Reviews tagging 'Torture'

The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss

3 reviews

nortsapa's review

adventurous dark sad tense slow-paced

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

2.75

this book really hasn’t aged well? the writing around poverty & music makes me feel like the author isn’t very familiar with the lived experiences of poor folk & musicians (“if you’ve never been xyz you wouldn’t understand” is said a lot) and it has a very j.j. abrams “mystery box” plot style. it prefers being totally unpredictable to having a flowing plot with foreshadowing and the like. many offhand phrases are repeated over and over again (take a shot every time “times being what they are” is said)

i don’t like school settings and i wasn’t really prepared for us to spend 75% of this book in a school, or to encounter quite so much patriarchy. another review says the protagonist is a mary sue and i very much agree.

there’s lots of different fictional races, which i presume is why people say this cast is diverse, but it’s more like there’s russians & jews, the french & italians, the british, and romani people. as a jew, i always feel off-put by kinds of oppression/microaggressions faced by some groups in here, and by the fact that there’s a ‘money race’ for lack of a better term.

at many points the book was a chore to get through, and i was disappointed by the lack of a clean ending. also, lots of grammar/spelling/math errors in my edition?

overall i won’t be recommending it to anyone myself, but it’s a genre staple and fun to talk about with friends. definitely check the content warnings area before embarking.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Police brutality, Physical abuse, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Forced institutionalization, Death of parent, Classism, Abandonment, Death, Sexual violence, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Rape, Racism, Medical trauma, Grief, Child abuse, Animal death, Ableism, Gore, Sexism, Vomit, Murder, Misogyny, Mental illness, Fire/Fire injury, Bullying, Body horror, Blood, and Addiction

Minor: Vomit, Violence, Medical trauma, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Gore, Antisemitism, Trafficking, Torture, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Misogyny, Medical content, Fatphobia, Drug abuse, Domestic abuse, Child abuse, Bullying, Blood, Abandonment, Addiction, Alcohol, War, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual harassment, Sexism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Rape, Police brutality, Physical abuse, Murder, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, Fire/Fire injury, Emotional abuse, Drug use, Death of parent, Death, Confinement, Classism, and Body horror

graphic depictions of whipping a child, pickup artistry, anti-sex work, timeskips

laurenleigh's review against another edition

adventurous emotional lighthearted mysterious 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

A good long fantasy read that exceeded all my expectations! I sometimes get overwhelmed by longer texts and start to get bored, but I never wanted this to end. The world built was detailed and fascinating. It’s the kind of fantasy world that’s just a little to the left of our own, where magic exists, but in a subtle manner. The characters really make me feel a lot. To the point where every time Ambrose showed up, I could feel myself getting all heated up and angry. I don’t enjoy feeling angry of course, but I love when a book can bring out that much emotion in me! The “story within a story” structure was well done, and invites the reader to question the factuality of everything that’s being told. In a way, it’s a deep exploration of celebrity. Does a person’s actions make them a hero, or is it the constant telling and retelling of said acts that elevates them to the heroic? This was an immersive adventure from start to finish, and I had a great ride. I’ll definitely need to pick up the sequel soon. Rothfuss leaves us with so many storylines unfinished, so many mysteries still to solve!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Death, and Death of parent

Moderate: Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Medical content

lunep's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense slow-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Death, Child abuse, Grief, Medical content, Torture, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Sexual harassment, Mental illness, Classism, Addiction, Blood, Gore, Police brutality, Alcohol, Death of parent, Drug abuse, and Murder

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Mental illness, Xenophobia, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Minor: Kidnapping, Medical content, Misogyny, Animal cruelty, Sexism, and War

Graphic depictions of poverty and homelessness take up a significant portion of the story. Graphic description and discussion of giant spiders.