Reviews tagging 'Islamophobia'

The Dance Tree by Kiran Millwood Hargrave

11 reviews

eliz_hop_1973's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful sad medium-paced

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Infertility, Islamophobia, Lesbophobia, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Death of parent, Self harm, Violence, Child death, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexism, Domestic abuse, Forced institutionalization, Homophobia, Racism, Religious bigotry, and Suicide

lorriss's review

emotional tense

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Islamophobia, Medical content, Suicidal thoughts, Drug use, Death of parent, Dementia, Police brutality, Racism, Sexual content, Racial slurs, Grief, Lesbophobia, Murder, Suicide, Death, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Drug abuse, Infertility, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pandemic/Epidemic, Pregnancy, Sexism, Suicide attempt, Religious bigotry, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Violence, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Blood, Alcohol, Animal death, Child death, Classism, War, Child abuse, Cannibalism, and Domestic abuse

Minor: Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Excrement, Colonisation, and Slavery

quillyreads's review against another edition

sad slow-paced

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

3.0

Beautiful writing, but not the best plot. It’s very slow paced and muted for about 3/4 of the book, then packs everything in the last few chapters. 

And it crams a LOT in. Too much, perhaps. As the books tries to ambitiously comment on grief, miscarriage, religious mania, tyrannical religious zealots, homophobia, xenophobia… It can’t investigate these themes in the depth they deserve or with the time or character development they require to become a theme, rather than just an embellishment. 

Also, I just couldn’t connect with the characters. There’s little character development. And despite the huge amount of happenings in the final sprint of the book, the ending feels like it’s back to the start. The only difference is

there’s now a baby in the house.

I just couldn’t vibe with this book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy, Religious bigotry, Sexual content, and Infidelity

Moderate: Xenophobia and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Islamophobia

bree_of_the_woods's review against another edition

adventurous dark informative 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Lesbophobia, Homophobia, Miscarriage, Misogyny, and Racism

Moderate: Islamophobia, Infidelity, Death of parent, Addiction, and Fire/Fire injury

rachelle_reads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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? Yes

4.0

The historical setting of this book, and particularly the dancing plague, was one that was not familiar to me before reading this story. I think the author did well in depicting the natural setting as well as the political and religious forces working at that time. It did take some time to build this world for the reader, but I don’t think the overall pacing suffered. The second half was gut wrenching. I look forward to reading more by this author. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Murder, Lesbophobia, Infertility, Pregnancy, Religious bigotry, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, Domestic abuse, Miscarriage, and Islamophobia

mxrumphius's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Outing, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Suicide, Miscarriage, Racial slurs, Animal death, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Homophobia, Islamophobia, Murder, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, Xenophobia, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Racism, Sexism, and Violence

Moderate: Drug use and Infidelity

alexandrap529's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Racism, Violence, Islamophobia, Miscarriage, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Grief, Xenophobia, Religious bigotry, and Lesbophobia

the_prickly_reader's review against another edition

dark emotional informative sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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

Moderate: Dementia, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Grief, Lesbophobia, Miscarriage, Homophobia, and Islamophobia

gurofl's review

emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

4.0

I generally liked this book while listening to it, but was a bit frustrated with it around the middle. There were sections where I felt the characters thought or acted for the sole purpose of advancing the plot in a certain direction, which for me makes characters two-dimensional and less believable. (I also don't like villains who are pure evil. I like them to be more interesting). What was supposed to be the big reveal in the middle of the book, was pretty obvious, so the mystery of it bored me, but after we got that out of the way, I really liked getting to know the characters and their interactions better. 
So I at first thought this was an ok read, but I find that I've been thinking about this book and especially the main character a lot after finishing it, and that I like it better now than I did immediately after finishing it. In the middle I thought this would be a 3🌟 read, but I now thinks it's a solid 4🌟. 
(Loads of content warnings for this book! It's not an easy read.)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Homophobia, Islamophobia, Lesbophobia, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Classism, Domestic abuse, Murder, Racism, Pregnancy, Religious bigotry, and Toxic relationship

heather_freshparchment's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective 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? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I received a digital ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
This book was slow to open but the middle and ending flew past. It's certainly far from a happy ending, but such were the lives of most medieval women, which this book focused on. I loved the breadth and variety of characters that Hargrave focused on, as well as the fact that she didn't try to speculate as to what had caused the dancing plague (at least, not from a medical standpoint). It is dark and definitely a frustrating, triggering read, but it is also a gripping read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, Miscarriage, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Islamophobia, Homophobia, Mental illness, and Fire/Fire injury