Reviews tagging 'Sexism'

An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir

48 reviews

jnl00700's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful inspiring 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, War, Violence, Torture, Sexism, and Racism

Moderate: Abandonment, Colonisation, Death, Death of parent, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Rape

some_random_person_hi's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring tense fast-paced

• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

Romance almost ruined but the pacing was flawless. Relationships and side characters were interesting.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Blood, Sexual assault, Kidnapping, Slavery, Torture, Death, Sexism, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Rape, Ableism, and Child death

ainslie's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

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

3.75

Great. Only drawbacks are:

• Gratuitous sexual violence against women
• Tired trope of rape being the primary character development tool for the female characters
• Very male gaze-y 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Torture, and Violence

rebeca_readss's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring sad 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

4.75

⚠️ Check the trigger warning! This book might be offensive for some readers!!
Stunning! I have read this book in 4 days because I couldn’t take my hands of off it! The writing is beautiful and the plot is incredible! Lila. I love her. She’s a bad*ss. Elias is my new book boyfriend :). I love them and I love Sabaa ❤️

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, War, and Violence

Moderate: Torture, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, and Death of parent

Minor: Child death, Police brutality, and Sexism

c45p1n's review against another edition

dark tense slow-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? It's complicated

5.0

this is such a fantastic book. oh my god, i need the rest of the series now (!!) it’s so good. it’s morbid, and dark, but good.

there’s so much potential and room for so many different theories that i’ve started theorizing myself. like Cook’s background, Keenan and Mazen, hell even Aquilla.

this book(and series) is definitely not for the feint-of-heart and you should definitely check the trigger/content warnings before reading!!!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Murder, War, Violence, Blood, Death, and Death of parent

Moderate: Rape, Medical content, Gore, and Grief

Minor: Abandonment, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Sexism, Physical abuse, and Mass/school shootings

iwasagiftedkid's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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? N/A

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child death, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Genocide, Grief, Hate crime, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Sexual harassment, and Violence

Moderate: Child abuse, Torture, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Rape

capucapulet's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Murder and Slavery

Minor: Sexual harassment and Sexism

clea's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense fast-paced

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

5.0

After reading the first page, I was already sucked into the rich but quite dark and horrific world Tahir's created. It has been a while since I had been so invested in a book that I couldn't put it down! The writing is immersive, gripping and engaging. Tahir checked off all YA tropes I really love (magical competition, training school, enemies to lovers, brutal regime to overthrow, etc.)  and executed them in a nuanced and refreshing way.
Although Laia's character was a little annoying in the beginning (she was weak, not very brave, too naïve...), she went through a great development and her initial weaknesses makes the ending all the more rewarding and satisfying. 
I was relieved that the romance wasn't an essential part of the book. The big, important issues/motivations weren't suddenly tossed aside in order to make room for an unnatural romance, but the characters' overarching political and personal problems stayed on the forefront of the story. 

I can strongly recommend this book, if you like YA fantasy. But it is surprisingly dark and brutal, so make sure to check the content warnings! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Murder, Violence, Physical abuse, Slavery, Grief, Death, Child abuse, and Blood

Moderate: Sexual violence and Sexism

Minor: Rape, Torture, Suicide, Confinement, and Abandonment

coolbeancat's review against another edition

adventurous challenging 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

Graphic: Death, Violence, Torture, Physical abuse, Slavery, Murder, Child death, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Rape, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Sexism, and Grief

vivelarevolution's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

1.0

I read and re-read this series in high school and I absolutely adored it. I still do, in many ways. However, there are definitely some things bothering me as I re-read these books as an adult. Most glaringly: the relationship between Elias and Laia. It is acknowledged multiple times, as they get closer and the impending romance is either hinted at or haltingly kindled, that the power dynamics between them make a consensual relationship completely impossible. He is a soldier, an Aspirant; she is his mother's slave. They kiss anyway. And at no point is their age gap--seventeen and twenty--ever acknowledged as a part of this power dynamic or treated as if it could be wrong.

It's partially for this reason that I have tagged this book with the content warning adult/minor relationship. There is another adult/minor relationship which is not acknowledged as such in this book because it is a spoiler that I remember from a later book.

Keenan, who kisses Laia and actively attempts to develop a relationship with her in this book, is actually thousands of years old, not human, and (obviously) lying about his identity.

Frankly I can accept the presence of the second relationship more than the first because at least he is portrayed as a villain over it.

I don't want to hate this book. A lot of things about it were compelling to me--especially Helene and Afya Ara-Nur and Spiro Teluman. But I don't understand why this type of relationship has to be so normalized. Why could Laia not have been an adult in this book? Why could the Blackcliff graduates not have been the age of high school graduates rather than in their early twenties? Why did the author feel the need to initiate their sexual relationship not just while they are a slave and a master, but in the specific context of Laia being "given" to Elias as a prize? I genuinely cannot imagine what must have been going through the author's mind to set up their relationship in this way and act like it's okay.

And honestly, rape was used as a plot device just about every three seconds. The author wants to remind us Marcus is evil and we need to hate him? Let's have him threaten to rape Helene again! The author wants us to know how Elias is such a Good Guy Who Will Protect Laia From the Commandant? Let's have him pretend to rape her as a "cover"! The author wants to just, I don't know, fulfill some sort of quota for how many times she wants to include the word? Let's have Marcus beat Laia nearly to death and attempt to rape her unconscious body! It's just constant and excessive, especially for a freaking YA novel.

And this is less egregious than my previously listed complaints, but sometimes I can't believe this book was written by a woman. Elias spends the entire book "saving" every woman in his life from various threats (mostly rape) despite the fact that Helene in particular is just as skilled as he is and should be able to defend herself. The petty drama of pitting Helene and Laia against each other over Elias is so tired. The Commandant is the closest that the author comes to a female character whose motivations are not exclusively about a man, and she is just the most cardboard cutout Evil Villain Lady in existence.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Blood, Slavery, Sexual violence, Kidnapping, Adult/minor relationship, War, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Physical abuse, and Violence

Moderate: Sexual assault, Rape, and Torture

Minor: Suicide and Child death

No-one is raped in this book, but there are multiple scenes of attempted rape. It is mentioned frequently throughout the book, mostly in the context of the constant threat of rape experienced by enslaved women. The two main characters, Elias and Laia, develop a romance over the course of this book despite the fact that Elias is an esteemed and powerful soldier and Laia is his mother's slave. They share their first kiss after Laia is "given" to Elias as a prize. Additionally, there are multiple scenes in which the Laia is beaten, branded, or otherwise brutalized due to her status as a slave. All of the enslaved characters have endured significant torture and violence, most of which took place before the time of the book and is mentioned in the past tense.