Reviews with content warning for Rape - Los leones de Bagdad

Reviews tagging 'Rape'

Los leones de Bagdad by Brian K. Vaughan

12 reviews

roach's review against another edition

adventurous dark sad tense fast-paced

3.5

At the end of every day, I watched as the horizon devoured the sun in slow, steady bites and shed its blood across the azure blue sky.

(Quote translated from German.)

I was very interested in a xenofiction story set in war-torn Iraq. Even more intriguing when I learned about the real-life inspiration of it: A news story that went viral in 2003 when lions were roaming the streets after the zoo was destroyed by bombs during the US invasion.
The set-up was obviously ripe for an exploration of war and freedom through the eyes of a non-human, uninvolved point of view.

While the concept in itself is really cool and I enjoyed Niko Henrichon's art quite a lot, Brain Vaughan's writing was lacking. His initial idea is very cool and I give him props for that, but the character dialog is a bit too one-note and edgy. The constant bickering between the lion characters became tiresome fairly quickly and the story was plagued by some typical tropes of fiction that tries to be a bit darker and shocking than it probably needed. Some of it comes across as ridiculously dramatic and gratuitous, without actually adding much to or making us of the genuinely great setting.
I still had a decent time with this short read overall, but I get everyone who isn't able to overlook the weak aspects of this graphic novel. It certainly could have been much, much better.

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ehmannky's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad fast-paced

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

3.5

An emotional and evocative look at the American invasion of Iraq, even if I think the metaphors were a bit clunky at times and I am not entirely sure if I think they all completely land. The ending few pages do pack quite the punch though.

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unicornrhyfedd's review against another edition

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challenging dark tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated

3.5

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spooderman's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective sad 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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leonineliterature's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

I really enjoyed rereading it. It was much darker than I remember though, and quite a but sadder too. I feel like it could've been a little bit longer. That would've enabled the ending to pack an even harder punch.

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saintyeehaw's review against another edition

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dark reflective sad fast-paced

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

2.5

Kind of needlessly sexist and sexual. Feels like something that tries to be deep but misses the mark.

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bluejayreads's review against another edition

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emotional sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes

4.25

My husband has been pestering me to read this for a long time (I think a couple years at this point). I finally sat down and read it. It took me about half an hour, and I think this text conversation between my husband and I sums it up pretty well:

Me: I read Pride of Baghdad and it was so sad why did you DO that to me
Him: It's a good read though, right? A tragedy unlike any other
Me: I DID NOT KNOW IT WAS A TRAGEDY I NEARLY F***ING CRIED
Me: but yes, very good read

This is a sad book. A very sad book. If you do not want to see animals die this is not your book. If you do not want to cry or at least feel very much like crying this is not your book. It's a good story but that ending will make you sob.

This graphic novel is based on a true story of four lions who escaped the Baghdad Zoo when it was bombed. The four lions (two lionesses, one male lion, and a cub) wander the bombed streets of Baghdad, seeing the horrors of humans at war without comprehending. Somehow that makes it even sadder.

This is a good book. The artwork was good (I was not a huge fan of how the artist drew the lions' faces, but that's a minor personal quibble), the story was good, I got a solid emotional connection to these lions, it makes interesting points about the nature of freedom and the horrors of war. Just ... make sure you know going in that there are no happy endings here.

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