Reviews tagging 'War'

The Bird King by G. Willow Wilson

7 reviews

hannahpings's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad 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

4.25

a little miracle of a book. wilson does something with pacing and expectation here that i can't even begin to articulate, but is so beautifully representative of the larger point of the bird king i can't help but marvel at it. like hassan's maps, short passages contain entire odysseys in themselves, while long ones are easily (and quickly!) traversable. its ending is deceptively simple and beautiful and heartbreaking with a single, final image that feels like it's going to be burned in my head forever. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Slavery, Torture, Violence, War, Religious bigotry, Homophobia, Sexual assault, Animal cruelty, Body horror, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Islamophobia, Sexual content, Blood, and Grief

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, and Medical content

kmtaylor002's review against another edition

adventurous reflective 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual violence, Torture, Hate crime, Homophobia, Blood, Colonisation, Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, Islamophobia, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and War

Minor: Infertility

jcd1013's review against another edition

adventurous informative 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

4.0

The first third of this book, I would have given it 5 stars because the characters were so intriguing and the setting was so interesting and I just devoured the book. And then it started to lose the plot and I really wasn't fond of the last third. The ending was rushed and didn't fit at all with the theme of the rest of the book. 

I loved the friendship between Fatima and Hassan; it was by far the best of the book - I love a good queer platonic relationship. I'll admit, I was hoping for a polyamorous relationship between the three main characters - it certainly seemed to be leaning that way at times. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence

Moderate: Sexual violence, War, and Animal cruelty

cviii's review against another edition

adventurous emotional 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? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Religious bigotry

Moderate: Sexual assault, War, Sexual content, and Confinement

mburnsides's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful reflective sad 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? N/A

3.5

I struggled to get into the book, but finally managed to pick up a couple chapters in. I liked the characters and the direction of the story up until about 2/3 of the way through

once they get to the island

. I liked all the main characters, less so Fatima. Turns out a sheltered beautiful woman is not a relatable character. I felt bad for Hassan, who always seemed to suffer while Fatima was never harmed; plo armor, boo. I didn't care for the ending, which keeps the book from a solid 4 star rating. The whole Bird King thing had so much potential but lost itself and was fairly disappointing

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Slavery, Blood, War, and Injury/Injury detail

religion, attempted rape

skrulls's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful reflective 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: Death, Racism, Gore, Violence, Rape, Religious bigotry, Grief, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Genocide, Slavery, Islamophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Homophobia, and War

Minor: Animal cruelty, Alcohol, Animal death, Antisemitism, and Torture

evs_shelves's review against another edition

adventurous dark reflective medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Colonisation, Death, War, and Violence

Minor: Vomit and Sexual assault