Reviews tagging 'Racism'

A Declaration of the Rights of Magicians by H.G. Parry

10 reviews

rynaissanceenby's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense slow-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

4.0

I picked this book up because the title sounded intriguing, and it wasn't at all what I was expecting, but it was so incredibly good. It's basically a reimagining of the French Revolution and the goings on of Haiti and Britain during that time as if magic were real. The magic brings such an interesting dynamic to the story, and Parry does an amazing job of bringing major historical figures to life. I do think the book would be more enjoyable if I had more knowledge of the actual history of that time period. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Racism, Slavery, Violence, Murder, Colonisation, War, and Classism

Moderate: Blood

Minor: Animal death

hazeyfails's review against another edition

4.5

Enjoyed seeing the connections to history in a very interesting manner and even had me interested in looking up actual history to compare.  It's definitely a bit heavy in that sense, since it's historical, but still grew to like the characters and their humanity. It of course doesn't have many cheery moments since it's based on a time period of slave trades, but it at least has perspective of some people trying to end the trades. Enjoyed the pacing and the changes between perspectives were executed nicely. Got me interested enough to get the next book before I got through this one.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Death, Racism, Trafficking, and War

clarabooksit's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Racism, Slavery, Violence, Murder, Colonisation, and Classism

Moderate: Gun violence, War, and Injury/Injury detail

percys_panda_pillow_pet's review

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

I never thought I'd be so invested in the Age of Enlightenment and Reign of Terror outside of history class, yet here I am! H.G. Parry is really a genius at blending historical facts and figures with magic and other fantasy elements. The characters were brilliantly crafted, even with the basis of their real-life historical counterparts. 

When I picked up A Declaration of the Rights of Magicians at my local library, I just thought the title sounded cool and the summary was intriguing. However, I had this fear that the historical elements would be too boring so I started putting off reading it. I'm really glad I just buckled myself down and got it done, though, because this was such a good and solid read. I really appreciate the characters more than anything. I was so invested in the outcome of their arcs, despite the flaws they all held. Robespierre was especially fantastic, as from his perspective the reader felt sympathetic to him and even rooted for him despite the atrocities he eventually committed. In the end, I really felt bad for him. Even throughout the book, I just sort of felt bad for him, due to the strings being pulled knowing and unknowingly. 

I think my only issue with the entire book was that by the end, though there were elements of the plot wrapped up, there were far more loose threads. It didn't feel like it could ever standalone apart from the series of books it belongs to. Of course, it is part of a series, so it's not expected to be totally independent, but I was definitely disappointed when I finished it and realized I didn't have the sequel on hand to start immediately. My recommendation for this series so far is to try and read all the books one after another if possible. Unfortunately, there are only two books of the series out so far, so that does limit that recommendation.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Gun violence, Racism, Slavery, Violence, Suicide attempt, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Colonisation, and War

Moderate: Animal death, Body horror, Eating disorder, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Grief, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Alcoholism, Sexual violence, and Death of parent

prof_pelon's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious sad 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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death, Bullying, Child death, Confinement, Death, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Trafficking, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

kait_sixcrowsbooks's review

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

All I remember of the French Revolution and the Reign of Terror are just glimpses of things I learned back in AP World History in high school. However, even with the bare bones knowledge that I had, it was still an intriguing read. It was a slow start, but I didn’t mind that because we really got to see the characters grow as the book progressed.

The reader quickly becomes sucked in and invested in these characters’ lives, and no matter what happened, you still root for them. All of them. (Or at least I did). I did have a frustrating time with how slavery and abolition were discussed, though, particularly when it came to Pitt and the British. I know that it was historically accurate, but I think that’s why it made me so annoyed, lol. Regardless, I still somehow connected with him, though maybe not as much as I did with Fina or Robespierre. Either way, it was an interesting read, and I hope to get to the sequel sometime soon.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Blood

Moderate: Racism and Slavery

Minor: Rape and Sexual violence

maregred's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative inspiring mysterious sad 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Confinement, Death, Genocide, Racism, Slavery, Blood, Trafficking, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

moiralyle's review

adventurous mysterious 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Genocide, Racism, Slavery, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Trafficking, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail

meganreadsome's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Slavery, and Murder

Moderate: Death

Minor: Suicide

pastry's review against another edition

dark informative mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

3.5

This was a really decent read, and on the one hand, I really love how the author has just taken real historical figures and real events and imbued them with a little magic, and adding little magical elements here and there. But at the same time, it means all of it is fairly predictable, if you look up these historical figures, you know very quickly what is yet to come, and there's very little intrigue left to the story. Also, this book moves incredibly slowly, and it really could have been cut down I think. So much of it is about political happenings around that time and personal relationships, and while that is interesting for a while, it can also become tedious. So yeah, I appreciate what the author tried with this, and it's not a bad execution, it's just not mind-blowing either.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Racism, Slavery, Violence, Forced institutionalization, and Colonisation