Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

Perdido Street Station by China Miéville

10 reviews

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

---

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

jhbandcats'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? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This is an extraordinary book. I was bowled over when I read it twenty years ago, and it is just as powerful now. It’s about racism and loyalty and a repressive state, and about the resilience of those who are affected. I can’t recommend it highly enough - it’s phenomenal. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, Mental illness, Blood, Gore, Addiction, Classism, Violence, Drug abuse, Body horror, Torture, Xenophobia, Animal cruelty, Death, and Excrement

gruffgorilla's review against another edition

challenging dark slow-paced

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

3.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault and Sexual violence

humdrum_ts's review against another edition

adventurous dark sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual assault

julia_reads_more_now's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

3.0

I have never been more furious at the ending of a book. And part of that reason is because I genuinely enjoyed reading the rest of it. The world building is insane, the plot is intriguing, and I really cared about what happened to the characters. Which made the ending even more painful for me. It’s evident that Miéville has a lot of talent and large parts of this book are a total success, but I wouldn’t read it again because I finished it feeling deeply unsatisfied. 

---

Content Warnings

Minor: Sexual assault

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!  

---

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

vanessav's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious tense 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

5.0

I can only describe the writing as delicious.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Rape, Violence, Sexual violence, Drug abuse, Torture, Death, Sexual assault, and Murder

surelyinthefountain's review against another edition

dark reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Murder, and Body horror

monsteraadansonii's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious sad 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? No

2.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Gore

Moderate: Rape, Trafficking, Sexual assault, Torture, Police brutality, and Drug use

noel_b's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny mysterious tense medium-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? Yes

4.5

If I had to describe this book in one word, it would be "weird". The world is constantly surprising you with new and weirder elements and I was just so intrigued by it all.

The writing style is on the literary side and the prose does draw attention to itself. It stops to describe the scenery or certain areas of the city every once in a while, and the author is not shy about using "challenging" or "big" words (to give you an idea, the word "palimpsest" shows up weirdly often). I thoroughly enjoyed it, but if you are looking for straightforward prose that keeps the plot moving nonstop, this may not be for you.

 I would say that this book is more about the journey (the weird, weird journey) than the destination. Personally, I loved it, but if you want a fast paced, tightly written mystery/thriller, you may want to look elsewhere. 

The pacing is not particularly fast, mostly because the book takes the time to explore different neighborhoods and aspects of life in that city. Everything is in service of investigating the main mystery or following a side plot, but we do spend a lot of time discovering new bizarre elements of this world.

if nothing else, the city of New Crobuzon is constantly surprising. Sometimes wonderful, many times grotesque. Always surprising

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Death, Drug use, Excrement, Mental illness, Rape, and Sexual assault