Reviews tagging 'Violence'

Perdido Street Station by China Miéville

22 reviews

msawyer77's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Death, Gore, Excrement, Violence, Body horror, and Cursing

Moderate: Rape

emisbooks's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

3.0

i would never pick this book for myself, but it was bought for me as a gift, so i gave it a go.

well written, but too much description of setting + worldbuilding, even though its the first novel of a series. felt too long at points. i think this book could be cut in half if there weren't so many descriptive scenes. the writing is also unnecessarily gross at times.

the only character i truly cared for was lin. i felt indifferent to the protagonist isaac the entire way through.

the world is very interesting - a steampunk, victorian-esque, magical realist world with various species living amongst humans.

i wouldn't recommend this book if you don't care for science or engineering as its a core theme of the story, isaac being a scientist. i personally don't which has probably affected my rating.

(i honestly considered dnf'ing this book at multiple points, but i wanted to keep going just to say i conquered an 800+ page book, i guess)

tldr: good but not amazing. only cared for 1 character. too long. read if you like science/engineering. good worldbuilding. 

the fact that lin wasn't in the story for most of part five is probably the reason i stopped caring about the story. when she came back my interest in the story was reignited.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Violence, Body horror, Excrement, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Death, and Gore

Moderate: Kidnapping, Sexual content, Sexual violence, and Rape

Minor: Addiction

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

sf_book_cat'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

Amazing book, so creative. Fantastic world-building almost better than anything I’ve ever read before.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Gore, and Body horror

Moderate: Torture

Minor: Sexual content

bennyfelds's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Sexual content, Body horror, and Gore

Moderate: Torture

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

silvae's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark tense 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Self harm, Physical abuse, Rape, Medical content, Violence, Police brutality, Hate crime, Confinement, Murder, Misogyny, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Slavery, Sexual violence, Fatphobia, and Terminal illness