Reviews tagging 'Sexism'

The Diviners by Libba Bray

7 reviews

maddiereadswords's review against another edition

5.0

This series has been literally my all-time favorite series since I first read it years ago, and after getting hit with a random urge to reread it, I'm thrilled to report that it still holds up!! This is a series that rewards careful rereading, and I'm biting drywall at some of the things I only just realized this time around. There's so much history and research packed into every page (which I concede could make it feel like a slog to anyone who's not into or used to reading dense historical fiction, but that's a selling point to me tbh), all of the characters are so unique and fun, and the spooky ghost-story vibes of this first installment in particular are just unmatched. I've read this book countless times before, and I'll likely read it so many more in the future.

This whole series is just so criminally underrated, I am frothing at the mouth, please come read these totally normal books that I am totally and completely normal about. Also people need to stop being so mean to Evie; on god I'm gonna get that girl some grief counseling and an ADHD diagnosis and then you'll all be sorry!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Religious bigotry, Sexism, Violence, Alcohol, Death, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Animal death, and Misogyny

Moderate: Abortion, Child abuse, Rape, Vomit, Confinement, Xenophobia, Gore, Police brutality, Racism, Domestic abuse, and Fire/Fire injury

cady_sass's review

adventurous challenging dark mysterious slow-paced

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

3.5

Oh man, here’s another one where I may get decimated by the booktube / booktok girlies. I was SO INTO this for the first 70%. This is a long ass book and I think I read that chunk in like 2-3 days. Then….. we lost the plot. I could not stay interested or engaged. It goes from plausibly supernatural in a fun way to completely off the wall unbelievable bonkers in a way that I simply can not keep up with what’s happening. I borrowed the audiobook to try to help myself just power through the last quarter of the book and it did not help. It took me 2 weeks to get through the last quarter and I just … idk, it’s not satisfying. I’m still confused. I want to reread it and see if its better/makes more sense the second time around, but also absolutely not because this book is SO long?! The internal struggle is real. 

I think I’m not the right audience. Is this something that could make sense to someone else who enjoys a more deeply fantastical story? Probably. Am I that person? Absolutely not. I am a light fantasy type bitch and i thought you had me, but then you lost me.  Rip my brain cells 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Violence, Abortion, Racism, Animal death, Sexual assault, Body horror, Bullying, Murder, Abandonment, Blood, Misogyny, Alcohol, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Gore, and Fire/Fire injury

amariela02's review

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore

Moderate: Racism, Sexism, Murder, Kidnapping, Sexual assault, and Religious bigotry

Minor: Homophobia, Death, Abortion, Animal death, and Domestic abuse

xlunasoleil's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Murder

Moderate: Racism and Sexism

Minor: War, Death, and Domestic abuse

r1dh4's review

adventurous dark informative 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? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

For the time that I read The Diviners, I was almost completely transported into its world. The setting really came off the page for me, and I really enjoyed the author's writing style. I will say that Libba Bray seems to really like long-winded descriptions and discussions; however, I did not find it boring here and instead thought it was important in order to fully visualize the world she is trying to show. That being said, I feel like it's important to know this and have the right mindset going in, because I definitely wouldn't have been able to read this so quickly or deeply had I read it earlier last year since I wouldn't have had enough focus at the time.

The characters were also all really well-developed in my opinion. Even minor characters that did not show up for very long felt like real people. At times it did feel like there was just a lot of information on the character's backstory coming in at once, but considering the rest of Bray's writing style it didn't feel that out of place to me and it didn't hinder my enjoyment of the book at all.

Additionally, the plot doesn't really pick up speed until about halfway through the book. However, even though the plot started a bit later, I still enjoyed the beginning because it provided some good exposition and allowed the reader to become familiar with the characters and their motives/personalities. When the plot actually does get underway, I found myself really wanting to know what happened next. Not only does the book feel rightly creepy, but there's a lot of movement between places and characters that was handled well and prevented me from feeling bored.

Along with this, the story itself also felt really well-crafted; you could tell the author had taken a long time to research and write this book, and you could see the carefully laid threads that allowed this book to finish completely while still leaving some great material for the next few books. The only thing I didn't like about this book was the romances; each felt either forced or too fast. I feel like some extra development would help this out, which I'm looking forward to seeing in the next few books.

Honestly, since I've heard that the subsequent books are better than the first, I definitely will be reading the next few, and I'm looking forward to continuing the series! I would also recommend this book to anybody, as long as they feel up to the longer page length and have checked out the content warnings (because there are quite a few). Overall, a great book to start off 2022!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder

Moderate: Alcohol, Blood, Body horror, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Grief, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, and Sexism

Minor: Sexual assault

jmross10's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Abandonment, Body horror, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Racism, Religious bigotry, Violence, Xenophobia, and Death

Minor: Slavery and Sexism

er1nmoore's review

adventurous challenging dark 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

4.5

TO BE WRITTEN

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Abortion, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Antisemitism, Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Gore, Grief, Misogyny, Murder, Racism, Rape, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, War, and Xenophobia