Reviews tagging 'Sexism'

Between Two Fires by Christopher Buehlman

8 reviews

jomojobo's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious fast-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? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Religious bigotry, Sexism, Gore, Pandemic/Epidemic, Torture, Violence, War, Death, Murder, Xenophobia, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Alcoholism, Blood, Body horror, and Death of parent

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

Minor: Homophobia, Pedophilia, and Infidelity

garrettcz's review

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful tense medium-paced

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

4.25

I liked it, but it felt longer than necessary and the ending was pretty confusing. I kept having to reread parts of the end over again before I really understood what was going on. The last 15% could have been tightened up. 

The characters and dialogue were the best parts. 

It had a lot more horror tropes than I expected. Very dark in places. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Sexism, Torture, War, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal death, Antisemitism, Blood, Body horror, Addiction, Biphobia, Violence, Vomit, Bullying, Chronic illness, Classism, Cursing, Gore, Murder, Child death, Confinement, Death, Excrement, Grief, Homophobia, Infidelity, Misogyny, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Death of parent, Grief, Pandemic/Epidemic, Antisemitism, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Murder, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Child death, Gore, Hate crime, Infidelity, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Pedophilia and Rape

darkpizza's review

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious sad tense fast-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Alcoholism, Blood, Body horror, Cursing, Death of parent, Medical content, Misogyny, Murder, Violence, Classism, Death, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Religious bigotry

Minor: Animal death, Torture, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Sexism, Rape, Physical abuse, Pedophilia, Homophobia, Excrement, War, Vomit, and Misogyny

flintk's review

challenging dark emotional sad 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Incest, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Excrement, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Sexual content, Sexism, Animal cruelty, Child death, War, Religious bigotry, Rape, Misogyny, Vomit, Violence, Torture, Suicidal thoughts, Racism, Blood, Antisemitism, Alcohol, Racial slurs, Pregnancy, Pandemic/Epidemic, Medical trauma, Islamophobia, Abandonment, Genocide, Adult/minor relationship, Medical content, Child abuse, Grief, Animal death, Alcoholism, Body horror, Sexual violence, Physical abuse, Murder, Homophobia, Death, Cursing, Classism, Cannibalism, Hate crime, Confinement, and Chronic illness

anewlens's review

dark sad tense fast-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Cursing, Death of parent, Genocide, Sexism, Homophobia, Misogyny, Murder, Pedophilia, Violence, Body horror, Child death, Pandemic/Epidemic, War, Xenophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Religious bigotry, Terminal illness, Death, Gore, Alcoholism, and Antisemitism

Moderate: Racism and Sexual assault

gringolet's review

dark hopeful sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Well researched, succeeded in capturing the feel of the period and really excellent for anyone who likes religious horror, medieval settings, and the plague, which is me. It is weirdly Catholic on a fundamental, foundational level, however I think writing anything set in medieval Europe kind of requires that headspace and it was Catholic in a "cool with gay people" way, so it didn't bother me too much. The characters were grounded in the period and yet still dynamic, interesting and likeable, and the horror elements were well done with some fun messed up creatures and gore.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Death, Alcohol, Pandemic/Epidemic, War, Gore, Body horror, and Antisemitism

Moderate: Grief, Homophobia, Terminal illness, Religious bigotry, Rape, War, Vomit, Outing, Ableism, Animal death, Xenophobia, Sexism, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Death of parent, and Child death

cold_boy's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-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

4.0

What a strange and original horror novel. You often see Christianity influencing the horror genre, but I've never seen the religion used in a way that's quite this pervasive, effective, and unique. Buehlman leans into the bizarre and often surreal parts of Christian mythology on both the demonic and angelic sides, to great effect. The setting is probably my favourite aspect, especially the way he presents plague-era France as a truly apocalyptic place, with the emptiness and paranoia reminiscent of zombie movies. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Violence, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Religious bigotry, Body horror, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexism, Antisemitism, Sexual assault, Torture, Misogyny, Homophobia, and Sexual violence

seanml's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious sad slow-paced

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

3.75

Not always perfectly coherent, Between Two Fires is still one of the most original and unique horror novels there is. Taking place in medieval France during the sweep of the Bubonic Plague, the book mirrors a classic chivalrous Christian knight’s tale: a journey fraught with varying perils and moral trials to test the knight’s renown. But in this rendition our knight is excommunicate from the church and our perils are Lucifer’s second crusade, continuing on from Paradise Lost’s original war. Recommended if you want an original horror novel, with the caveat that the components of medieval Christianity (Sexism, antisemitism, Islamophobia, homophobia) are still part of the setting. 7.5/10.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Injury/Injury detail, Terminal illness, Violence, Death, Gore, Animal death, Medical content, and Murder

Moderate: Alcohol, Antisemitism, Self harm, Alcoholism, Child death, Cursing, Infidelity, Outing, Blood, Body horror, Grief, Homophobia, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Rape, Xenophobia, Islamophobia, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Sexual assault, Pedophilia, Torture, and Vomit

Minor: Cannibalism, Incest, Kidnapping, Death of parent, and Genocide