Reviews tagging 'Drug use'

Perdido Street Station by China Miéville

13 reviews

wrensleyreads's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense slow-paced

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

4.75

This must be the most arrogant author I've ever read - and it is well-earned!  The world is deep and immersive and exhausting and tragic and terrifying.  You'll find yourself dragged into New Crobuzon and unable to extricate yourself.  You'll be wrung out with no place to dry and you'll lap it up and ask for more.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Gore, and Drug use

Moderate: Self harm, Rape, and Police brutality

barium_squirrel's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad 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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Police brutality, Sexual assault, Torture, Medical trauma, Classism, Body horror, Murder, Drug abuse, Xenophobia, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Drug use, Colonisation, and Rape

owenthetyley's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious slow-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Rape, Body horror, Gore, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Sexual content, Torture, Police brutality, Death, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Self harm, Injury/Injury detail, and Violence

lynxpardinus's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Excrement, Animal death, Blood, Sexism, Gore, Classism, Body horror, Drug use, Medical trauma, Animal cruelty, Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Misogyny, Police brutality, Rape, Self harm, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, and Gun violence

Moderate: Addiction, Child abuse, Ableism, Child death, Drug abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Pedophilia, Vomit, and War

Minor: Abortion

rartastic's review against another edition

challenging dark tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.0

This review sums up my feelings pretty well: https://ucsdguardian.org/2015/04/01/fully-booked-china-mievilles-perdido-street-station/

Also a quote from someone else that he tries to give us too much breadth in the book, so he ends up twisting characters into things they wouldn’t normally do. 

I got tired of how gross and dark the city was. There was some deus ex machina toward the end that I found annoying. 

It felt like it was trying to be a new Ankh Morpork/Discworld. But it was way darker and worse. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror and Violence

Moderate: Gore, Torture, Self harm, Police brutality, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Rape, and Drug use

joey_doesnt_share_books's review against another edition

challenging dark 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Police brutality, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Death, Cursing, and Drug use

sarah984's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

3.5

This book definitely shows its age in some areas (at one point the author uses the word "autistic" in such a strange way that I still have no idea what he was trying to indicate, the plotline that pops up near the end and then immediately peters out also feels very dated) but overall I enjoyed this. The world felt original and the stakes always felt high. The characters were kind of awful but in a way that felt like it was on purpose.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Body horror, Addiction, Death, and Torture

Moderate: Animal death, Fire/Fire injury, Misogyny, Injury/Injury detail, Police brutality, Slavery, Xenophobia, Excrement, Animal cruelty, Sexual content, Child abuse, Confinement, Dementia, Drug use, Rape, Classism, Gore, Grief, and Gun violence

Minor: Trafficking, Suicide attempt, Abortion, Pedophilia, Vomit, War, Self harm, and Suicidal thoughts

kaseyd's review against another edition

adventurous emotional 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing and Violence

Moderate: Rape, Addiction, Alcohol, Blood, Death, Body horror, Drug use, Excrement, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder

Minor: Abortion and Vomit

woweewhoa's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense slow-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? It's complicated

4.0

This is a book that tries to do a lot, and does most of it very well! It's a very vivid world, in the best and worst ways, as it's very clear that this is a place with a history and politics as complex as they can be anywhere in the world. 
This book also revels in descriptions of the disgusting and there are Several parts of this book that you read a description and go "Ah! That's it for today!" There's a horror in this book, not in the tension or 'jump scare' sense, but in just the vivid descriptions and how extreme some of them get. 

I did overall like this book, however I guess because of everything that piled up and needed payoff, it resolved in a way I didn't particularly care for? It became much more of a 'Monster Hunting' plot once the Slake Moths became the big bad, which isn't a bad thing! It just shoved some of the political ramifications that were being touched upon to the side slightly, and I think I wanted that to be more of the focus I guess! My feelings on the book I think come from what I was looking for more than anything else all said! Also don't really like how the Lin stuff ended up going, especially when she was gone for most of the back half of the book.

I think all my problems with the book stem from what I'm looking for personally, so if you can handle really rough subject matter that honestly does make you feel Bad from how visceral it is, try this book out!  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Panic attacks/disorders, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Grief, Gore, Blood, Cursing, Death, Excrement, Violence, Body horror, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Racial slurs, Racism, and Sexism

Moderate: Rape, Torture, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Police brutality, Xenophobia, Racism, Pregnancy, Suicidal thoughts, Infertility, and Incest

spoopy_moose01's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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? It's complicated

3.75

I really, really liked the book. It is a very fun read, a rollercoaster ride that starts off a bit slow but gets quicker once you reached part three and towards part four. Mieville is a master at writing engaging characters who speaks in an engaging way. Issac, even being the boring male protagonist, feels interesting because man I love the way he speaks, I could almost hear it in my head. Lemeul, Derkhan, Lin, birdman are all similarly compelling characters who have their own motives and thoughts. However, I do have my gripes with the book. Mieville I feel could really use a Dune-style dictionary, because half the time I have no clue what they are referencing, especially in terms of the species and the different races that exist. Also, even in the fifth and sixth parts, it feels like he is constantly introducing new elements to the story, oh, it's another secret faction with immense power.

was the handslingers or whatever they were really necessary? I feel like they were forgotten so quickly that it was so unnecessary to include them at all, maybe just to provide something that weakens the moths? I don't know, it feels super shoehorned in like his editor had reminded him that the book has to be 800 plus or he's not paying or something and he just threw something in

All in all, though I have my issues with the book, I loved it regardless and overall just such a fun book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Kidnapping, Violence, Torture, Child abuse, Drug use, Sexual content, Police brutality, Religious bigotry, Xenophobia, Physical abuse, and Classism

Moderate: Rape