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abnerbee's review
3.0
Graphic: Blood, Child death, Death, Kidnapping, Rape, Child abuse, Death of parent, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Body horror, Sexual violence, Torture, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual assault, Pedophilia, and Violence
It's so violent and so graphic, just know that going in.samanthaleereads's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
Graphic: Cursing, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Violence, Death, Gore, Kidnapping, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Misogyny, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Child abuse, Fatphobia, Murder, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Pregnancy, Slavery, Torture, Blood, Body horror, Cannibalism, Sexism, and Confinement
literarygrooves's review
Graphic: Excrement, Body horror, Blood, Rape, Sexual assault, Death, Child abuse, Child death, Violence, Domestic abuse, Murder, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, and Pedophilia
a_raptor_named_arsenic's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
Graphic: Child abuse, Sexual violence, Slavery, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Domestic abuse, Sexual assault, Child death, Body horror, Rape, Sexual content, and Sexism
halfacenturyreader's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Graphic: Rape, Domestic abuse, Sexual violence, and Sexual assault
raybiescabies's review against another edition
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Rape, Child death, and Sexual violence
Moderate: Slavery
5aru's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
On the one hand, I loved the story, which weaves an impressive, multifaceted, intriguing plot. The twists are built up to but never predictable. The characters feel distant from the reader due to Tracker's wilfully detached narration, but they never once fall flat. And the worldbuilding! It builds such a perfectly wild, unpredictable, intricate world around the characters, full of myth continually intruding upon the realistic. Truly flawless work in that regard.
On the other hand, the novel is full of gore and violence, sexual and otherwise. It is ever-present and it is inescapable; definitely go over the content warnings. In particular, there is so much rape in this book, you can hardly go a chapter without a passing mention or a threat of it. Hell, you can hardly go a page without reading the word fuck. I'm not particularly squeamish about what I read, and don't mind profanity, but James' world is so defined by and constructed around senseless violence that it truly gets hard to stomach sometimes. If I hadn't been so intrigued by the plot, I would've probably stopped reading at chapter 8; even then, I find it difficult to justify. I can understand the decision to narrate violence of all kinds, but at times it really was so naturalized, so mindless, that it felt like simple shock value that added nothing to the narrative.
I cannot recommend this to everyone; it is a hard book to read even if the premise interests you. Go in with a warning — but I'd say, if able, go in anyway. It really is one of a kind.
Graphic: Sexual violence, Violence, Torture, Sexual assault, Rape, Physical abuse, Misogyny, Injury/Injury detail, Excrement, Domestic abuse, Death, and Child death
Moderate: Trafficking, Pedophilia, Slavery, Animal cruelty, and Animal death
arguhlincozzi's review
Graphic: Child abuse, Kidnapping, Rape, Fire/Fire injury, Child death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Excrement, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Abandonment, Blood, Death, Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Cannibalism
nrhilmer's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Graphic: Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, Violence, Abandonment, Body horror, Cannibalism, Cursing, Homophobia, Kidnapping, Trafficking, Child death, Death, Grief, Animal death, Blood, Gore, Infidelity, Transphobia, Infertility, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Sexual violence, Addiction, Alcohol, Excrement, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Torture, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Animal cruelty, Confinement, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Incest, Sexism, Rape, War, and Xenophobia
christina_ro's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
If you have any concerns about trigger warnings around any kind of violence, I’d google the warnings for this book. The graphic violence of this book was probably the hardest part for me. There are certain scenes where the violence and detailed descriptions add weight and emotion, but there are a number of times where I didn’t feel it added anything to the story. I’m not typically one for gratuitous violence or gore, but it caught me off guard and since I was reading it for my book club, I pushed through.
Overall, I’m glad that I finished this book, and James is certainly a talented author, but I’m not sure I would read more from the author if his other books are this graphic.
Graphic: Sexual violence, Murder, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Death, Grief, Excrement, Violence, Blood, War, Animal death, Child death, Torture, Slavery, Rape, Pedophilia, Incest, Domestic abuse, Gore, and Cannibalism
Moderate: Homophobia