Reviews tagging 'Forced institutionalization'

Naznaczone złotem by Namina Forna

19 reviews

a_bow's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful inspiring reflective 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? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Religious bigotry, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, War, Slavery, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Blood, Misogyny, Racism, Body horror, Kidnapping, Forced institutionalization, and Abandonment

cath_reads_books's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

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

2.25

I wanted to like this book; unfortunately it was not meant to be.

The world building leaves a lot to be desired. I found myself constantly confused when new terms or creatures were introduced. This continued throughout the book and new creatures were even introduced in the last 30 pages, in a way that makes it seem as if you should have understood what they were the entire time. 

The concepts of oppression, misogyny, and colorism are heavy throughout the novel, which is what originally drew me to it. The characters and relationships in the novel, unfortunately, are not developed enough to do these concepts justice. Each character seemed extremely one-dimensional, as if they were only there as plot devices. There’s a forced almost-romance.

The main character has an epiphany near the end of the novel that is not at all in line with her thinking or development throughout the book.

Loyalty is given and friendships are formed without any shared experience to base them on. The lack of character development contributed to the hollowing-out of important concepts, resulting in this feeling like a book without purpose. 

There’s also a LOT of plot holes. Why are women not allowed to touch sharp objects if their monthly menses can reveal impurity just as clearly as a cut? Why are girls impure from their first period if menstruation is supposed to start the process of the blood becoming impure, not finish it?

How did Umu fake her death so convincingly? She is said to be truly “gone”, but if all alaki come back as deathshrieks, why didn’t she? How did Fatu escape imprisonment and then convince her same captors, who KNEW she was dangerous and not to be trusted, to put her back in a position of power where she could overthrow them?

The list goes on. 

Overall, not impressed with this book. Kinda shocked it’s been made into a series when it absolutely didn’t have to be. Will not be reading the others.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Xenophobia, Torture, and Death

Moderate: War, Violence, and Blood

Minor: Forced institutionalization

rubybereading's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious 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

5.0

OMG!! Wow wow wow!! This was intense. This took me almost a full month to finish because I was reading a few other (very much LESS intense) books at the same time. Turns out, those other books served as perfect palate cleansers in between all the heavy subject matters, plot, and character treatment and especially character BUILDING of the more relevant characters of the book. This book shocked me! 

I thought it was going to be very mid based on the first few chapters. Midway through, I was intrigued and enjoyed the story, thinking it was a very solid book that still left much to be desired. So, I paused reading this for a few days (a few separate times) and instead spent those times starting and or finishing a few other books that were, again, much less 

"intense". Maybe I'm a lightweight. Idk. But this book was A LOT for me (first it was the colorism shoved down our throats in the first chapter, the plot jumps throughout, and then the torture and treatment the girls were going through, the heavy subject matter, the gore, etc). I ended up deciding to finish it JUST to get it over with so I could move on (since I'm trying NOT to DNF any books). And then, MY GOD (!!!). Somewhere after the halfway point, it took me to a whole nother REALM! This book turned me every which way but loose gotdamnit! And it left me wanting MORE! This book could've and probably SHOULD'VE been twice as long. That's part of my only slight criticism: there were time lapses throughout the story where the reader is just given the basic gist of what happened during the lapses instead of making it a part of the plot. The whole "telling us instead of showing us". It would've been nice to be able to read more of the character growth, experiences that enhanced her abilities, growth in strength and self-esteem, etc. Instead, there were multiple points in the story where we're told days, weeks and even months went by and something significant happened or occurred to the main character, and then the story would just continue from there. I would've preferred reading about it in detail, and definitely would not have minded if the book was even twice as long in order to do so. And I would've had to be literally peeled away from the pages! That would've made this book perfect! Still, it's a 5* for me! Having the palate cleansers and the short breaks definitely made this a better read for me though. Nonetheless, 5 star! 5 star! 5 star!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Sexism, Gore, Torture, Body horror, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Misogyny, Murder, and Violence

Moderate: Forced institutionalization, Bullying, and War

Minor: Sexual violence, Rape, Trafficking, and Sexual harassment

pip10's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad 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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Torture, Injury/Injury detail, Vomit, Misogyny, Death, Emotional abuse, and Forced institutionalization

Moderate: Death of parent, Mental illness, and Racism

Minor: Panic attacks/disorders

mysteryspouse's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark tense fast-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Forced institutionalization, Kidnapping, Ableism, Domestic abuse, Genocide, Gore, Murder, Cursing, Abandonment, Colonisation, Blood, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Deportation, Emotional abuse, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Religious bigotry, Sexism, War, Torture, Trafficking, Violence, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Sexual violence, Rape, Panic attacks/disorders, Child death, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Vomit, Sexual assault, Self harm, and Dysphoria

Minor: Suicidal thoughts and Excrement

mj1588's review against another edition

challenging mysterious medium-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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, War, Cursing, Misogyny, Murder, Racism, Rape, Religious bigotry, Gore, Sexual assault, Trafficking, Vomit, Child abuse, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Classism, Death, Death of parent, Child death, Racial slurs, Sexual violence, Torture, Colonisation, Domestic abuse, Violence, Blood, Forced institutionalization, Genocide, and Kidnapping

dannmaher's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Murder, Grief, Child abuse, Body horror, Trafficking, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Dysphoria, Forced institutionalization, Sexism, Slavery, and Gore

Content warning: In adding my review I have included over ten content warnings that I believe are necessary. I think this is an important book to talk about and the way that women are viewed(?). There is just a lot of various forms of violence that women face throughout the book so it is hard to suggest to some of my AFAB, Trans, feminine presenting friends because it touches on experiences that 'women' face in the world. I think if you can accept the content warnings it is overall a good book and potentially going to be a good series.

wrensreadingroom's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring mysterious tense medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Murder, Sexual harassment, Slavery, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Alcoholism, Animal death, Blood, Confinement, Fire/Fire injury, Adult/minor relationship, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Fatphobia, Forced institutionalization, Body shaming, Child death, Genocide, Abandonment, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Classism, Gaslighting, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Trafficking, Sexism, Violence, Vomit, and War

gotem's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional slow-paced

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

3.75

Get past the first 100ish pages, and its a riveting book about found family, the exposure of intense indoctrination, and magical girl powers all wrapped in one.

Unsettlingly gory at parts, and strikingly vague in others. This would work well for someone who reads with a heavy focus on action and dialogue. Please do mind the trigger warnings.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Sexism, Vomit, Trafficking, Body horror, Pedophilia, Misogyny, Murder, Forced institutionalization, Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Death, Child abuse, Torture, War, Violence, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Religious bigotry, Rape, Physical abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, and Blood

escapismforlife's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Were do I even start with this one other than to say I'm immediately picking up The Merciless Ones. I'm so glad I owned both of in this series because this was a strong first book.

I 'm on a empowerment high.  With this book being the third in a row that has a powerful casts of strong females. 

Deka as a main character is beyond amazing, she is the type of character who is near perfection. Not to mention the rest of the near immortal young women who descended from Goddesses in this world. 

Otera the kingdom setting of this book  does not make these girls lives easy at all. They are labeled impure and murdered because of who they were born from. It says lot about the fear men have and the control they have to put on females from a young age, in particular with beliefs in this book. But alas the unity found in these warriors forced to fight in a place that despises them is pure excellence. 

 It almost broke me in more way throgout the time jumps and youth years of these girls lifes. In particular Becalis . 

The ends twist and conclusion made all of it worth it because a win in a ANY society that wants to silence the real powerful is always.

 Can't wait to read all the chaos that's bound to follow in The Merciless Ones.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Abandonment, Blood, Sexual assault, and Violence