Reviews tagging 'Sexism'

Muse of Nightmares by Laini Taylor

6 reviews

kathrynleereads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-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

Picking up only minutes after Strange the Dreamer ended, Muse of Nightmares, by Laini Taylor, was everything that its predecessor wasn’t… in the most surprising ways.

With the Citadel now in Lazlo’s control but still looming over the city of Weep, Muse of Nightmares opens with a whole new level of chaos. Citizens are fleeing, Eril-Fane is trying to corral the Tizerkane warriors, and Lazlo is meeting the other Godspawn for the first time.

Before we find out how the night's events play out, however, we’re introduced to Kora and Nova, sisters living in a desolate village, who have an incredibly different view of the blue-skinned “gods” that the people of Weep have come to dread. 

As the story plays out for the sisters, Lazlo, the Godspawn, and the people of Weep, the book really lives up to its name. 

Where Strange the Dreamer was all dreams and imaginary worlds, Muse of Nightmares is all horror and unimaginable crimes. The books were like two sides of a coin. Readers fell in love with the picturesque and awe-filled version of Weep, then had that whole idea spun on its axis until it was an ugly truth. 

There are very few times when reading a book that I can honestly say I experienced gut-wrenching horror, and Muse of Nightmares was the reason for many of them. 

All of the questions presented in Strange the Dreamer were finally granted answers, but they were the answers of nightmares.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Gore, Blood, Body horror, Suicidal thoughts, Genocide, Sexism, Sexual assault, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Violence, Death, Domestic abuse, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, Trafficking, Vomit, and War

Moderate: Confinement, Kidnapping, Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Medical content, Mental illness, and Misogyny

Minor: Infidelity, Abandonment, Abortion, Fire/Fire injury, and Homophobia

grets_reads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, and Violence

Moderate: Kidnapping, Grief, Confinement, Murder, Xenophobia, Child abuse, War, Trafficking, and Slavery

Minor: Domestic abuse, Suicide, Sexual assault, Sexism, Rape, Fire/Fire injury, Pregnancy, and Physical abuse

laneys_library's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring 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? It's complicated

5.0

I LOVE IT!!! So much better than first! One of my now favorite books!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Blood, Child death, Child abuse, Death, Murder, Violence, Gore, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Trafficking, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, and Kidnapping

Minor: Suicide attempt, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Sexism, Rape, Torture, Slavery, Self harm, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, and Sexual harassment

nyree42's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious tense fast-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Trafficking, Violence, Adult/minor relationship, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Grief, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, and Pedophilia

Moderate: Child abuse, Sexism, Sexual content, and Racism

chantellimus's review

adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective fast-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Violence, and Child death

Moderate: Suicide, Abandonment, War, Sexual violence, Trafficking, Emotional abuse, Violence, Slavery, Sexual assault, Torture, Suicidal thoughts, and Kidnapping

Minor: Racism, Lesbophobia, Self harm, and Sexism

journeythroughthechapters's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful slow-paced

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

3.0

Thoughts
This took me forever to read. I don’t know if it was a slump or if it was the book. I was just bored. The story took a long time to get going. While the book took off where the first one left off which was a major cliffhanger it took a while for anything to really happen.

Things I liked:
- The atmosphere. This world is stunning and super vivid. This is one of the few books that I really can visualise what it would look like and generally for me this is hard. So that is a testament to the writing
- The characters. I feel like some of the character developments were a bit unrealistic and the changes from the first to the second book were fairly drastic but I didn’t mind that. The two that come to mind are Minya and Nero. Minya’s development I can understand but Nero’s does a complete 180 but he’s minor so I didn’t really care. So while they are not my favourite characters I liked them.

Things I didn’t like:
- The writing. On this a lot of people will disagree with me on but I don’t like floral writing. I like straight forward writing that is to the point. Laini Taylor’s writing is beautiful it’s just not for me personally
- The plot. Deary me did this book drag. The first 200-250 felt like it went on forever. Things happened but I was captivated or intrigued which I’m sad to say. It gets more interesting in the last quarter but that doesn’t make up for the rest of the novel. I am both a plot and character driven reader and for me the characters couldn’t carry this book for me.

I’m definitely the unpopular opinion in this instance. But I Strange the Dreamer as well wasn’t a favourite so I’m not that surprised.

Content Warning: Death/Dead Body, Sexism, Suspected Self Harm, Suicide, Grief

Representation: Lesbian - Side Character, POC

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Grief

Moderate: Sexism and Suicide

Minor: Self harm