Reviews tagging 'Colonisation'

What the River Knows by Isabel Ibañez

78 reviews

kermittuesday's review against another edition

slow-paced

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

2.0

I was so interested in this. It’s historical fiction with a little bit of magic thrown in, seemed perfect for me. But it’s so flat. The pace was so slow when I expected to have been flying through it. 

The MC is like every stereotype of a YA female protagonist you can think of. She’s “strong-willed” but here that just means she finds every possible reason to argue with every other character on literally every other page. Her and the guy her age just argue for no reason most of the time. And she argues with everyone else too. The plot moves forward only through argument.

She’s “clever” but only when it serves the plot. Otherwise she’s an idiot about things so her character is all over the place.

She’s  hypocritical  because when her cousin comes to Egypt she gets mad at her for doing the exact same things the MC is always doing, without a trace of irony. And there was no reason the cousin needed to die. That was extreme and if it meant that of course the MC couldn’t go home because she wouldn’t be welcome at her aunt’s house, that would be one thing but there was no mention of that despite the letter saying the other cousin would never forgive the MC if something happened to the cousin. So there are things thrown in that just make no sense.

The thing is, if it was middle grade, I’d forgive some of this. But it’s YA, it doesn’t need to be so formulaic.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation

Moderate: Kidnapping and Murder

kbowles24's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Gun violence, Abandonment, Colonisation, Grief, and Death of parent

Minor: Alcohol, Cultural appropriation, Racism, War, Murder, Cursing, Death, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Alcoholism, Confinement, Kidnapping, and Violence

kylosten's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Death of parent, Colonisation, Gore, and Grief

Moderate: Animal death and Animal cruelty

leopardsheetcake's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional funny 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? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Gun violence, Colonisation, Death of parent, Death, Blood, Violence, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Murder, and Racism

Moderate: Alcohol, Drug use, and Infidelity

Minor: Animal death, Misogyny, Cursing, Panic attacks/disorders, Kidnapping, Medical content, Gaslighting, and Vomit

jwilkey's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious 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? It's complicated

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death of parent, Murder, Colonisation, and Grief

l_piller's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious 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? Yes

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Colonisation, Misogyny, and Sexism

theatomicblonde22's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Colonisation, Abandonment, and Grief

Moderate: Cursing

Minor: Alcoholism

misswoodhouse24's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death of parent, Kidnapping, Alcohol, Colonisation, Grief, Murder, Death, Cursing, and Violence

jenjuniper80's review against another edition

adventurous 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death of parent, Colonisation, and Kidnapping

Minor: Alcoholism

manaledi's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.25

I feel torn because this was well done but I didn't particularly like it. I've never been into period pieces with their strict rules and corsets and the way teenagers are considered adults. I get that much of the context of this book is the looting of historical artifacts from Egyptian tombs by rich foreigners and yet it bothers me that all the main characters are rich white foreigners. It's set in Egypt but not about Egypt. There were a lot of plot twists for the mystery in the second half and I didn't like them.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Death of parent, and Colonisation

Moderate: Misogyny, Abandonment, and Alcoholism

Minor: Gaslighting, Gun violence, Confinement, Sexual content, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, and Murder