Reviews tagging 'Sexual content'

Empire of Wild by Cherie Dimaline

46 reviews

kinomatica's review against another edition

adventurous 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? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Gaslighting, Grief, Religious bigotry, Fire/Fire injury, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Blood, Body horror, Confinement, Death of parent, Dysphoria, Alcohol, Abandonment, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual content, and Animal death

Minor: Racism, Misogyny, and Panic attacks/disorders

cathepsut's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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? Yes

3.75

A husband disappeared — or did he?

This is not a typical werewolf story. If you are looking for Urban Fantasy, this is definitely not it. It is a story by an indigenous Canadian writer, based on traditional folkore about the Rogarou (from the French word for werewolf, loup-garou) and then some. And a very real topic concerning indigenous people in Canada today.

I was a little lukewarm about this throughout, but the last third of the novel made up for it. That part was excellent and I couldn‘t put it down anymore. The changing points of view made for an exciting read and the ending and epilogue gave it a great and suspenseful finish.

Things I looked up during my read — from here on there are spoilers:

Here is an somewhat spoilerish interview with Dimaline where she describes how she came to write a novel about a Rogarou: https://electricliterature.com/cherie...

The novel might be adapted for the small screen: https://deadline.com/2021/07/kai-wu-c...

Towards the end of the novel there is a quote from a poem:

I have measured out my life with coffee spoons;
I know the voices dying with a dying fall
Beneath the music from a farther room.
               So how should I presume?

It’s from The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock by T. S. ELIOT
(https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poet...)

Some thoughts on Joan:

Joan‘s last name, Beausoliel: is that a anglicized version of „beau soleil“, aka beautiful sun?

Joan of Arcand = Joan of Arc… as in: she is supposed to deliver her region and people from the invading mining companies, etc.?

Joan‘s red coat — a hint at Litte Red Riding Hood? Considering some events in this book, it feels like a re-telling of that fairytale, at least in parts. Intermingled with that Rogarou folkore.

“What big teeth you have," said Little Red Riding Hood her voice quivering slightly.
"The better to eat you with, my dear," roared the wolf…“

Here is an online version of Little Red Riding Hood: https://www.grimmstories.com/language...

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence

Moderate: Sexual content

Minor: Rape and Murder

onemamareads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective 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? Yes

4.25

Read my full review here: https://onemamassummer.weebly.com/book-reviews/empire-of-wild

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Death, Death of parent, Sexism, and Sexual content

Moderate: Sexual violence

Minor: Incest

rorikae's review against another edition

challenging emotional 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

4.75

'Empire of Wild' by Cherie Dimaline is an emotional story surrounding one woman's attempt to save her husband. 
Joan believes her husband is dead when she stumbles into a religious tent in the Walmart parking lot and finds a man that looks remarkably like him preaching. But Viktor doesn't remember her and is now going by the name Eugene Wolff. Joan knows that this man is her husband and will stop at nothing to get him back, including taking on the revival group that seems to have brainwashed him and the stories of more than wolves that are lurking in the woods. 
From the first paragraph of this book, I was hooked. Dimaline has an engaging and evocative writing style that clearly paints the world she has created in stark but emotional prose. From the beginning, Joan and each of the supporting characters flew off the page as if they had been plucked from real life. Add to that an enticing mystery as the reader tries to figure out what happened to Viktor right alongside Joan and this story was near perfection. Dimaline does a great job of breathing folklore and a hint of the speculative into a world that is otherwise down to earth. I have been excited to pick up her work for some time and now I can't wait to read everything that she has written. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, Colonisation, Alcohol, Blood, Violence, Sexual content, Racism, and Kidnapping

bookdragon217's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny informative mysterious reflective sad tense slow-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Minor: Abandonment, Alcohol, Blood, Car accident, Colonisation, Cursing, Death, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Violence, Sexual content, Religious bigotry, Racism, and Pregnancy

mommarex1221's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense 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? No

4.0

A solid re-imagining of Red Riding Hood, is a fun read, especially around Halloween.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Alcohol, Animal death, Blood, Death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Racism, Sexual content, and Violence

pdestrienne's review against another edition

dark emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

A story about a fierce, obsessive love that feels believable. I see the comparisons to Gaiman and the feel of the story as far as having a scrim of unreality over the real world, with a battle against something malevolent and supposedly Christian but also ancient was reminiscent of Stephen King, but Dimaline is doing her own thing within that type of horror. The thing that was the hook for me and that held the whole thing together was the community and family aspect - it's not a sanitized version of the perfect happy community; these are people who are just themselves and hurt each other and fight and have what may be described as "earthy" senses of humor, and they know that life is awful sometimes and that familial and romantic love is complicated, and they show up for each other. Their rituals work because they believe and trust in their ancestral knowledge, and to see it reduced in the revival tent as "praying to animals", preached by someone whose soul has been compromised and kidnapped, was very chilling. The pacing is tense and stressful, even though I was immersed in the story I would avoid picking up the book because I was afraid of what would happen to the characters, because Dimaline guarantees no safety for anyone (and in fact the ending bears this out... will there be another book in this world?). I do think that the portions written from the perspective of Heiser and Celine feel much more hollow and stereotyped but I also think that this is because their lives are hollow and following a stereotype? 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence and Sexual content

caseythereader's review against another edition

dark emotional funny mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.75

 - EMPIRE OF WILD on one level reads as a wild mystery adventure, but look a little closer and it's actually a tale of the horrors of colonization.
- This book is full of messy characters (some of whom I thought could have stood to have a little more page time) and you're rooting for Joan the whole way. I was turning pages as fast as I could, and the final showdown had me gripped.
- The ending seems to have people split, and I can see why - if you read this book, come talk to me about what you think happens! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Body shaming, Child abuse, Colonisation, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Murder, Racism, Religious bigotry, Sexual content, and Violence

Minor: Ableism, Domestic abuse, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Sexual assault, and Suicidal thoughts

shaunashares's review against another edition

dark tense slow-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? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Sexual content

Minor: Addiction

mikki_9's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Emotional abuse, Confinement, Grief, Racism, Religious bigotry, and Sexual content

Moderate: Violence, Kidnapping, Homophobia, Death, Child abuse, Abortion, Body shaming, and Murder

Minor: Blood and Medical content