Reviews tagging 'Slavery'

The Bird King by G. Willow Wilson

12 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

hspfost's review against another edition

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

3.5

I loved the characters, the setting, and the writing, but the plot didn’t quite land for me. Also,

Gwennec’s death was fully unnecessary imo.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Slavery, Torture, and Islamophobia

Minor: Rape

alex_wordweaver's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful 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

A spiritual prequel to Alif the Unseen. Missed you, Vikram, you glorious bastard. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture

Minor: Deportation, Islamophobia, Death, Religious bigotry, Antisemitism, Homophobia, and Slavery

becbooklist's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual assault and Slavery

chrispybacon's review against another edition

adventurous emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Gore, Homophobia, Toxic friendship, Colonisation, Cursing, Misogyny, Body horror, Torture, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, and Violence

Moderate: Abandonment, Sexual assault, Rape, Sexual content, Slavery, and Adult/minor relationship

Never knew what exactly the plot was until it happened but I was along for the ride. Somd things seem nonsensical to me. The ending was underwhelming. Beautiful writing style.

dragongirl271's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny 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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual assault, Torture, Death, and Slavery

szuum's review against another edition

slow-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, and Death

Moderate: Homophobia, Slavery, and Misogyny

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

thenexthing's review

adventurous dark hopeful tense medium-paced

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

4.5

team! family! home! (families of choice having a very bad time but

getting a mostly-hopeful ending

is my jam )

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Religious bigotry, and Death

Moderate: Antisemitism, Islamophobia, Homophobia, Trafficking, Slavery, and Adult/minor relationship

Minor: Animal death

when the main character is a concubine born into slavery, their bff is a magic-user/divine seer and the plot is driven by the Spanish Inquisition, people are not going to have a great time