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kayleypew's review against another edition
Minor: Homophobia
lonelylooper's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Graphic: Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Dementia, Confinement, and Mental illness
Moderate: Murder, Slavery, Death, Homophobia, and Gun violence
Minor: Fatphobia, Deadnaming, Child death, Fire/Fire injury, and Cursing
mohana's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
Moderate: Homophobia
cherryboo's review against another edition
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
1.75
The writing is absolutely gorgeous, and I only finished it to read more of the lovely prose.
However, a fair warning to everyone ahead of time, this book, through the lens of Christianity, supports so so many problematic beliefs that make it so I would struggle to recommend this book to someone else.
Susanna unacceptably vilifies gay men, and explicitly writes that being gay is and was a choice, with the main conflict within the story being about how said "villainous" gay man kidnapped young men to abuse them for his experiments which is a disgusting trope that has time and time again been proven to be an exaggerated claim used for scaremongering tactics.
In addition, Clarke uses the aesthetics of Greco-Roman culture which is revered within the West but inserts heavy-handed unabashed support of Christian themes in order to conflate their relationship. This not only creates additional justification for Christianity's beliefs by elevating it to the status of reverence that is held for the former, but also erases the fact that the Romans were actually extremely opposed to Christianity.
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I'm not saying that this book is inherently or objectively bad; it's actually still really really good which is why I finished it. But I believe that denying the fact that there are problematic elements to the book would be extremely ignorant as well.
Graphic: Homophobia and Fatphobia
pnwbibliophile's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Minor: Homophobia
violerwolf's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Intriguing mysteries, deep symbolism and philosophical reflection, and a riveting but small cast of characters make this book impossible to put down. I can’t wait to reread it.
Graphic: Gaslighting, Kidnapping, Death, and Confinement
Minor: Child death, Homophobia, Cursing, and Vomit
Somewhat spoilers, kept as vague as possible:mobymaize's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Holy fuck this book rocks.
Graphic: Abandonment, Animal death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Slavery, Stalking, Kidnapping, Child death, Death, Confinement, Torture, Bullying, Cursing, Physical abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Violence, and Gaslighting
Moderate: Homophobia
sunflower7skull's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Torture, Death, Abandonment, Confinement, Kidnapping, and Gaslighting
Moderate: Blood, Violence, and Cursing
Minor: Homophobia, Excrement, Mental illness, and Vomit
Warning for amnesia / character not in stable mindset at all!queenie_ofthe_void's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Dementia, Kidnapping, Gaslighting, Mental illness, Slavery, Confinement, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Homophobia, Murder, Rape, Death, Grief, Adult/minor relationship, Injury/Injury detail, and Physical abuse
miss_vonnegut's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Graphic: Gaslighting and Kidnapping
Moderate: Homophobia
Minor: Murder