Reviews tagging 'Body horror'

The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi by S.A. Chakraborty

94 reviews

harpoonholly's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny hopeful inspiring mysterious tense medium-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? Yes

5.0

Too many emotions right now. May return. Suffice to say, it's a very good book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Violence, and Body horror

kylieqrada's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny 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? Yes

4.0

S.A. Chakraborty's adult debut featuring a bad-ass pirate mom and magical elements? Yes pleaseeeeeeee. I loved this so much. Makes me want to re-read the Daevabad trilogy immediately.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Death, and Gore

Moderate: Alcohol, Body horror, and Cursing

Minor: Transphobia, Slavery, and Religious bigotry

drlove2018's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective 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? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Violence, Toxic relationship, Murder, Body horror, Gore, and Vomit

Moderate: Alcohol, Misogyny, Islamophobia, Transphobia, Deadnaming, Religious bigotry, and Slavery

mirrorstorm_'s review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Death

Moderate: Body horror

beautifulpaxielreads's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense 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

4.5

The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi is a book that does that rare thing -  it lives up to the promise of its title.  And then some.

*slow claps for Shannon Chakraborty*

Seriously, where do I begin with how good this was? It brings together superb character development (and diverse characters!), well-paced action scenes with a real sense of danger, impressive historical detail (with a bibliography to back it up!), and interestingly incorporated fantasy. Oh, and it's a trilogy, so there's more of the same to come (hopefully).

The title character, Amina, practically leaps off the page. She's incredibly complex and defies stereotypes.  She doesn't suffer fools (and anyone who thinks she cannot be a pirate captain because of her gender) and has a fierce instinct to protect those she loves, including her beloved only child, daughter Marjana. 

I also thought that the villain was realistically and compellingly written.

I can't wait to see what Chakraborty has in store for us next.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Gore, and Murder

Moderate: Religious bigotry, Sexism, and Body horror

Minor: Sexual content, Slavery, and Transphobia

edamamebean's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny inspiring mysterious reflective 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

I loved this book so much that without even realizing what I was doing, I kissed the very last page affectionately. No one writes fantasy like Shannon Chakraborty, and this book is no exception. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Xenophobia, Blood, Body horror, Death, Violence, War, Transphobia, and Vomit

Moderate: Death of parent, Child abuse, and Islamophobia

boglord's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Grief, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual harassment, Murder, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Genocide, Mental illness, Misogyny, Xenophobia, Body horror, Child abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Classism, Cursing, Fire/Fire injury, Torture, War, Kidnapping, Vomit, Alcohol, Blood, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Sexual content, Religious bigotry, and Sexism

Minor: Death of parent, Rape, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Dysphoria, Ableism, Addiction, Deadnaming, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Pedophilia, Racism, Slavery, and Trafficking

ali___cat's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Cannibalism, and Gore

cozycaro's review against another edition

adventurous funny mysterious tense 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? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body horror, Blood, Cursing, Death, and Murder

fromjuliereads's review against another edition

adventurous slow-paced

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

2.75

I wanted to love it, I really did. I think I gave every book in the Daevabad trilogy a minimum of 4 stars. This one just didn't work for me. 

I think part of that was the marketing? I remember seeing so much about it being a pirate book, a seafaring adventure. I felt like we really didn't get that until about... well past halfway. The beginning of the book is incredibly slow. I still don't understand the point of the opening scene to the story, and the first half is basically picking up their crew around different areas and gathering information. There are moments of adventure or these events that happen - but they didn't pull me in or have me stressed for the characters.

I think that was the big thing for me. I didn't feel like the characters were well developed and I think that was due to the format of the storytelling. Since it's Amina telling her story to a scribe, I feel like we never actually get to truly know her character. And the random interjections where she replies to the scribe - who remains off page through the main story - completely pulled me out of the story with a jarring effect.
Everything is tell, not show. Which is evident by the very many long descriptions. So. Many. Descriptions. Don't get me wrong, I love details. But I found myself skimming because I truly didn't care about all of the tiny details in this random library that had nothing to do with the story. Anyways, I did like the side characters, but even they felt underdeveloped. 

I will say that there were some unique elements and Chakraborty does have good writing. The ending was also done really well - it was great to have a character from the Daevabad world show up, and the reveal at the end was well done! I'm glad I didn't DNF it, but I'm still not sure if I'd continue with the series.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Cursing, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Kidnapping, and Violence

Minor: Blood, Torture, Abandonment, Body horror, Misogyny, Slavery, and War