Reviews tagging 'Sexual content'

The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell

4 reviews

eemott's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring reflective 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Medical content, Sexual assault, Excrement, Grief, Child death, Death, Rape, and Sexual violence

brookiebridge's review against another edition

dark sad tense

• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

One of my favorite books of all time. The pacing is the best I’ve ever seen, I couldn’t put the book down and finished it, sobbing, at 3 in the morning. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Rape, and Death

Moderate: Child death, Gore, Sexual violence, Blood, Body horror, Slavery, Cannibalism, Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual assault, and Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Homophobia, Sexual content, Pregnancy, and Torture

The book builds up to the reveal of why the main character survived and what happened to him.

He watched as alien children were killed and eaten, and his friends died trying to stand up for them. He was then forced to also eat the alien children to survive, him and his friend underwent medical disfigurement of their hands and his friend died as a result. He was then sold to a brothel where he was raped repeatedly, and accidentally killed a child who had come to try to help him, thinking the child was a rapist at first. He is repeatedly confined to small spaces and isolated. Half of the story is him being investigated by his superiors, who don’t know he was raped but believe he committed murder and had illicit sex, since he is a priest. He has severe ptsd but the investigation forces him to confront his past.

tauboi's review against another edition

challenging dark funny 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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Torture, Slavery, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Physical abuse, Murder, Violence, Trafficking, Sexual content, and Rape

evilscientist's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring sad slow-paced

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

4.5

-this one was A Lot
-liked the characters and different POVs
-and the worldbuilding of the aliens was really interesting
-and the switching between present and flashbacks created tension as we wait to find out how the tragedy happens
-made me think a lot about religion, language, and grief. still not sure how i feel about it
-it was slow to get through the first few chapters but once i connected with the characters i couldn’t wait to finish it
-also had some really funny bits

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape

Moderate: Death, Child death, Body horror, Sexual content, and Grief