Reviews tagging 'Sexism'

Lore by Alexandra Bracken

91 reviews

mkmusicmaniac's review

adventurous fast-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? Yes

3.5

Takes the fun out of a fast paced book to keep having to check names and people but Lore is a BA. Book club April ‘24

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Grief, Sexism, Death, Death of parent, Gore, Violence, Child death, Cancer, and Blood

dr_amy_k_west's review

adventurous emotional

• 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? Yes

Not sure how to rate this one. Got the rec from a fave booktoker and not unhappy about it. I did devour it (an easier read and enjoyed the pacing and mythology). That said, I struggled in places: the plot meandered, supporting characters weren't well-developed, and was rather disappointed in the anticlimactic ending.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Child death, and Death of parent

Moderate: Child abuse, Misogyny, Torture, Bullying, Terminal illness, and Sexism

Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Rape, and Sexual assault

cdoubet's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious 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

3.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, War, Physical abuse, Blood, Chronic illness, Classism, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Mental illness, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Murder, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Bullying and Child death

Minor: Child abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, and Stalking

ursa_arlo's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

2.5

Positives. The concept for "Lore" is fantastic; the continued ever repeating cycle of rulers dethroned by subjects and houses that hold onto cruel traditions to have a shot at killing a god... But in practice, it was a bit of a mess. I liked some of the twists, such as spoiler 

Gill being revealed to be the original Hermes (even if his motivation for taking Lore and Miles in was very unclear and he should have been reinstated as a god for his actions).

Unfortunately, this novel was too ambitious, leaving a lot of plotholes to be filled. 

Negatives. In spite of the intriguing worldbuilding, New York feels empty. If you're going to set your story in New York, write about New York! If your character has fallen in love with this city, make us fall in love with it too! 

Rather than telling a cohesive story, it felt like the characters went from side quest to side quest which made this (500+ pages!!) book loose its tension. Relevant information was also only brought up as soon as it was relevant for the plot which took away all the fun of trying to guess where the story would go next.  

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Death, Child death, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Misogyny, Blood, Pedophilia, Sexual harassment, Child abuse, Sexual violence, Violence, and Sexism

Moderate: Chronic illness and Rape

Minor: Adult/minor relationship and Animal death

rebeccamgwck's review

adventurous dark tense fast-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

3.5

A dark, grim re-imagining of Greek mythology which explored the brutal side of both the godly, immortal figures and the plain old humans with their burning ambition. The plot was intriguing; watching the characters unravel thread after thread and often ending up with more questions than answers. The full cast of characters were well-developed, though frustratingly bad decision makers (someone had to advance the plot, l suppose). The ending felt slightly rushed,

and a bit jarringly sunshine-and-rainbows compared to the previous fifty-odd chapters

.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Gore, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Death of parent, Child death, Death, Violence, and Blood

Moderate: Cancer, Pedophilia, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Domestic abuse and Ableism

nandakandabooks's review

adventurous slow-paced

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

2.0

I struggled with this book, mainly because of how long the set up and introduction to the world and cast takes. A lot of characters are not memorable and feel very bland. Lore was a cliche main character and the plot quite predictable.
If I weren't attached to some names and wanted to see if my predictions were correct I would have tropped the whole book.

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexism

aviery's review

adventurous emotional funny 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

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Child death, and Violence

Moderate: War, Sexual assault, Sexism, Murder, Misogyny, Rape, and Injury/Injury detail

senseioftheinternet's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Violence, Suicide, Sexual assault, Panic attacks/disorders, Blood, Gore, and Death

Moderate: War, Sexism, Body horror, Terminal illness, Grief, Murder, and Death of parent

Minor: Vomit

val_theburrowofstories's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious fast-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

3.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Sexual assault, Blood, Sexual harassment, Sexism, Violence, Death, and Child death

Moderate: Cancer, Adult/minor relationship, and Grief

Minor: Genocide

buer's review against another edition

adventurous funny tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Lore follows its titular character Melora as she is dragged back into a borderline magical world that she has spent her young adult life trying to escape. The story mostly follows her and a small group of friends as they try to figure out why people in that world are looking for Melora and eventually doing everything they can to save New York City from a threatening force. The story includes flashbacks to formative moments in her childhood when she was still involved in this world and training to be a god hunter.

There are several surprises and twists woven into the story and the modernization of and constant references to Greek Mythology is fun. Bracken artfully brings various ancient myths up in a way that always gives the reader a chance to figure out if they know the story before she gives the sparks notes version for anyone who can't quite remember the details. Characters are all strong-willed people who have values that they adhere to rigidly, which means that there isn't much in the way of character-building, but the plot moves quickly under the choices made by our leading characters.

I did find my interest in the story flagging toward the end of of the book. This could just be a result of me trying to finish the entire thing too quickly and it was just too much all at once, but the story leaps from one brutal killing or assault or attack to another and that gets exhausting.

Being who I am, I don't love that all of the main characters are shipped, but I wasn't surprised that Bracken made those choices.

I think I was also hoping for a book that was  more empowering - I don't find stories that are constantly fighting misogynistic structures and people to be that empowering because they lean so hard on the existence of misogyny on the first place.

I listened to the audio book, which I'm not sure if I would recommend. I liked the narrator, but I had trouble keeping track of all the different houses and weapons and whatnot.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, War, Sexism, and Violence

Moderate: Suicide

Minor: Terminal illness