Reviews tagging 'Homophobia'

The Watchmaker of Filigree Street by Natasha Pulley

16 reviews

blubbn's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious 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: Racism and Xenophobia

Moderate: Violence, Misogyny, and Sexism

Minor: Homophobia

girlwithoutearing's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious medium-paced

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

3.5

I liked the almost casually strewn in fantasy elements that are used to influence the plot. I wasn't so much a fan of the ending, but can't explain why without spoilers, so see below if you're interested. I liked that the author didn't shy away from depicting casual racism, especially since this must have been much worse in the 19th century. It just felt as if she didn't follow through with it when none of the Japanese characters in the book ever face disadvantages beyond racial slures and being looked down on in inconsequential ways.

I liked that Thaniel and Mori got to stay together, but the overall happy ending with them living together without fear of discovery and adopting a child felt a bit unrealistic and forced. Sure, showing them living in fear for the rest of their relationship wouldn't have made for a nice ending, but it kind of sounded as if the laws against "homosexual behaviour" and the threat of Grace going to the police were nothing more than a minor inconvenience. Yes, these laws didn't necessarily lead to people going to jail, but the harm they did was real. If Thaniel and Mori were known to have been accused of having a gay relationship their lifes could have been ruined. I also couldn't care less about Grace getting a happy ending of sorts after she'd been so casually homophobic and unlikable in general.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism and Racial slurs

Moderate: Classism, Misogyny, and Homophobia

Minor: Death and Death of parent

beepsies's review

mysterious medium-paced

2.75

Interesting premise and prose that drew me in right away! The style was my favorite thing about this book, though I did feel like it started out strong and got progressively weaker.

 I found the cast to be largely unlikeable, though, and felt like the climax was uninteresting and out of place. It's also packed to the gills with period anti-asian racism which the MC skirts around but is heartily professed by nearly every other character, as well as lots of anti-irish sentiments.

It has some panache out of the gate but was ultimately not to my taste.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism

Moderate: Homophobia and Misogyny

Minor: Islamophobia and Racial slurs

tinkeringcheck's review against another edition

mysterious slow-paced

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

2.0

It's hard to review this book. It took me a bit to get into, then I practically devoured the rest. The pacing was meandering in a charming way then skipped along too quick. The style has an inscrutable plainness that leaves a lot unsaid.  On one hand it felt like it was respecting my intelligence as a reader to put things together, but as it went on it felt like most of the emotion, deeper thoughts, and motivations of the characters were left offscreen. I loved the idea of the world and the clockwork wonders it evoked, but I felt distant from it - like watching it behind a foggy pane of glass - because of the sparse style.

As for the characters, the concepts were fantastic and bursting with not-quite-realized potential. I adored every little bit of information we got about the talented and mysterious Mr. Mori, but I felt that much of Thaniel's character was left between the lines to the point of him becoming quite boring as things went on. (How this was managed despite having unique narration tics with his synesthesia, I've no idea). And while I found the drag-wearing, anti-suffragette physicist Grace quite fun and offbeat in the beginning - especially her banter with Matsumoto, the dandy friend who lets her raid his closet - she had an abrupt change of priorities and comprehensibility halfway through the book that left me disappointed. I was looking forward to seeing

Mori and Thaniel's

relationship growing, especially since this book's been recommended for its LGBTQ+ representation, but all the heart of it was left offscreen in a way that left me feeling hollow - like

Katsu curled around the cold space in Mori's bed where he should've been.

But what soured what had still been an enjoyable read for me was when I figured out where the final act was going. I nearly threw my phone at the wall. I almost DNF'd with just chapters left. I only skimmed through to the end to see if

Katsu

was alright (more on this in the content warnings) and then reluctantly turned back for the characters I still cared about - ie. Mori and Matsumoto. Grace, who I'd enjoyed despite her purposeful dash of unlikability,

made some truly baffling choices in the back half the book that felt like the author's invisible hand squashing a square peg in a round hole marked 'villainess' instead of an organic character arc

and was ruined for me. Thaniel still felt like a rudderless mystery even after spending so much time with him. Convoluted plots and character arcs were introduced then quickly wrapped up in neat little bows in a way that felt more like a convenient epilogue than a true finish. Even now I feel overly critical writing about it, but that's how much the climax soured me on the rest of the story. It made those things I'd brushed aside before weigh a little more heavily against it.

There's also an honestly uncomfortable amount of casual racism and xenophobia from the white characters' perspectives. It's clearly meant to be period-typical and reflect the society they grew up in because it disappears in the POV chapters set in Japan, but it still felt excessive. Japanese and Japanese-British characters (including Mori) are constantly referred to as small and delicate and juvenile, and they're described by these racialized features exponentially more often than the white characters, even late into the story. For example, Thaniel's grey eyes and other physical descriptors are mentioned offhandedly, meanwhile each time Mori is described physically - like his tanned skin or short height or small hands - it's always tacked on with some remark inexplicably tying it up with him being Japanese. (Matsumoto, being a tall man, is described as being 'English-raised' instead.) At some point I was just desperate for ANY descriptor for these characters that wasn't racialized and was left disappointed.

Overall, I wanted to fully love this book (and nearly did for awhile!) but the overall execution and the plot choices in the climax unfortunately killed a lot of my enjoyment. I did love the premise of a mysterious, talented-beyond-his-time clockwork maker in his wondrous workshop - and I felt the middle portion of the story was the strongest in part because it focused on unveiling Mori's world. But as the book went on and we were moved from his workshop into the strange 3rd act drama with less compelling characters, I wondered if what I loved about it was more about the possibilities I was imagining for myself than what was on the page. Katsu the adorable clockwork octopus, kind and lonely Mori, and dearly underused Matsumoto were the shining stars for me, though I'm not sure I'll be tuning into the next book to see how they fare.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Police brutality, Racial slurs, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, Sexism, Violence, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Death, Biphobia, Classism, Domestic abuse, Blood, Gun violence, Homophobia, and Stalking

Minor: Body horror, Chronic illness, Animal death, and Grief

Animal death: Personally, even though it's not really graphic and

technically about a clockwork animal (though one that is so lifelike it seems to have the soul of an artificially intelligent lapdog),

I found it so distressing that I had to skip over it and it still ruined the book for me. Apparently (potential book 2 spoilers)

he returns in the next one, if skimming goodreads reviews is to be believed, but I'm not sure how or in what form.

Stalking:

Doesn't turn out to be true, but it's discussed frequently in depth and may still be distressing, especially for people who are sensitive to discussions about domestic stalking.

Body horror: One scene's setting that includes skeletons and some gruesome medical items. If you want to skip it, keep an eye out near the end when

Thaniel is waiting in the hospital. Skip the part about the gallery until Thaniel's back outside.

emilyjanebrain's review

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? No

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Homophobia, Xenophobia, and Racial slurs

hexe_19's review against another edition

emotional hopeful mysterious 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? No

5.0

I love this book, its the best love story I've read in a long time. I didn't realize it was a romance at first, but Mori is so cute and loveable and aaaaaawwwwwwww!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Homophobia, Biphobia, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Domestic abuse and Police brutality

Minor: Classism and Sexism

nekoshka's review against another edition

mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Infidelity, Sexism, Domestic abuse, and Misogyny

Minor: Death of parent, Homophobia, and Police brutality

name_user's review against another edition

medium-paced

1.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence

Moderate: Racism, Homophobia, Misogyny, and Racial slurs

Minor: Police brutality

isabella_reads's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious 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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Death, Homophobia, and Racism

thewildmageslibrary's review against another edition

4.0

Honestly had no idea where this one was headed! Very enjoyable.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs and Racism

Moderate: Violence, Sexism, and Blood

Minor: Homophobia, Death of parent, Medical content, Child abuse, and Police brutality