Reviews tagging 'Sexual violence'

Piąta Pora Roku by N.K. Jemisin

69 reviews

kimia_hyperfocuser's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

4.5

Well, that was dark. 
However, N.K.Jemisin managed to tell a story revolving around her real-life values without going overboard, without being so obvious about it that the reader is pulled out of the fantasy world. Shit is subtle. 
How she managed to create something as creepy as the guardians, though, amazes me. They're not analogous to anything in the real world, as far as I can tell. Not the one-on-one relationship and the hands-off style of control, at least. 
Halfway through, my dumb ass was like

"Damaya sounds like she will grow up to have a similar personality to Syenite, I wonder what the narrative will do with two very similar women."

Haha.
And the polyamory representation... My heart! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Child abuse, Child death, Sexual violence, and Slavery

zulawskis's review against another edition

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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Physical abuse, Child abuse, Racism, Torture, and Violence

brynalexa's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

An entire book of world building but it works! I love how it comes together in the end and also how it doesn’t. Immediately picking up The Obelisk Gate. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Murder, Abandonment, Violence, Fire/Fire injury, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Rape, Misogyny, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, Injury/Injury detail, Child death, Slavery, Trafficking, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Torture and Stalking

Minor: Alcohol

tabitha_thorns's review against another edition

adventurous challenging medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, and Sexual violence

thewileyseven's review against another edition

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

I would give this even more stars if I could. Jemisin's writing is beyond unique--a once-in-a-lifetime manipulator of voice and crafter of story. This is a must read for anyone looking for the future of science fiction. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Torture, Child abuse, and Death

Moderate: Sexual violence and Sexual assault

delphinaris's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-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? It's complicated

4.5

what the fuck, like actually. There's genuinely so many different moving pieces to this book. I have so many questions, just like, wow. I fucking called it that all POVs were the same person, I knew it. Also Syenite pissed me off so much, like it was just one stupid move after the other. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Blood, Murder, Bullying, Animal death, Alcohol, Infertility, Infidelity, Child death, Abandonment, Cannibalism, Xenophobia, War, Vomit, Violence, Transphobia, Trafficking, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Torture, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Slavery, Stalking, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Sexism, Rape, Racism, Racial slurs, Pregnancy, Physical abuse, Pedophilia, Misogyny, Mental illness, Medical content, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Grief, Genocide, Forced institutionalization, Fire/Fire injury, Excrement, Emotional abuse, Drug use, Domestic abuse, Death of parent, Death, Cursing, Colonisation, Classism, Confinement, and Child abuse

This book is majorly fucked up; especially the scenes in the Fulcrum. Read at your own risk.

talasterism's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective 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? It's complicated

5.0

WAHHHH THE ENDING PART IS JSUT SO PERFECT. ITS JUST SO GENIUS PONDEROUS STORY i love the worldbuilding/lore and the conflict and the tWISTS and the last part is so fucking good and juicy and painful in the best way. WHAT A GREAT FUCKING STORY

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse and Child death

Moderate: Sexual violence, Xenophobia, Slavery, Mental illness, Pregnancy, and Pedophilia

zombiezami's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

4.75

I was very confused in the beginning, and I’d say I didn’t quite understand what was going on until about 75 percent of the way through the book, but by the end I was very invested. N.K. Jemisin is a genius

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death, Child death, Gore, Murder, Violence, Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, Racial slurs, and Grief

Moderate: Confinement, Pregnancy, Alcohol, Sexual content, Slavery, Stalking, Animal death, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Vomit, Torture, and War

Minor: Pedophilia, Sexual violence, and Cannibalism

cheye13's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

This is a masterfully composed story and an expertly crafted world. I particularly enjoyed the interludes that broke the story here and there - beautiful passages that also foreshadowed and added subtext seamlessly.

There was a consistently morose tone and happy moments were few and far between, which I found trying at times. But overal an excellent book that I would recommend widely. Can't wait to see where the rest of the story goes.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Child death, Child abuse, Death, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Sexual content, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Forced institutionalization, Abandonment, and Torture

Minor: Pedophilia, Trafficking, Homophobia, Cannibalism, Sexual violence, Transphobia, and Slavery

galacticvampire's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense slow-paced

5.0

"Stupid, stupid woman. Death was always here. Death is you."

I was enamoured by the concept of The Fifth Season from the first time I heard about it years ago, added to overall praise for the series, I was coming with high expectations.

And it delivered. Everything and more.

The execution not only lives up to the concept, but surpasses it. The suspense isn't there to pull the rug from under your feet in a gotcha moment, it's carefully crafted into the story, where the reveals are satisfying and spark the need for more, even when you caught what the foreshadowing was trying to tell you.

The world is so rich and complex that the initial struggle to follow what was going on (including the recurrent second person pov) has an immense pay-off. The feeling of wonder didn't leave me for a second.

I'm very much on the transition from YA to Adult Fantasy, so the very real darkness and grittiness surrounding everything was unexpected, but I couldn't have picked a better book to make me fall in love with the genre.

This is a story about Pain. This is a story about Grief. This is a story about enduring them and surviving them, because you have no other option.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Emotional abuse, Child abuse, Death, Physical abuse, Slavery, Grief, Violence, and Blood

Moderate: Racial slurs, Abandonment, Sexual content, Rape, and Bullying

Minor: Alcohol, Hate crime, Sexual violence, Adult/minor relationship, Colonisation, Pedophilia, Racism, and Xenophobia