Reviews tagging 'Grief'

The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin

209 reviews

rmperezpadilla's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional tense

• 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Trafficking, Torture, Child death, Racism, Emotional abuse, Child abuse, Grief, Hate crime, Slavery, and Sexual violence

Minor: Pedophilia and Rape

sakiido's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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: Cannibalism, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Police brutality, Violence, Bullying, Grief, Torture, Sexual content, Blood, Body horror, Child death, Classism, Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Hate crime, Racial slurs, Racism, and Pregnancy

glitterdeww'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? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Knowing how much praise it's garnered since it's debut, I have felt intimidated by The Fifth Season for years now. I am INCREDIBLY glad that I finally read it! What this book accomplishes is outstanding. The commentary on life and death, ages ending and beginning - Resurrection, and what that looks like from the smallest of instances to the grandest of scale - is truly and utterly brilliant. She portrays a world of classism and racism that is EQUALLY fantastic and believable that will gut you in it's heartbreaking reality.

Beyond Jemisin's incredible world and character development (which, if you know you know, omg! Lol) I found the structure of the story, from first page to last, to be remarkable. I'm fairly certain that if I was not told how well done this book was, I may not have dug into every scene to the extent that I did upon first go through. But goddamnit lol I cannot get over the level of precision in her story structure. The breadcrumbs she leaves... The explanation and then LACK of explanation to guide the reader into drawing those conclusions... The crafting is perfection. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Child abuse, Child death, Racism, Classism, Death, Genocide, and Hate crime

Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, Slavery, Emotional abuse, Trafficking, Sexual content, Gaslighting, Pedophilia, Forced institutionalization, Injury/Injury detail, and Physical abuse

Minor: Cannibalism

tasia_b's review against another edition

challenging dark slow-paced

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

2.0

Перед покупкою начиталася відгуків про те, яка ця книга унікальна, але поки я читала, не могла не перестати думати про те, що за вайбом і стилем написання вона для мене щось середнє між трилогією однієї російської письменниці (мені дали її почитати аж у 2006 році) і “Грою престолів” Джорджа Мартіна. Не знаю, чому я читала таке в дитинстві, мабуть, просто вибір книг та жанрів у продажу був значно менший, ніж зараз.

Проблема навіть не в тому, що частина книги написана у другій особі, бо, навіть якби у цьому не було сенсу, мені це все одно не заважало і було нормально. Мені не сподобався сам стиль написання навіть у тих частинах, де все було стандартно і для мене було занадто затягнуто.

Багато разів зустрічається слово “срака” — це плюс 😁

Багато жорстокості по відношенню до дітей.

Всі сексуальні сцени дуже крінжові.

Була виснажена після цієї книги.

Продовжувати читати трилогію не хочеться, вгамувала свою допитливість, прочитавши опис того, що відбувається далі і чим все закінчилося, у Вікіпедії. Бо сама історія цікава. Але для мене вона виявилася розчаруванням.

Більше відгуків можна прочитати на моєму книжковому каналі: https://t.me/yizdoonkareads

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Child abuse, Racial slurs, Blood, Grief, Child death, Emotional abuse, Classism, Death, Violence, Gore, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, and Murder

Moderate: Vomit

Minor: Colonisation, Pregnancy, and Cannibalism

mald626's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Grief, Violence, Physical abuse, Racism, Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Child abuse, Death, Murder, Forced institutionalization, Slavery, and Torture

ches2496's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad medium-paced

• 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

4.0

The good:
The world building was intricate and well thought-out, and the mysteries kept me reading and wanting to find out what happened. It’s also why I will continue the series!

The bad:
I wasn’t a huge fan of the second person used for certain perspectives, but I could work with it.

Trigger warnings explanation:
This book was pretty dark. Although the violence wasn’t graphically depicted, generally, there was a lot of violence against children. Which made sense for the plot, but was also difficult to read. There was quite a bit of sexual content, although usually not graphically described. Things like the breeding of humans made sense for the plot. It was referred to, but not described graphically. There was at least one moderately graphic scene involving a three-way. There were also two brief references made to sexual violence against children.

Conclusion:
Overall, it was an interesting, albeit dark fantasy with unique world-building and an intricate plot!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Forced institutionalization, Classism, and Child death

Moderate: Xenophobia, Hate crime, Pregnancy, Violence, Racial slurs, Murder, War, Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, and Grief

Minor: Toxic relationship, Cannibalism, Pedophilia, Sexual violence, Suicide attempt, Emotional abuse, and Adult/minor relationship

buttercat42's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense slow-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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Abandonment, Blood, Death, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Child death, Grief, Sexual content, Murder, Violence, and Physical abuse

emily_journals's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional slow-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 loved this book. I loved the characters, I loved the writing, I loved the unique storytelling; I can't really think of anything about this book that I didn't love. This book is told from 3 (kind of 4) different storylines that center on different characters. There are 3 mains storylines being rotated out for most of the book, but the prologue, interludes, and some of the last chapter are all told from a different perspective. The characters in this book are so complex and so uniquely developed and all of the characters in each of the different storylines are all equally developed and interesting. I think the writing of this book is really what stands out the most to me. The way this book is written with the 3 different storylines alongside the omniscient narrator giving hints and clues with the prologue and interludes is so brilliantly done and I've never read another book that does storytelling in this same way before. This book also just has such a cool premise that I personally am so intrigued by, but you don't really learn the premise of the world until the very ending of the book (although it is hinted at earlier) which I think is such a good way to do world building. I very highly recommend this book, but definitely be sure to check trigger warnings for this one because there's a lot of trauma/grief happening in this world. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Grief, Murder, and Death

Moderate: Sexual content, Forced institutionalization, Bullying, Abandonment, and Sexual assault

Minor: Pandemic/Epidemic, Vomit, and Transphobia

mauricekofi's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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

5.0

I don't think I can describe accurately what this book makes me feel except awesomely sad and elated. Jemisin is a master of her craft and I thank God I came across her writing because I'm changed for life and you will be too.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Kidnapping, Gore, Hate crime, Racial slurs, Blood, Forced institutionalization, Murder, Racism, Toxic relationship, Genocide, Child death, Classism, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Body horror, Cannibalism, Gaslighting, Grief, and Slavery

angeareads's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective 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

5.0

I'm going to need several years to recover from this book. Mentally, I am unwell. It's a brutal world, but just so well-crafted.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Body horror, Grief, Child abuse, and Violence

Minor: Cannibalism