Reviews tagging 'Slavery'

The Empire of Gold by S.A. Chakraborty

62 reviews

laurenkimoto's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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? Yes

4.5

Wow this was a rare series where the sequels either stayed the same quality or got better. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Forced institutionalization, Genocide, Torture, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Sexual assault, Rape, Animal death, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Cursing, Grief, War, Vomit, Trafficking, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Sexism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Religious bigotry, Physical abuse, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Infidelity, Hate crime, Racism, Homophobia, Alcohol, Blood, Gaslighting, Gore, Racial slurs, Pregnancy, Animal cruelty, Child death, Colonisation, Confinement, Death of parent, Dementia, Domestic abuse, Classism, Cultural appropriation, Death, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Violence, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Slavery, Sexual content, and Murder

clovertures's review against another edition

adventurous challenging 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Violence, Slavery, Death, Blood, and Grief

Moderate: Rape

tinybluepixel's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Fire/Fire injury, Hate crime, Medical trauma, Blood, Body horror, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Slavery, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Medical content, Murder, War, and Violence

Moderate: Pregnancy, Physical abuse, Animal cruelty, Suicide attempt, Body horror, Colonisation, Dementia, Gaslighting, Religious bigotry, and Suicidal thoughts

lais's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Blood, Genocide, Gaslighting, Grief, Hate crime, and Murder

Moderate: Slavery

instalovewithbooks's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

5.0

All I am gunna put right now is inconsolable crying over chapter 46 because holy shit.
Empire ruined me. I thought Brass and Copper have, but no, Empire is where I broke 😭
 
  chapter 46, where Dara is saying goodbye forever to Nahri absolutely devastated me. I was trying to read as my eyes are turning blurry with tears ruined me. I'm so lost on that, and I KNOW it makes sense but that does not take away how much it hurt to see them finally separate I really hope Dara got some happiness. My Afshin.../

This series has honestly been a trilogy where it has kept me wanting to read it over and over again. I have now read City of Brass 3x, Kingdom of Copper 2x, and now Empire of Gold once. I did not know what to expect from this book, I honestly felt lost through it, and it wasn't because it was a bad book, it was quite the opposite. It was one of those books that you really aren't sure what the direction of the story will take, and what will happen next.

I am very much glad we are getting River of Silver this year as a physical book because I must have it. I really need something more to carry me on as this trilogy has taken a year off my life, I swear.

Honestly, this review is a mess, and I just don't care. I love this book so very much, and I plan to return to this world as many times as possible. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Torture, Medical trauma, Blood, Violence, Toxic friendship, Murder, Gore, War, Medical content, and Grief

Moderate: Slavery and Gaslighting

Minor: Confinement

isleoflinds's review against another edition

adventurous emotional reflective slow-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Hate crime, Medical trauma, Xenophobia, Violence, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Torture, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Death of parent, Genocide, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Gaslighting, Gore, Religious bigotry, Racial slurs, and War

Moderate: Grief, Mass/school shootings, Pregnancy, Trafficking, Colonisation, Sexual content, Alcohol, and Outing

Minor: Rape

kindra_demi's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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? Yes

3.75

I said this in my last review but I genuinely am glad that I stuck with this series! The politics, the slow burn, the heartbreak and ache. I listened to the audiobooks while doing other stuff but now I want to reread it all with physical books! (Though my family would rather I listen to them again because my reactions to the twist and some of the other moments that happened had them dying laughing.) 

Empires never last and we began to see that at the end of <i>Kingdom of Copper</i>. Chakraborty continues to exploit the fine threads that barely keeps all of the groups together, sees how she can manipulate them to being stronger or into breaking. 

We get to see Nahri explore what she defines as home when she is thrown back into her childhood home of Cairo: a city that raised Nahri created the foundation for a lot of her personality. In the past books, we got to see her realize how much Cairo had influenced her, but in the beginning of Empire of Gold, we get to see her explore who she is after 6 years in Daevebad. Intertwined with the discussion of home is the discussion of family, and as a result, we see how Nahri views herself in this world. 

The romance didn’t feel cheesy or trope-ey. Characters did not just bounce from one to another because “love”. Chakraborty wrote how messy emotions can be. How we can’t just wish them away, as much as we try. 

Overall, I will definitely be rereading these in the future again when I have some time to sit down and loose myself in the world again! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, War, Blood, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, and Violence

Moderate: Gun violence and Slavery

rebeccajost's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Confinement, Grief, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Toxic friendship, Violence, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, Death, Fire/Fire injury, and Genocide

Moderate: Alcohol, Body horror, Death of parent, Kidnapping, Slavery, and Gun violence

Minor: Sexual content

readandfindout's review against another edition

adventurous emotional slow-paced

• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.75

Style/writing: 4.5 stars
Themes: 5 stars
Characters: 4.5 stars
Plot: 4.5 stars
Worldbuilding: 5 stars

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Murder, Medical content, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Genocide, Grief, Death of parent, Religious bigotry, Child death, War, Violence, Death, Blood, Torture, and Gore

Moderate: Xenophobia

readwithria's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious 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

4.0

Empire of Gold takes what the previous Daevabad books set up and ties everything together in a way that is both satisfying and leaves room for continued growth.

I always appreciate when series keep getting stronger as they go, and the Daevabad trilogy does just that. Chakraborty pulls together all of the elements of her world and gives them all the time they deserve. Characters make hard choices that have serious consequences and those consequences continue into the resolution. The end of this series doesn't equate to the end of the growth of these characters, and even in the epilogue, I could see and appreciate where they were heading. 

One of the things I really like about this book is that it gives a significant amount of time to the aftermath. A full 70ish pages (about 10%) of the book takes place as the dust is settling and gives us readers a chance to see how the characters we've grown to love are going to shape their world. It was necessary, especially for an 18k page series, and it was done extremely well.

While this series isn't one I would seek out again on my own, I thoroughly enjoyed it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Kidnapping, Medical content, Murder, Religious bigotry, Slavery, and Torture