Reviews tagging 'Slavery'

A Disappearance in Fiji by Nilima Rao

8 reviews

uranaishi's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional informative mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Pregnancy, Racism, Sexual violence, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Infidelity, Alcohol, Grief, Gun violence, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Classism, Colonisation, Rape, Sexism, Slavery, and Violence

Minor: Child death, Blood, Bullying, Deportation, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Physical abuse, Misogyny, Domestic abuse, Cannibalism, Police brutality, War, and Kidnapping

chailady's review against another edition

challenging dark informative mysterious sad 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

3.75

One of the reasons I read this was because I recently visited Fiji. I love Fiji! The beautiful country and the friendly people made this trip a fantastic experience. I had no idea of their history beyond that Fiji had been a British colony. The past describe in this mystery novel was eye opening. I was horrified by the descriptions of the plantations. This is a debut novel and the writing shows. There were several editing errors and the plot progression was not quite right. The ending left me a bit frustrated. I’m hoping there is a second book and we see the author’s style improve. I did like the main character. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Colonisation, Racism, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Death, Murder, and Sexual assault

mels_reading_log's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

One of the Indian indentured servants on a local sugar cane plantation has gone missing. Most don’t care and the rest say she ran away, but one missionary claims there had to be foul play. The police department don’t want to spare a real officer to go check out this non crime, so they send their Indian officer. Just go look, and come back, keep it simple and appease everyone. Well, Akal is actually a great police officer, despite what his boss would tell you, and he isn’t letting this case go until it is solved. So what happened to the missing woman, what other shady things are going on at this plantation and why does no one want the truth?

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Infidelity, Death of parent, Death, Pregnancy, Murder, Xenophobia, Slavery, Trafficking, Toxic relationship, Classism, and Violence

Moderate: Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Rape, and Sexism

Minor: Miscarriage, Grief, Gun violence, and Alcohol

kal_self's review against another edition

mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Colonisation, Racism, and Murder

Moderate: Rape

meganpbennett's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious 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

My first 5-star review of the year! A while back, I picked this off a cart full of advanced reader copies, and never found the time to read it. I'm so glad I did. It was a fascinating look at a part of history and culture that I am not even passingly familiar with - colonial Fiji. Like many mysteries with a strong sense of the place, the characters are the reason to read the book. I hope for more adventures with Sergeant Singh. 

Thank you to SOHO Crime for the book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Blood, Infidelity, Murder, Physical abuse, Racism, Slavery, Death, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Body horror, Colonisation, Grief, and Deportation

Minor: Cannibalism, Infertility, Pregnancy, and Vomit

velvetcelestial's review against another edition

adventurous 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, and Rape

daniellekat's review against another edition

dark mysterious fast-paced

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

2.25

This was a rather simple debut mystery novel. There were some interesting historical aspects but the mystery was predictable and the writing was annoyingly repetitive (Did Akal need to introduce himself the exact same way to every new character? And did that sentence need to be written out every time??). This falls into the category of "vacation read" for me, it was easy to read and engaging enough but I never had any real investment in the story or characters. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Slavery, Racial slurs, Colonisation, and Racism

Moderate: Pregnancy, Rape, Murder, Gun violence, Death of parent, and Sexual assault

Minor: Alcohol and Vomit

librarianjennifer's review against another edition

challenging mysterious reflective fast-paced

• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Misogyny, Racism, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, Sexism, Rape, Slavery, Classism, Infidelity, and Miscarriage