Reviews tagging 'Alcoholism'

She Who Became The Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan

11 reviews

galexy_brain's review against another edition

adventurous challenging reflective 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

4.5

Such a beautifully written epic about fate, desire, identity, ambition, and duty. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Violence, Fire/Fire injury, War, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Death, Gore, Sexism, and Murder

Moderate: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, and Death of parent

Minor: Vomit, Animal death, Dysphoria, Body shaming, Confinement, Toxic relationship, Slavery, Ableism, Colonisation, Bullying, Alcohol, Alcoholism, and Grief

gogglor's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense 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? It's complicated

4.0

Good book, but not my kind of book. Very Game of Thrones-y in the ambition and backstabbing and political maneuvering, which is fine but not my cup of tea. Still glad I read it, it was a dope super queer fantasy novel.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Misogyny, Sexism, and Ableism

Moderate: War, Child death, Abandonment, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Sexual violence, Slavery, Alcoholism, Outing, Alcohol, Bullying, and Vomit

raeb's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, War, Child abuse, Death of parent, Death, Dysphoria, Homophobia, Transphobia, Body horror, Physical abuse, Toxic friendship, Child death, Ableism, Gore, Grief, Murder, Blood, Sexism, and Sexual content

Moderate: Alcohol, Colonisation, Rape, Sexual violence, Slavery, Classism, Excrement, Alcoholism, Medical trauma, Mental illness, and Genocide

melodyseestrees's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Xenophobia, War, Death, Gore, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Misogyny, Child death, Sexual content, and Slavery

Minor: Animal death and Alcoholism

sonaea's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Death, Misogyny, Murder, Violence, and Sexism

Moderate: Child abuse, Physical abuse, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Blood, and Child death

Minor: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Slavery, Abandonment, Ableism, Animal death, Genocide, and Grief

handful_of_frogs's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious 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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Domestic abuse, Genocide, Gore, Violence, Body horror, Blood, Cannibalism, Classism, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Death, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Murder, Physical abuse, and Sexual content

therainbowshelf's review against another edition

dark sad 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

War epics are not my cup of tea, but if they're yours you might enjoy this one! Set in ancient China and packed with destiny, epic battles, political intrigue, betrayal, the occasional ghost, and clashes between Chinese and Mongol powers, this book tells the epic story of a girl who didn't starve to death claiming a name and destiny that might not have been hers.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Classism, Death, Dysphoria, Abandonment, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Death of parent, Gore, Torture, Xenophobia, Transphobia, Animal death, Body shaming, Child abuse, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Misogyny, Outing, Murder, Physical abuse, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Sexual content, Grief, Homophobia, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, and War

snowydaze's review against another edition

challenging hopeful mysterious medium-paced

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

3.0

The changing povs took a while to get into and I just couldn't get into it. The ending also felt rushed after the build up of the rest of the novel. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Injury/Injury detail, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Sexism, Slavery, Grief, Alcohol, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Racism, Torture, Alcoholism, Cursing, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Death, Medical content, and Misogyny

Minor: Sexual content

readingwithkelsey's review against another edition

slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

3.0

I feel really middle of the row about this book. I feel like Shelley Parker-Chan created some really interesting characters. They all had some pretty interesting arcs and I cannot deny that I was shook by the ending from how far these characters came. My favorite characters were definitely Ouyang and Ma - I felt as though they were two of the more developed characters we saw and had reasonable ambition that creeped up throughout the book. And something I think Parker-Chan did well was reflecting characters upon one another - which is a trope I love. The similarities between Ouyang and Zhu and their paths in life was really interesting to read and I love seeing how each chapter between the perspectives would mirror one another. I would finish one chapter and wonder how the other half of the plot would go. I also really enjoyed some of the discussion on gender and queerness - and this would be the only reason I would continue the series. The plot only picked up in the last 50 pages, which made it really hard to keep my interest. I did not like Zhu as a character and despite being the main POV, it felt more like things happened to her (even though she definitely had that ambitiousness I mentioned earlier, it just felt far from developed to me). Unfortunately, despite being super excited for this release, I was a little underwhelmed :( 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood, Death of parent, Grief, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual content, Violence, and War

Minor: Alcoholism

megafish's review against another edition

adventurous 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

4.5

I absolutely loved how the characters are ambiguous, imprisoned in their own grey morality and overcome by fate or, sometimes, having to break through fate
This novel is historical fantasy, so while it follows historical events, it takes liberties with everything, down to changing genders or identities. I personally did not mind this because I knew it going in and I have to be honest - I don't know all that much about Mongol and Nanren history in the first place. There are a couple of plot points that at first I felt were out of place, a little "convenient" but for me it all made sense in the end. The beginning started out a little mediocre to me, but the rest of the novel is just so well paced and interesting that thinking back to it it just was the way that this had to be set up. Ultimately, it is a story about fate.
There are very low fantasy elements in this, all connected to Chinese history and believes. It is a brutal book taking place in war times, so beware of that if you want to read this.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Blood, Death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, and Sexual content

Moderate: Animal death, Child death, Excrement, Grief, and Violence