Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley

11 reviews

isalizart's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad slow-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Religious bigotry, and Incest

Moderate: Infertility, Sexual assault, Ableism, Miscarriage, Rape, Infidelity, Misogyny, and Abortion

Minor: War, Pregnancy, and Death

I was enjoying this at first, but towards the end it just became mostly confusing, long-winded and miserable. I realised how uncomfortably difficult topics were handled when I added trigger warnings to my review, because there were a lot. It's even worse considering what happened to the author's daughter. The "feminist lense" the book advertises was interesting at first,

btrz7's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No

0.25

I don't even know where to start with this. For starters, I never leave books unfinished but this book was very close to being the first. I had to give myself a deadline, otherwise I would have abandoned it.
There is no amount of plot or character development that can justify the size of this book. There are huge stretches where nothing is happening, and I swear the same theological arguments were revisited every 50 pages by the same characters, with nothing new added to it and nothing productive coming out of it. Religion is a big part of the conflict of the book, informing characters' decisions and morals, but it was to the point of exhaustion. 
Characters were another thing. The plot of the book spans decades, but throughout it they always feel like the children/teenagers they were at the beginning. No one changes in any meaningful way. I don't mind flawed characters, but Jesus this whole cast was getting on my nerves. Most of the men don't seem to have any personality, and as for the women, they are all hypocrites, who are at turns jealous or disdainful of one another, due to what? Ah yes, the attention of men. Someone is either a pious prude or a wanton whore, and the best thing is, they seem to be both at alternating times, woth no reason to it. Morgaine disdains other women as being shallow and only talking of marriages and babes, but her inner monologue seems to also focus on those subjects and on who's sleeping with whom. Gwen thinks Morgaine is a whore, but then commits adultery throughout the entirety of her marriage, and somehow ends up blaming her husband and her lover for it, and them somehow accusing them of being homosexual/queer (?) and having unpure feelings for each other. That was an unexpected ride. Anyway the thought pattern doesn't differ much with other female characters.
Then the nail in the coffin. Around close to halfway through, there were somethings making mr a but uncomfortable. Sexualization of young women, and women over 20 being considered 'old' (being historical fiction does not excuse this, low life expectancy had a lot to do with high infant mortality, and not so much with people not living after 50). Big age gaps in relationships, most of which are not exactly consensual. And then the thought processes to justify incestuous  or pedophiliac relationships. Which on its own is heavy, but I believe that in fiction you do whatever you want. Except then I find out its not really fiction and it is reflecting the author's own practices and that sours everything.
So yeah, I powered through the last few hours so as to not leave it unfinished, but I will actively not recommend this ever to anyone. Its a shame, because I read it as part of a challenge to read the oldest book in my TBR and this was it on GR, but it wasn't worth the wait.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Sexual content, Ableism, Abortion, Blood, Pedophilia, Adult/minor relationship, Biphobia, Death, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, War, Body shaming, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Incest, Misogyny, Sexual assault, and Xenophobia

homebodywitch's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Forced institutionalization, Religious bigotry, Homophobia, Incest, Infidelity, Infertility, Sexual assault, Genocide, Death, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Death of parent, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Grief, War, Abortion, Sexism, and Violence

abidon13's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.75

The mists of Avalon is one of those rare books where the characters are so well crafted they seem like real people. As you read it, you come to love them and loathe them but you are gripped by their struggles and their lives. 
The book is dense, and it’s not for the faint of heart. It’s challenging, deep, emotional, and intentionally slow. 
My only criticism is that the ending was not as fulfilling as I would have liked. However the journey of the story is worth it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Sexual assault, Rape, and Incest

prinsessenora4's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This book was truly magical! From the first page I was captivated, and pulled into this magical world! 
I love the legends of King Arthur, and this retelling is some of the best I have read. We can see the happenings from the women’s point of view, and the story is so sore, beautiful and lifelike that I couldn’t put it down.
I love the feminist and girl power characters, and I love to learn more about the older religions of the British isles. (But I don’t love the rape and incest). This book was amazing, and will stay with me forever <3

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Rape, Domestic abuse, Incest, Sexual assault, and Adult/minor relationship

Minor: Blood, Murder, Pregnancy, Suicidal thoughts, Body shaming, Child abuse, Death, Sexism, Death of parent, Vomit, and War

ultimatecryptid's review against another edition

mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

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

2.75

Adored the prose, I thought it flowed really beautifully.

LOTS of interesting ideas that I feel were under explored, but also a lot of ideas I feel could have been explored less. As I was reading I remember hitting the last third of the book and thinking "Oh so HERE it picks up", but could not convince myself that the prior 600 pages were necessary to get there. 

Hoping to read more fantasy of the era for comparison purposes explicitly because of this book. I've definately enjoyed thinking about it more than reading it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Rape, and Sexual assault

khaleesimod93's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative inspiring reflective slow-paced

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

3.0

I'm a little unsure of how to rate this book. On one hand, the imagery and writing were absolutely stunning. I could feel the wind and the cold. I felt like I was there reliving all that was happening during this time. At the same time, it was a pain to get through. Some of the characters were just disgusting. And the description of needless things made this a difficult book to get through. It's a confusing story. On one hand, absolutely beautiful imagery of the world around and told from the viewpoint of the women living through this time. On the other hand, some very needless descriptions and boring flat characters. While I adore Arthurian legends, this one didn't make it on my favorites. Beautiful imagery in cases, loved the point of views of the women, descriptions on the wars and the fight between druids and Christianity. Could have been edited better and maybe some more depth to some of the male and female characters. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Incest

Moderate: Homophobia and Sexual assault

sonder11's review against another edition

1.0

one of those books that looooves putting people/children in rape situations and justifying it because “ooh it was medieval times”. look up the author. im serious. just put her name in on wikipedia 
(trigger warning for real)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Sexual assault, and Rape

caterwaul's review against another edition

adventurous dark medium-paced

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

5.0

I greatly enjoyed this book. I've always loved King Arthur and was super excited to read this book when I got it as a gift. However, I highly recommend you read the content warnings because it is not a happy-go-lucky, unproblematic read. The overall story combines a lot of different stories from Arthurian Legend, but I think it's most similar to Le Morte D'Arthur for much of the plot. There's a lot of politics, a lot of religious back and forth between goddess worship and Christianity, and a lot of ethics/morality questioning. Like I said though, highly enjoyed! It primarily focuses on the women of Arthurian Legend- Igraine, Morgaine, and Gwenhwyfar, along with some others- and their POV on the events, which is definitely a fresh take on the story.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Incest, Religious bigotry, and Infertility

Moderate: Abortion, Death, Miscarriage, Murder, Pregnancy, and Infidelity

Minor: Sexual assault and Adult/minor relationship

morganrie's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Ableism, Abortion, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Animal death, Blood, Child abuse, Classism, Colonisation, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Incest, Infertility, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Murder, Sexual harassment, Suicide attempt, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Rape, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, War, Xenophobia, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide