Reviews tagging 'Sexual harassment'

The Warded Man by Peter V. Brett

9 reviews

acreadsbooks's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

2.75

Really wished I would’ve liked this book more… started out good, the story gripped me but the way women are written and talked about in this book is just plain misogynistic. Plus fantasy or not, I cannot deal with virginity and getting your period being talked about as “flower” and “flowering” so annoying, and the sheer number of mentioning of men’s “seeds” and “seed pods” make me insane. 

& don’t even get me started on the orientalism / the way the isolated city in the middle of the desert is described as middle eastern and villainized- truly, I thought we were done with this.

Plotwise: The pacing felt off at times, felt like there could’ve been spend more time on their training - like how did Arlen suddenly become superhuman? 

Also trigger warning and spoiler:

rape is yet again being used by a male author without it having any affect on the plot or development of that character, which frankly pisses me off. Like do better.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Fire/Fire injury, War, Incest, Rape, Sexual harassment, Child abuse, and Islamophobia

corgicolossus's review against another edition

adventurous dark medium-paced

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

2.0

This is a strange book, wrapped in a story that is just interesting enough to make you think it will improve; and then it ends.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual harassment

Moderate: Rape and Sexual assault

capercaillie's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

2.5

The world was fascinating, and it started strong with interesting characters with only ripples of awkward sexism or cringe bits (please, tell me one more time about the messenger's "wolf eyes"). Then suddenly it takes a hard pivot into a racist interlude for a bit before suddenly going weird with

the gang rape of a virgin character followed immediately by the cringiest sex scene with another main character shortly after, telling him to put a baby in her because??? while hoping that he doesn't think she's too inexperienced, etc. Eesh.

Disappointing, as the world and a lot of the story is good, but there are too many gross and weirdly racist/sexist overtones.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Body horror, Body shaming, Sexual assault, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Rape

tiredpigeon's review

fast-paced

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Rape, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, and Incest

miss_marvel_reads's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-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

5.0

dieses suchtpotenzial - einfach WOW

bissle wenig frauenrollen aber es gab schon schlimmeres lol

diese welt ist einf sooo gut durchdacht (städte heißen zb nicht ästhetisch sonder praktisch zb tal der holzfäller und auch das ganze mit den Horclingen (den Feinden aus dem Horc aka der Hölle) klingt einf komplett schlüssig und abgerundet

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Vomit, War, Child death, Misogyny, Alcoholism, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Violence, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Incest, Rape, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Death, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, and Pregnancy

kamikazefooby's review

adventurous dark 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Medical trauma, Murder, Violence, Alcoholism, Blood, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Adult/minor relationship, Death, Death of parent, Gore, Grief, Medical content, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Child death, Pregnancy, Bullying, Child abuse, and Incest

weltengaengerin's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

3.5

The world is dark and fantastic and I can't wait to see what happens next. It's a slow burn in the beginning with lengthy introduction to 3 great characters. That takes time but I loved the relationship this built between reader and character. 

There could occassionally be a little more show not tell. e. g. one character hast to constantly rebuke male attention that's above and beyond fun and she just has very little feelings about a roadtrip where a man constantly tries to push her for sex she doesn't want. Like surely she must feel something here. Show, don't tell.

Same with another character that has a very hard lot in life and we never feel a lot of his emotions. 

That said, the book is also a typical "women written by men" story and also the main point why I deduct 1.5 stars. Like, big big big SPOILERS ahead

A woman who is 27 and kept her virgonity gets raped on the road by bandits and a few days later she actively wants to have sex with someone ... how is that realistic? With her trauma she should not want to be touched at all

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Bullying, Death of parent, Sexism, Alcoholism, Gore, Sexual harassment, Violence, Sexual violence, Rape, Physical abuse, and Incest

wee_airdy99's review

dark emotional mysterious 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: Sexism, Misogyny, Infertility, Emotional abuse, Rape, Violence, War, Sexual assault, Death of parent, Death, Blood, Gore, Sexual content, Fire/Fire injury, Classism, Abortion, Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Animal death, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Child death, and Grief

nichknack's review against another edition

dark sad slow-paced

2.0

This book is an interesting case. 
Is it well written? Yes. Is the world interesting? Yes. Does it contain deeply problematic tropes and themes that make reading it extremely  uncomfortable and flat out destroy any hope of enjoyment? Yes!!!
This book is a cocktail of everything wrong with the dark fantasy genre: sexism, racism, rape and sexual assault, it’s all here. I’m not saying that books can’t cover darker topics, but Brett and a lot of authors tend to just put these themes in their story because they’re dark and edgy. Topics like racism, sexism and sexual assault all need a degree of tact that Brett simply doesn’t seem to have, and I found reading his responses to people’s criticism regarding his books deeply disappointed. 
People point out that the Krasia mdraw from islamophobic tropes and Brett declares “but they’re not arabs!” When they are clearly based on what people assume middle eastern culture is. 
People point out that Leesha’s entire character is based on sexist tropes and that the numerous sexual assault scenes featuring her seem to trivialise rape and he calls them idiots. 
Seeing his reactions has genuinely made me reconsider how I react to criticism regarding my own work. 

But, as I said at the start of this review, Brett is a very good writer.  I just can’t help but be disappointed.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Incest, Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual harassment