Reviews tagging 'Medical trauma'

Piąta Pora Roku by N.K. Jemisin

19 reviews

madamenovelist's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Slavery, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Physical abuse, Pedophilia, Kidnapping, Cursing, Child abuse, Child death, Animal death, Xenophobia, Vomit, Violence, Medical trauma, Death, Rape, Racial slurs, Racism, Police brutality, Medical content, Grief, Murder, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Emotional abuse, and Blood

f18's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Torture, Child death, Bullying, Murder, and Violence

Moderate: Classism, Medical trauma, Blood, Abandonment, Slavery, and Gore

Minor: Cursing, Sexual content, Transphobia, Vomit, Animal death, Cannibalism, Alcohol, and Rape

unwanted pregnancy

ghostofefrant's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Confinement, Physical abuse, Death of parent, Classism, Death, Body horror, and Child death

Moderate: Bullying, Torture, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Rape, and Pregnancy

Minor: Pedophilia, Adult/minor relationship, Medical trauma, and Pandemic/Epidemic

cptnstphy's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious 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? It's complicated

4.5

Fascinating what Jemison is capable of! The story unfolds in very unexpected and exciting ways. I knew early on that I would have to read it twice to really understand it, and I look forward to doing so. The worldbuilding is strong and the characters mysterious and interesting, and the reader can feel connected to them in some ways despite the fantasy-inflicted differences.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Slavery, Blood, Confinement, Murder, Sexual content, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Body horror, Medical trauma, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Gore, and Grief

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Medical content, Mental illness, and Physical abuse

Minor: Alcohol, Fire/Fire injury, Cannibalism, and Vomit

yourbookishbff's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad 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

We've got a (maybe?) post-apocalyptic world with three alternating POVs, a nonlinear timeline, a mysterious (and potentially unreliable?) narrator speaking to us in the second person and a few of the most richly developed characters I've encountered in fantasy. The writing style is hard to define - each POV is starkly individual, at times alarmingly casual and at other times poetic and at still others a stream of consciousness. 

There really is no other book (I know of) that serves as a useful/direct comparison, but I do believe readers who love the Locked Tomb series (particularly for Muir's use of an unreliable narrator/second person POV in Harrow) and Legendborn (for Deonn's skillful use of fantasy to create a rich allegory for slavery and colonialism) will enjoy this.

And THE TWISTS. They were perfectly executed. Jemisin weaves clues in so subtly that you don't notice them for what they are until you've reached your first big reveal. I love an author who can pull off a well-deserved twist that all at once feels both obvious and unbelievable because they've laid the foundation so well. It's a pet peeve of mine when fantasy authors deliver a plot "twist" simply by omitting crucial information for the reader (looking at you SJM-House-of-Earth-and-Blood-and-House-of-Sky-and-Breath), and this, thankfully, is not that. 

Highly recommend!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Physical abuse, Abandonment, Child death, Child abuse, Colonisation, Medical trauma, Slavery, Emotional abuse, and Murder

Moderate: Body horror and Blood

Minor: Abandonment

mossgoblins'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? Yes

5.0

Incredible story with the best worldbuilding I have ever seen. N.K. Jemison is a master of her craft!

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Classism, Excrement, Body horror, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Violence, Blood, Confinement, Grief, Pregnancy, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Murder, and Forced institutionalization

studydniowka's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad 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

5.0

One of the best fantasy books I have ever read. Epic story about the world so different but still so similar to our lives here and now.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Forced institutionalization, Sexual violence, Police brutality, Medical content, Hate crime, Racism, Xenophobia, Violence, Physical abuse, Gore, Death, Confinement, Classism, Child abuse, Toxic relationship, Misogyny, Grief, Emotional abuse, Child death, Torture, Slavery, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Murder, Medical trauma, Body horror, and Blood

paigeinabook's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Child abuse, Cultural appropriation, Medical trauma, Dysphoria, Physical abuse, Torture, Forced institutionalization, Infidelity, Sexual content, and Violence

gogoisopodranger's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Child death, Child abuse, Colonisation, Religious bigotry, Racism, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, and Murder

Moderate: Blood, Classism, Death, Forced institutionalization, Confinement, Medical trauma, and War

decklededgess's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

Trigger warnings: racism, torture, child abuse, domestic abuse, death of child, sexual assault and child sexual assault, confinement, slavery, murder, gore, emotional abuse, sexual content

A biting allegory for the atlantic slave trade and the treatment of enslaved folk, representation of generational trauma and the pain of choices made to protect and survive, and so much more. 

It's a three part timeline following three characters in different eras of this world leading up to the catastrophic natural disaster that will lead to the next seasonal change that occurs in this universe. Each character is living an entirely different life: a child getting recruited into an academy to train her powers, a trainee going on her first mission, and a women with powers who was in hiding and is now in search of her kidnapped child.

I had no idea where anything was headed nor what the goal of the book was outside of survival. In that way I suppose this is a dystopic apocalypse survival book as well as a fantasy. Every new detail revealed was a depressing shock to the system as I read yet everything that led me to say, well what the hell else did I expect that's the dire reality of this world and the real world tragedies it's referencing.

I look forward to the next two books with trepidation.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Trafficking, Slavery, Murder, Domestic abuse, Child death, Child abuse, Torture, Sexual violence, Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, Body horror, Vomit, Grief, Emotional abuse, and Death