Reviews tagging 'Slavery'

П'ята пора by N.K. Jemisin

217 reviews

chthonicgod's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective medium-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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Slavery, Grief, and Murder

Moderate: Child abuse, Rape, Toxic relationship, and Pregnancy

cantfindmybookmark's review against another edition

adventurous 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Slavery, Torture, Forced institutionalization, Trafficking, and Classism

vivavia's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

cookiecat73's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Trafficking, Grief, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Genocide, Gore, Racism, Transphobia, Vomit, Cannibalism, Pregnancy, and Colonisation

Minor: Confinement, Slavery, and Dysphoria

cptnstphy's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring 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

4.5

Fascinating what Jemison is capable of! The story unfolds in very unexpected and exciting ways. I knew early on that I would have to read it twice to really understand it, and I look forward to doing so. The worldbuilding is strong and the characters mysterious and interesting, and the reader can feel connected to them in some ways despite the fantasy-inflicted differences.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Gore, Sexual content, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, and Medical content

Minor: Vomit, Cannibalism, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol

emflipspages's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional inspiring mysterious 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Violence, Murder, and War

Minor: Pedophilia and Rape

lucystolethesky's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexual content, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Bullying, Confinement, Deadnaming, Gore, Slavery, Blood, and Trafficking

Minor: Mental illness, Transphobia, Cannibalism, and Pregnancy

bestdressman's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense 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? It's complicated

5.0

A phenomenally diverse book from racial, ethnic, and queer standpoints, N. K. Jemison manages to casually weave all of these elements together in a normalized background to the greater science fiction that is the Stillness. I felt transported into the world in a deep and imaginative way. I love when I can read fiction in a way that makes me feel I could study the history of a world for years and still not understand it, and Jemisen's worldbuilding ABSOLUTELY does this. For the first time as a white reader, I noticed I was envisioning most characters as people of color, and the deep storytelling that occurred along the way brought me to tears. It's wild that I haven't read this until now, and I wish I had been handed something like this FAR earlier in my life.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture

Moderate: Sexual content, Slavery, Torture, Violence, and Murder

Minor: Child death

somewhat detailed torturous description of individuals with superhuman abilities being medically incapacitated and used as tools

brief scene in which a mother kills her own child for self-preservation and prevention of child slavery

abitbetterbooks's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective 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

5.0

I’m so sad I waited so long to read this book. I know it’s won countless awards and it is deserving of every single one. 

I think there are a few things that this book does really, really well. The world-building is incredible. It offers complex geography, local politics, history of empire, and social class structure, a “magic” system, as well as noting that this known history is just one of many histories of the land. It’s absolutely brilliant, but then it’s paired with stunning character work. Damaya, Syenite, and Essun all share different perspectives throughout the narrative and the pieces these 3 stories slot together illustrate how much you can root for a character, be frustrated by them, be angry at and for them, the parallels between fear, anger, and grief. 

One thing I really loved about this apocalypse story is that it’s not a stereotypical dystopia where a teenage chosen one with powers has to save the day. As we follow Essun, she’s a woman in her mid-late 30s, she’s a mother, and she’s not trying to save the day; she’s just trying to survive. She’s not a “good guy”— she’s actually been the bad guy and has been told she’s the bad guy, subhuman, her entire life, and that her powers are not a magical gift, but a curse. It’s also casually queer in a way that surprised me for a fantasy book in 2015 (I know that’s not THAT long ago but still) and the openness of relationship & parenting structures. It’s not bound by our conceptions of patriarchy and family and I absolutely love that. 

This book is genre defying and genre defining. It’s everything fantasy can and should be. I cannot wait to start the Obelisk Gate! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Slavery, Violence, Grief, and Murder

Moderate: Genocide

Minor: Cannibalism and War

ecramer44's review against another edition

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? No

4.5

This was a difficult book to read. With the second person POV and the some of the content. But it was still amazing, it’s a beautifully crafted book and the twists and turns were wild. There were some instances where the characters would realize something and then not talk about it at all which was rough but it was beautiful. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Sexual assault, Slavery, and Grief