Reviews tagging 'Pedophilia'

The Route of Ice and Salt by José Luis Zárate

6 reviews

lyserature's review against another edition

4.0

This is unhinged, gothic, very horny. For fans of Dracula, obviously. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content and Homophobia

Moderate: Cannibalism

Minor: Child abuse, Pedophilia, and Adult/minor relationship

kaiyakaiyo's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.75

This one was a doozy. Definitely leaned into the horror aspect (some of the rat scenes sent chills down my spine), but also honed in quite well on the queer themes. The captain (does he have a name?) is extremely neurotic & super fucking horny for other sailors, and those two things combine into a tremendous amount of guilt and misery about his sexuality. Dracula, being the literal leech he is, takes advantage of said guilt to deleterious effects. The first half was definitely… something, but the latter half of this book is incredibly interesting. As a Dracula- (the book) obsessed freak, this was very much my jam. Gotta love when someone un-subs the subtext and just makes it text 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia and Hate crime

Moderate: Sexual assault, Murder, Blood, and Suicide

Minor: Pedophilia

sofipitch's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes

5.0

Much more erotic than I expected. 😂 The prose is sensual, and a lot of the imagery and horror momentsIsuperb. I also think vampirism = homosexuality is so common but it is usually implicit or simply presented with gay vampires. It's interesting to see the story of a gay man who has been persecuted like a monster realize he isn't one when faced with the real thing

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Injury/Injury detail, Homophobia, Hate crime, and Blood

Moderate: Pedophilia and Gore

teaxmillions's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content

Moderate: Homophobia and Hate crime

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Murder, Pedophilia, Violence, and Blood

midgeyu's review against another edition

challenging dark tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Hate crime, and Homophobia

Moderate: Body horror and Suicide

Minor: Pedophilia and Racism

Homophobia: The book deals pretty intensely with the narrators internalized homophobia--particularly around his sexual desire--and concerns about what would occur if people found out he is gay. In one scene, he confesses his desire for another man, and is refuted cruelly. A lot of repressed sexuality oozing from every page, especially in the first half. However,

the emotional climax of the book is the narrator realizing that his desire is not inherently sinful, and that he is not a monster for his desires

Death: This isn't really spoiler, but I'll spoiler tag it anyway for those who know nothing about Dracula

the entire cast dies, including the narrator

Hate crime:

We learn that the narrator's lover was outed and brutally killed by a mob; his body was also desecrated

Suicide:

A supporting character jumps overboard to his death rather than face Dracula

Body horror: I'm not entirely sure this is the appropriate tag for this, but a lot of the horror elements do have to do with the body in various ways. Maybe avoid if you are squeamish in this regard. Pedophilia: The narrator mentions briefly that as part of covering his gay desires, he chooses sex workers who are young and aren't as developed (more boyish looking than womanly.) An exact age is not mentioned, but one can inferred they are underaged. There is later a brief mention of how its not uncommon for young boys to stowaway on ships and become "cabin boys" who exchange sexual favors for their passage. Also, the narrator states that he was young for his first sexual encounter--age unclear. He pursues a man who is older than him, again age unclear. Racism: There is a some period-typical racism/xenophobia, particularly near the beginning when a group of foreign men bring the cargo aboard the ship.

noreadingdegree's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

**i received an e-arc via netgalley. thank you netgalley for approving this book! all thoughts are entirely my own** 

this was quite the interesting read. i have not read dracula so i do not know if a familiarity with the original text would have been more beneficial to my reading experience. the writing/translation was atmospheric and lush, but almost to a fault. at times, i found the lush writing to be bloated and distracting to the plot. for me, the writing would work better in an audiobook format. i also enjoyed the steady increase of tension throughout the novel as something makes itself known of the ship. some things that did not work for me were the wild and graphic dream sequences and depictions of sexual acts. i understand the examination of literature using vampirism as an allegory for homosexuality, but i felt that that idea was not challenged enough for my liking. it definitely toed the line of perpetuating that idea and critiquing it. with that being said, this is a work of fiction that was written ~20 years ago and understand that the social commentary may be more appropriate for the time it was released.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Homophobia, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Violence

Moderate: Cannibalism

graphic depictions of masturbation, oral sex, and sexual bodily fluids.