song from Aida could have been applied to this story (every story, new or ancient, beggar tale, or work of art, all are tales of human failings, all are tales of love at heart).
- Keema of the Dwari tribe. What a stellar character! I did guess that

the tribe wasn’t real

but his reasons for the lie were heartbreaking and  sweet. He was my favorite kind of hero - flawed, but ultimately so good. I love rooting for a good guy.
- the PURPLE BIRD. That full-circle arc was incredibly satisfying. In fact, there were several times where a callback was made and I would think to myself that this is a story that knows itself and its outcomes VERY well.
- the questionable morality of literally everyone but Keema. The moon was selfish; the tortoises were complicit as much as they were victims; the Terrors were awful but also understandable. The emperors - all of ‘em - were downright horrific, but things didn’t magically get better when their dynasty was removed.
- the framing narrative of the inverted theater and the fact that we never really knew who the narrator was, or where the old country was. I also loved the dreamlike quality - that also proved to be godlike - in that we got snippets of everyone’s thoughts as the narrative mentioned background characters.

The drawbacks:
- this was a loooooong story. I don’t think it could be shorter and still have the same impact, but it was a lot to get through.
- the deus ex machina was good (because it IS a love story) but it was also a deus ex machina. Literally. 
- the entry into the story was confusing; it worked insofar that it had a dreamlike logic to it, but I spent more time than I wanted to wondering when the plot would show itself. Some of that is definitely on me as a reader, but it was something I noted early on.
- though I enjoyed the story and rated it highly, this isn’t something I can see myself picking up again to read for pleasure.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Body shaming, Child death, Gore, and War

Minor: Sexual content

booklifeisthelife's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious 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? It's complicated

4.0

I really enjoyed this book. It was dark, gritty but also lyrical. It had me on the edge of my seat. The way it was written was great and different but also challenging and confusing which is why there it's a 4 and not a 5. But the story is engaging, the characters interesting. There was a lot of twists and turns I did not see coming. Unpredictable. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence

Moderate: War, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Death, Sexual harassment, Cannibalism, and Torture

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Confinement, Rape, and Child death

sunjaybooks's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional inspiring slow-paced

5.0

This book has it all! Gender, family trauma, psychic tortoises, ableism, gay sex, moral ambiguity, genocide, the broad scope of history, magic and myth. It's beautifully written and also deeply deeply violent and yet still humanistic in its portrayal of the aggressors, victims, and all the morally ambiguous people in between.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Colonisation, Death, Death of parent, Sexual assault, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Excrement, War, Ableism, Alcoholism, Gore, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual violence, Slavery, Violence, Classism, Self harm, Suicide, and Genocide

stinkyleaf's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful 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? It's complicated

5.0

Slowish start. Captivating style and narration. Dark and brutal depiction of Old Country life and death, very violent. Original legend/ mythology shines through

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Slavery, Death, Child death, Animal death, Excrement, War, Torture, Gore, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail