Reviews tagging 'Death'

The Monster Baru Cormorant by Seth Dickinson

15 reviews

hailstorm3812's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

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

4.25

I liked this better than the first one. I was thrown by the POV swapping but eventually got into it. I think it is an interesting exploration of grief and duty and connection, and Tau fits so well as a foil to Baru. It went a lot of places I didn't expect but to very interesting effect and I'm very excited to see where it goes.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Emotional abuse, Colonisation, Cancer, Medical trauma, Vomit, Violence, Torture, Suicidal thoughts, Religious bigotry, Murder, Lesbophobia, Death, Body horror, and War

andrew_corduroy's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense 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? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

Moderate: Gore, Homophobia, Blood, Body horror, and Colonisation

Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Sexual content, Sexual violence, and Vomit

frogggirl2's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

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

2.5

"Yes, the world has laws, which are consequences for your actions. But remember that there is nothing you cannot choose to do.  Only consequences you fear to face" (p. 248).

The things I liked from the original book (the main character, the scheming and the intrigue) are all still present, but less so, and any strategy and characterization gets buried under too much effluvia.  The book would be massively better if every one of these sections that is not part of the main plot was excised.  I don't need any other characters' points of view - the plot just follows Baru going from place to place, and yet it's sufficiently boring and convoluted as it is.  This doesn't develop the same depths of relationship or examine a cast of side characters in the same complex way as the first book, either.  Everyone here, including Baru, seems completely incompetent (what happened to the highly qualified, goal oriented, self contained heroine Baru from the first book?) - it's hard to believe they can even stay alive, let alone run this incredibly potent empire.

This book is a messy slog and a complete disappointment after the excellent first book in the series.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Child death, Torture, Alcohol, Colonisation, Self harm, Violence, Cancer, Gore, Miscarriage, Murder, Pandemic/Epidemic, Physical abuse, Death, Pregnancy, Terminal illness, and Suicide

sheiksleopardthong's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional tense medium-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

5.0

Slower than the first book, The Monster introduces a LOT of characters, and I found myself struggling to keep them all straight until near the end. However it's so so so good. Intense and dark and intricately woven. Dickinson has such a mastery of poetic prose. I love a book I need to put down sometimes because you want to punch and vomit on a character (looking at you Cosgrad).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Colonisation, Body horror, Death, Excrement, Xenophobia, Blood, and Forced institutionalization

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Fire/Fire injury, War, Racism, Lesbophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Miscarriage, Abortion, Alcoholism, Blood, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Homophobia, Violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, and Murder

Minor: Vomit

aileron's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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: Gore, Violence, War, Grief, Pandemic/Epidemic, Torture, Blood, Body horror, Colonisation, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, and Cancer

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Racism, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Child death, Miscarriage, and Xenophobia

Minor: Animal death, Confinement, Slavery, and Alcoholism

tristanc's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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? Yes

5.0

Ayamma. A ut li-en.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Alcoholism, Blood, Body horror, Child death, Classism, Colonisation, Gaslighting, Genocide, Gore, Infertility, Miscarriage, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Hate crime, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Racism, Torture, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Outing

rosieryel's review

challenging dark

• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

god this series is so good. i’m genuinely so impressed with the worldbuilding and political intrigue and depiction of imperialism and truly morally gray characters and and and…. literally the only thing i can think of that i didn’t love was i’m not sure why xate yawa’s pov was in first person? that was a little jarring for me but otherwise incredible as i expected after the first book blew me away so hard 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Colonisation, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Miscarriage, Torture, Body horror, and Cancer

eegekay's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense slow-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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Cancer, Colonisation, Death, Terminal illness, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, War, Lesbophobia, and Mental illness

vonhresvelg's review

challenging dark emotional 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

4.5

The constant jumping between different points of view (and time periods) rather than focusing solely on Baru leads to the pacing feeling noticeably slower. That said, they provide welcome context and information, it can just be frustrating to finish a chapter on a cliffhanger, only to see you must read through a different character’s situation first.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Cancer, Homophobia, Colonisation, Alcoholism, Lesbophobia, Death, and Grief

lipstickitotheman's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional slow-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

4.0

The writing got experimental in this one, compared to Traitor. I don't like it as much. Still very good, but this one didn't capture me as Traitor did. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Body horror, Abandonment, Ableism, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Blood, Chronic illness, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Cancer, Colonisation, Confinement, Torture, Toxic friendship, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Grief, Homophobia, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Toxic relationship, War, Xenophobia, and Violence

Minor: Child death, Forced institutionalization, Hate crime, Police brutality, Sexual content, Genocide, Kidnapping, Medical content, Gun violence, Medical trauma, and Miscarriage