Reviews tagging 'Domestic abuse'

He Who Drowned the World by Shelley Parker-Chan

32 reviews

helfire124's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Blood, Body horror, Excrement, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Medical content, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Drug use, Misogyny, Vomit, Infertility, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Violence, War, Gaslighting, Body shaming, Bullying, Chronic illness, Colonisation, Confinement, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Murder, Outing, Rape, Self harm, Slavery, Torture, Pregnancy, Physical abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Xenophobia, Ableism, Classism, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, and Homophobia

judythedreamer's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

2.5

  I had the impression after the first book that Shelley Parker-Chan has difficulties maintaining tone and was proven right, because I just read the most hippie ending to an exceedingly grimdark and trigger-filled book. It's such a weak ending compared to all the existential horror and gore that came before. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Domestic abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, War, Self harm, Infertility, Sexual assault, Dysphoria, Death, Homophobia, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Violence, Classism, Bullying, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Rape, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Blood, Gore, Grief, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexism, Ableism, Abortion, Body horror, Emotional abuse, and Sexual violence

themdash's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense slow-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Domestic abuse, Grief, Infertility, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Terminal illness, Ableism, Blood, Sexual assault, War, Death, Body shaming, Sexism, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual content, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Misogyny, Rape, Colonisation, and Violence

mcampany's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Slavery, Torture, Homophobia, Infidelity, War, Injury/Injury detail, Self harm, and Sexual content

throwback682's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.5

As I’ll mention in the content warnings section below, this book is much more triggering and more violent in specific ways than the first book (She Who Became the Sun) in this duology. 

That being said, I couldn’t put it down. I finished this one much more quickly than the first. It was very gripping. The reason I gave it 1/2 star less than its predecessor is just because of the r*pe scenes honestly. 

Re: the title

I wondered if the title of the second book referred to the main character of the first book just with a different pronoun but this book focuses more on a different character, who was in the first book but didn’t play such a major role.

He sort of comes from behind unexpectedly and becomes a major player in this installment.

The backstabbing really gets kicked up a notch in this book too. 

I kind of thought at one point that the book was getting a bit predictable/tired and then OPE THERE’S A TWIST and then WHOOPS ANOTHER ONE. Hang in there. 

The protagonist of the first book continues to beat the odds in unexpected ways as she did before and again it’s spectacular. Also as before, I found myself rooting for and even loving really cruel, dark, awful characters. The author has a talent for coaxing out empathy for the worst baddies. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Colonisation, Grief, Slavery, Sexual content, Ableism, Dysphoria, Fire/Fire injury, Physical abuse, Self harm, War, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Violence, Pregnancy, Rape, Death, Misogyny, Murder, Abortion, Gaslighting, Miscarriage, Torture, Animal death, Body shaming, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, and Confinement

Minor: Vomit

There is a lot more triggering content in this book than in the first installment of the duology, She Who Became the Sun. Specifically there are multiple rape scenes: - one is marital

as a punishment visited on a wife by her husband

- one is sort of in the context of a gay relationship but

first of all the “relationship” starts off as a manipulation tactic and is coercive and abusive

and secondly

the specific rape scene itself is forcible and in anger.

- another is in the context of a king/consort relationship, which already means consent can’t apply because of the power dynamic, and then

he is purposely trying to hurt her emotionally with the specific rape.

There are also numerous incidents of self harm (many of them are actually perpetrated by someone else, but still falls solidly in the “self harm” category in this context). Like the last book, there is a child who dies -

murdered by a soldier.

He also

has his blood let as proof of life to send to his father to gain his army’s compliance.

I marked both miscarriage and abortion but really it’s neither of those exactly.

A woman is happy about her pregnancy and then another woman gives her poison that ends it without her knowledge or consent.

There’s also someone who has been mutilated.

A servant has her eyes and tongue removed

so that she can be used in a specific way to test someone’s magical powers. There’s also a man who is executed by

being cooked alive in a bamboo steamer.

Yes, the first book was violent and about war and cruelty. But I think this book takes it to another level in several ways. Read with caution.

aan2328's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, and Rape

Minor: Self harm

shibh's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad 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? Yes

5.0

A bittersweet end to the duology. These books look at gender and the human experience of it in a way that has left me feeling exposed and crying. In a good way though.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual harassment, Slavery, Violence, Grief, Physical abuse, Self harm, Injury/Injury detail, Abandonment, Animal death, Homophobia, Body shaming, Classism, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Medical content, Sexual assault, Ableism, Animal cruelty, Bullying, Domestic abuse, Murder, Abortion, Confinement, Genocide, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Rape, Lesbophobia, Addiction, Misogyny, Child death, Colonisation, Dysphoria, Gore, Infertility, Pregnancy, Blood, Body horror, Cursing, Death, Infidelity, Toxic relationship, Child abuse, Pandemic/Epidemic, War, Vomit, Xenophobia, Sexism, Transphobia, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, and Torture

arbyegg's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful tense 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

Moderate: Ableism, Homophobia, Rape, Domestic abuse, and Self harm

isi__1's review against another edition

challenging dark sad slow-paced

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

2.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Sexual violence, Domestic abuse, Self harm, War, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Miscarriage, Torture, and Rape

Minor: Suicidal thoughts

wtheriac's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense 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? No

4.5

An excellent follow up to finish the duology. I loved the story even as this entry focused a lot more on sex-as-politics/power and had a lot of scenes that technically are not consensual sexual encounters according to modern definitions.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Domestic abuse, Racism, and Murder