Reviews tagging 'Police brutality'

The Principle of Moments by Esmie Jikiemi-Pearson

4 reviews

sophiesmallhands's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Police brutality, Colonisation, Trafficking, Death, and Slavery

Moderate: Genocide, Grief, Drug use, Forced institutionalization, War, Child abuse, Classism, Injury/Injury detail, and Racism

Minor: Vomit, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Death of parent, Sexual violence, Pregnancy, and Rape

oweatherwax's review against another edition

reflective medium-paced

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

1.0

Found the plot very predictable, this book was full of film sci-fi clichés and no description. This book is nothing new, it could be easily mistaken for Dune or Trek or star wars. There was no exploratiom of deeper themes, a couple of glaring errors, such as wounds miraculously healing or wrong ghosts for the time period. I doubt this book was properly proofread. Not impressed.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Suicide, War, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Cursing, Death of parent, Police brutality, Slavery, Blood, Confinement, Antisemitism, Grief, Abandonment, Body horror, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Sexual content

Minor: Suicide attempt, Rape, Pregnancy, and Abandonment

chelskee's review against another edition

This book needed some more rounds of editing. Typos, sudden shifts in narrative, and meta examination of the relationship between Obi and George that felt more like reading a tumblr analysis post of the relationship than the story OF the relationship. It needed more show and less tell. 

Also, while some of the contents (i.e. details about the sexual nature of Obi and George's relationship) are certainly adult content the book is written in a very YA voice. The brushing over of

Iyanda's brutal rape and torture at the hands of her captors leading to the abandonment of her first child felt awful, especially when she herself seemed to affirm that it gave her Asha so it is what it is. An incredibly important statement about the abuse of women's bodies in war and oppression boiled down to half a page of dismissive conversation. 

There was also an issue with inconsistency. In Chapter Six it is stated that Obi's father left him at 8 years old. TWO PAGES LATER, we see something of a flashback about Obi with his father breaking into the museum at age 10 in which it is stated that "Six months later, his father was gone."  

There is... one more issue that I'm nervous to even bring up. The reptilian overlords that took power through economic control to dominate other races was ringing some red flags for certain conspiracies. Given the authors young age, I'm going to hope that it was an issue of simply not knowing the associations.

 

I REALLY wanted to like it but I'm afraid this was just not for me at its current iteration. I may check back in with the author a few books down the line because I LOVE the creativity and the interesting ideas she's making.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Police brutality, and Colonisation

Moderate: Abandonment, Rape, and Torture

Minor: Domestic abuse

blacksphinx's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced

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

3.5

I agree with two things I've seen in other reviews:

1. The author wrote this book between the ages of 16 and 18, and you can tell.
2. Marketing this as an adult book is a massive mistake, and it should have be aimed at a teen audience.

This is not to say that the book is bad. I applaud the young author for her genre smashing approach, wanting to create a time traveling space opera that is also an epic fantasy and a gay regency romance. It's also a blisteringly fast-paced book with little meandering and downtime. I think if I was a teenager I would have really enjoyed it. But wow, having an ill-defined prophesy the characters must all follow really fills this book with insta-found family and insta-love. Some characters that are supposed to be educated, wise adults come off as extremely childish (see: the commentary on the prophecy we get sometimes at the end of chapters that no academic would have written in such a casual tone). I think there's potential here, and I'm curious if she keeps writing after this series is finished.  

I just can't get past looking at the King George IV, known womanizer and extravagant spender, and going "what if he was a progressive, anti-imperialist gay man with a Black lover?" I can't do it. It is so hilarious it makes my brain shut down. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Suicide, Abandonment, Death, Addiction, Slavery, and Drug use

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Colonisation, Confinement, Gun violence, Genocide, Blood, Classism, and Vomit

Minor: Medical content, Police brutality, Torture, Trafficking, and War