Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

The Spear Cuts Through Water by Simon Jimenez

15 reviews

inmyths's review

5.0

absolutely adore this type of storytelling 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Body horror, Blood, Animal death, Death of parent, Excrement, Animal cruelty, Fire/Fire injury, War, Cannibalism, Death, Murder, and Violence

Minor: Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Vomit, Sexual violence, and Suicide

jesshaleth's review

adventurous dark emotional 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

4.75

A dream about a play of a folk tale your grandmother used to tell you. And yet it doesn't feel distant and alien, like an abstract telling might, it just feels mythic and beautiful. ...okay well no some of it was quite graphic and I couldn't call it all beautiful, check the content warnings, but like it fit into the themes and vibes somehow.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Cursing, Violence, Murder, Ableism, Confinement, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Excrement, Animal death, Blood, Cannibalism, and Vomit

Moderate: Child death, Mental illness, Abandonment, Alcohol, Rape, Torture, Child abuse, Sexual assault, War, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual content, and Physical abuse

storyorc's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad slow-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

4.0

World like a Studio Ghibli dream, violence to make you wince, and characters who range from trying so hard to be better to monsters with oddly redeeming qualities. The experimental literary device of head hopping into bit-characters for a sentence or two of italics allows people from all strata of this society a voice and makes it feel so alive and extensive. It is one of many examples of how Jimenez infuses the story with empathy to give it depth; he doesn't demand that we excuse wrong-doing, only that we understand it.

The main two characters are exactly the messy and fun relationship needed to anchor such a surreal tale. The framing device of a modern-day emigrant watching the story as a play was atmospheric and provided some cool a-ha moments but might have felt more vital to someone with more similarities in their family history. I was always eager to return to our two heroes of myth.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: War, Child abuse, and Ableism

Minor: Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Sexism

wormsnacks's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional fast-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? Yes

4.75

Extraordinarily written, the writer pulls no punches and weaves the story beautifully, my only issue is that while I understand the writer's dedication to leaving in lots of graphic or difficult scenes, I felt that towards the middle of the book it became a little too bogged down in the gore for me to easily recommend it without so warnings

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Cannibalism, War, and Violence

Moderate: Sexual content

Minor: Incest, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

sunjaybooks's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional inspiring slow-paced

5.0

This book has it all! Gender, family trauma, psychic tortoises, ableism, gay sex, moral ambiguity, genocide, the broad scope of history, magic and myth. It's beautifully written and also deeply deeply violent and yet still humanistic in its portrayal of the aggressors, victims, and all the morally ambiguous people in between.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Colonisation, Death, Death of parent, Sexual assault, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Excrement, War, Ableism, Alcoholism, Gore, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual violence, Slavery, Violence, Classism, Self harm, Suicide, and Genocide

atomicrobin's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful medium-paced

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

4.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Cannibalism, Emotional abuse, Blood, Death, Physical abuse, Violence, Misogyny, Murder, and Torture

Moderate: Confinement, Sexual content, Self harm, Grief, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, and Toxic relationship

city_girl_writer's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

Words cannot capture how much I have felt while reading this amazing piece of literature. Simon Jimenez became a new all-time favorite and auto-buy author for me. Check out the content warnings though because this is a dark story.

This is a love story to its blade-dented bone.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Cannibalism, Death, and Violence

Moderate: Sexual content, Child abuse, and Ableism

Minor: War and Sexual assault

crochet_dinosaur's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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? Yes

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Cannibalism, Blood, Body horror, and Violence

Minor: Sexual assault

emzhay's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny inspiring mysterious reflective tense 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

This book completely altered my brain chemistry. There are so many things going on in this book, and they’re all executed flawlessly. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Torture, Cannibalism, and Animal death

Moderate: Sexual content, Homophobia, and Excrement

Minor: War, Dementia, Confinement, and Sexual assault

paytonwileyp's review against another edition

adventurous emotional inspiring reflective 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? Yes

4.75

I struggled with the decision to give this rating. It is not perfect, and there are some things I did not particularly love, but it was so unique, emotional, and so grand in scale but yet focused enough to center your attention. I could hardly put it down. This is definitely a book that I want to revisit in the future and it is one that I am very happy to have read.

My least favorite parts of the book were the second terror, he really bothered me and I didn’t like the way that he was written or the way he used his power. At times it felt cheesy. 
Also the description of the third terror’s *parts* made me very uncomfortable and it just didn’t feel necessary to me.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Violence

Moderate: Sexual assault and Cannibalism

Minor: Suicide