Reviews tagging 'Racial slurs'

The Sun and the Void by Gabriela Romero Lacruz

9 reviews

corallydeer's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

Although the beginning was kind of slow for me I enjoyed this book by the end. The fantasy elements were unique and explored in a racial way that I don't see too often. The extent of the portrayals for racism and religious bigotry was often quite sobering and a bit tough to get through, but it felt worthwhile by the end. It was also a bit tough, at first, to sympathize or relate to the characters since many of their situations felt so dire and the choices they had to make so manipulated, but by the end of the book I really rooted for the main group. They all grew in really great ways and I wanted so many of them to achieve real happiness and freedom from their abusive origins.

I will say, as someone who doesn't speak/know a lick of Spanish, that I made sure to pair the book with the audiobook so that I could hear how words and names were pronounced and I definitely think that was a 10/10 decision. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Pregnancy, Racism, Violence, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Religious bigotry, and Gore

Moderate: Racial slurs, Kidnapping, Cursing, Murder, Grief, and Blood

Minor: Misogyny, Slavery, Gun violence, Homophobia, Incest, and Colonisation

Child Abuse

(young babies are used to check if someone is a reincarnated wife of Rahamagut by being abandoned on a mountain and potentially left for dead)

| Death (of Parent(s) & Child)

(Doña Laurel and her baby pass away in childbirth; babies left on the mountain as mentioned in first tag; various dead relatives mentioned from the past or experienced through the course of the book)

| Domestic Abuse

(Javier physically abuses his wife, Eva, once they're married and treats her poorly once they're legally and magically bound)

| Gore

(attacks, especially from the tinieblas, are graphic)

| Pregnancy

(Doña Laurel becomes pregnant and labor is described somewhat graphically)

| Racism

(Reina and Eva are both mixed-race characters who experience open and hidden discrimination regularly)

| Religious Bigotry

(Eva deals with religious bigotry related to the fact that she's part valco; bigotry against those that don't follow the human's religion of saints; Eva's curandera mentor is burned alive for being a "witch")

| Violence

(Reina gets attacked by monsters; sword fighting training; valcos are known to scalp antlers from other valcos they best in battle)

| Blood

(moderate depictions of blood, gore descriptions are worse)

| Cursing & Racial Slurs

(moderate levels of cursing around the fantasy racial slurs)

| Grief

(moderate depictions of grief over lost loved ones, choices made, etc)

| Kidnapping

(Reina and Javier kidnap young girls to help with reincarnating Doña Laurel, but the process isn't described in too much detail)

| Murder

(Don Enrique openly kills a witness to their plans; Reina kills her grandmother; Reina's grandmother murder's seven of the nine wives)

| Colonization

(it's mentioned in passing that humans colonized Venazia, taking nozariels as slaves, valcos as warriors, and eradicating yares)

| Gun Violence

(mentioned in passing as part of a story)

| Homophobia

(not really outright, but insinuated here and there, and explained to be a colonizer mindset brought in related to the ability to produce heirs)

| Incest

(valcos are mentioned to have inter-bred for breed purity in passing)

| Misogyny

(Javier makes some remarks to Doña Laurel about her role being for breeding)

| Slavery

(slavery of other races used to be legal, but was outlawed so it's mentioned in passing somewhat frequently)

shottel's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

3.25

Oh, how much I wanted to like this book more. And yet, unless you’re a fan of the fantasy genre specifically, or perhaps of South American-inspired settings, I couldn’t recommend it to you.

Let’s start with what went well: The setting. One of my favorite fictional settings I’ve encountered in a long time. I’m a huge sucker for religious themes and topics, which weigh heavy on the plot. I personally haven’t read much inspired by South America, so it was refreshing and new to me to see a fiction book draw heavily on its history and culture. I might read the sequel just for further worldbuilding.

Additionally, I felt the one-on-one fights were excellent. Clear and visceral. I’ve read more than a few good novels with confusing, poorly wrote fights that drag down the whole thing.

Now, what didn’t go well: The characters. There are two main protagonists in this novel. I deeply disliked them both. One of them is self-righteous, to the point of overlooking her own deeply heinous actions; the other is cowardly and perpetually impulsive, an awful mix that made for a character that repeatedly made her own situation worse and regretted it moments later. That’s not enjoyable to read. It’s frustrating. At times, I was rooting against both of them.

To make matters worse, there was only one character in the book I felt was compelling, and the author hid away his motives until about 80% of the way through the book. When his backstory got more detail I was actually frustrated because it made him deeply interesting. I would’ve greatly preferred reading the entire novel from his perspective. That’s notable, because I read this novel in part because I love sapphic women leads, but I now wish the book was about the straight guy.

The other thing I felt went poorly was the fights that weren’t one-on-one. Most notably, there is a particular large battle in the second half which comes off as incredibly lackluster. Startlingly so, in fact, given how much I felt the one-on-one fights were great. Generously, it felt like reading a college freshman’s attempt in a creative writing class that got a B-.

All in all, I only recommend this book if you’re a fantasy genre fan or want some more South American in your fiction. Otherwise, spend your time elsewhere, because if the setting won’t carry it for you, then characters definitely won’t.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Miscarriage, Racism, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Chronic illness, Body horror, Classism, Emotional abuse, Gore, Religious bigotry, and Violence

Moderate: Colonisation, Alcohol, Kidnapping, Sexual violence, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Rape, Confinement, Infertility, Child death, Fire/Fire injury, Incest, Pregnancy, and Sexual assault

Minor: Slavery, War, Vomit, and Medical content

yarisbooksandbevs's review against another edition

adventurous reflective 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

2.0

I wanted more from this book. I felt like he world building and magic system was a bit unclear and incomplete. I thought the characters started to show some growth until they made questionable decisions in the end and it felt like a step back in their development.

Honestly this book left me with so many questions on the world building front.

Why does Reina see her heart as monstrous? Because of iridio? Then why does she admire when Celeste uses it? Eva’s family treated her like crap and she refused to believe that they were lying about her father? How do the nozariel wear clothes with their tails? Is iridio inherently tethered to Rahmagut? Why do some users acknowledge him and others don’t? Among others

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On a character front, many of them didn’t stick with me or make me love them or hate them. I didn’t have strong feelings for a lot of the characters other than annoyance at their dumb decisions. I did like Maior and her fiery personality.

I liked that Reina chose Maior in the end. I thought they had more chemistry and fit better than Reina and Celeste. Reina started off very naive and impressionable and stayed that way for the majority of the book but I’m glad we saw some development, even if it was toward the last couple of chapters. On Eva’s side, she really started to upset me toward the end. She refused to believe her kind father and stuck to what her horrible grandmother told her, she refused to defend Javier. I know Javier was morally grey but at least he knew he wasn’t a saint. Eva acts all high and mighty then turns around and acts cruel to Javier and caused the whole mess in the end! Not to mention she becomes arrogant with her abilities. I thought Doña Ursulina was easy to hate and Doña Laurel was easy to love which was nice.

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I wanted more clarity in the world building and character development. There were a few characters I enjoyed and I thought the fighting scenes were well described. I don’t think I will be picking up the rest of the series but I am glad I gave it a chance and someone who isn’t as nit picky about world building may enjoy this more than I did.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Kidnapping, Violence, Racism, Colonisation, Death, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Gore, Toxic friendship, Murder, Racial slurs, Slavery, Blood, Classism, and Homophobia

Minor: Pregnancy, Rape, Incest, Infertility, Cursing, Death of parent, Alcohol, Genocide, Self harm, and Child death

rambles's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Violence, Death, Racial slurs, Body horror, Emotional abuse, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Colonisation, Death of parent, Classism, Homophobia, Incest, Rape, and Lesbophobia

gen_wolfhailstorm's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.5

Thank you to Black Crow PR for granting me a physical uncorrected proof of this title. All opinions remain 100% genuine.

Buddy read with Sharron Joy Reads.

I loved the depth of this tale. It was slow for the first 3rd or so with world building but once I pushed through, I found it to be worthwhile.
The setting was lush, tense and atmospheric, all at the appropriate times.

I appreciated all the contextual terminology being at the front. I find nothing more tedious than trailing through the end of the book, looking for what something means, with the fear of seeing a spoiler hanging over me like a black cloud.

The conversation of oppression, classim and the mistreatment of other species due to being who they are was so on point to how society still is in the real world.

The sapphic romance threaded through was great. I felt like there was a lot of manipulation in the romance though (as well as the platonic relationships) and it was hurtful to see characters I began to care about being strung along on the whims of others.

The magic system felt unique and unusual to me and though at times it went over my head a little, I was excited to see powers being mastered by various characters.

this is the 2nd book in as many with some weird incest thread, oh dear... I mean I wasn't expecting that and I still don't really get the how... I guess Celeste and Reina would be 1st half cousins?

Overall, I really enjoyed this book and can see how it can set up for a sequel, but equally would feel complete enough as a stand a lone.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Sexual content, Addiction, Body shaming, Child death, Suicide attempt, Death, Abandonment, Confinement, Death of parent, Homophobia, Infertility, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Racism, Colonisation, Cursing, Slavery, War, Chronic illness, Classism, Gore, Misogyny, Self harm, Xenophobia, Grief, Racial slurs, Sexism, Toxic friendship, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Incest, Kidnapping, Medical content, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Lesbophobia, Trafficking, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Hate crime, and Toxic relationship

2treads's review against another edition

dark medium-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? No

3.0

A solid debut with an intriguing storyline, characters that both annoyed and interested me, a queer love triangle with a touch of unrequited and forbidden love, creatures touched and warped by magic, all told around searching for familial acceptance in a society with a familiar foundation built on intolerance, religious persecution, and hierarchical attitudes.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence

Moderate: Blood, Death of parent, Grief, Classism, and Death

Minor: Religious bigotry, Lesbophobia, Confinement, and Racial slurs

ladynavalon's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark inspiring slow-paced

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

3.0

I really enjoyed the world bulding, that's five stars, no doubt. But, I didn't like the pace, some characters seem not know what to doy and the plot is not clear for the first half of the book. In this sense, I feel like the characters needed more work. Also, I didn't like how the author writes... I admire her for writting almost 600 pages in a different language, but it is hard to follow her sometimes... but I insist, I love the world she created.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Death of parent, Colonisation, Kidnapping, Hate crime, Dysphoria, Death, Domestic abuse, Sexual assault, Religious bigotry, Miscarriage, Incest, Homophobia, Gaslighting, Abortion, Toxic friendship, Terminal illness, Slavery, Bullying, Blood, Racial slurs, Mental illness, Lesbophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Child death, Racism, Body shaming, Abandonment, Xenophobia, and Murder

_teoeo's review against another edition

adventurous 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

2.0

"The Sun and The Void" was one of my most anticipated books this year and I'm really glad that I was able to read an ARC of it! 
The blurb was really promising but after reading the book I have to say that even with good plot ideas the execution wasn't as satisfying. 
Let's start with the things I enjoyed: 

• The woldbuilding happened through the eyes of the protagonist
• The arc of suspense at the end was quite good and I enjoyed reading the last chapters. 

But the biggest issue I had with the book was the timeline. The story expanded over a view years and because of that it feld like the author wanted to put too many plot points in this book. There was too little focus on different events and they fell a bit flat.  Also, the characters seemed kinda inconsistent and some of their actions didn't made sense. 

Another thing I didn't like were the love interests. They were either racist (at least in the beginning) or abusive and still, the protagonists fall for them. I really didn't like that the abusive behaviour was explained with

"a curse"

for that seemed to take the responsibility for their actions. 

All in all I would say that the ideas for the plot are could be good but it needs a little more balance between booklength and events in the story as well as more comprehensible character building.

Thank you NetGalley for providing an e-ARC of this book!

Edit: changed my review to 2 stars, for the more I thought about this book, the more problematic aspects I've found. Especially the ableism, ugh!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism

Moderate: Blood, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Cultural appropriation, Incest, Child death, Colonisation, Gaslighting, Medical content, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Bullying, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Death, Racism, Toxic friendship, and Violence

Minor: Rape, Abandonment, and Suicide

romie_chat's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Death, and Racial slurs

Moderate: Rape