Reviews tagging 'Violence'

The Bird King by G. Willow Wilson

11 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

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.

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

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

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

juliarchetype's review against another edition

adventurous challenging reflective tense 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? No

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Death

theinvulnerabletide's review

emotional reflective tense 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Torture and Violence

Minor: Rape and Sexual violence

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

theblerdnewsletter's review

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring slow-paced

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

5.0

Another excellent read that was much slower paced than what I normally read. I haven't read many books set in the Middle East and it tells the story of the crusades from a different point of view. Along with all of the mystical points of many Middle Eastern cultures. It was wonderful. G Willow Wilson built a beautiful and vibrant world I want to return to again and again.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Slavery, Sexual content, and Violence