Reviews tagging 'Racism'

The Ink Black Heart by Robert Galbraith

20 reviews

maggies's review

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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

Another 4-star Cormoran Strike mystery for me! As usual, the mystery is a thickly woven web, incorporating pretty grotesque crimes. Definitely a page-turner.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Lesbophobia, Cursing, Death, Adult/minor relationship, Misogyny, Violence, Murder, Blood, Toxic relationship, Sexual harassment, Self harm, Racism, Pedophilia, Medical content, Chronic illness, Child abuse, Toxic friendship, Stalking, Sexism, Racial slurs, Injury/Injury detail, Fatphobia, Eating disorder, Domestic abuse, and Antisemitism

Moderate: Infertility, Infidelity, Pregnancy, and Miscarriage

sauvageloup's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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? Yes

3.0

firstly Rowling has shit political views. we all know this. I do feel bad reading this but I got it from the library and shes getting no profit from me. unfortunately shes a good writer.

pros:
- very gripping, couldn't put down
- characters were interesting and complex overall 
- did a convincing job of showing online spaces

cons:
- the sheer pettiness underlying lots of her comments is a lot. the whole plotline is narcissistic. I get the point shes trying to make (toxic online spaces driving innocent creators to misery. bad ppl hiding building up gullible fans with claims of creator's being homophobic/racist/ableist, etc. ppl being blinded by this that they miss true predators, sexists and racists) but it misses all the joy of online friends, and generally reads like shes bitter about the criticism.
- she also misses the very real need for criticism. she mocks "SJWs" but her own views could be called that by some alt right. she's determined to see that fans are acting as a mob with no critical thinking skills, where I think shes blinded by confirmation bias and her ego and lacks the ability to be compassionate and tolerant. anyway. her views are made very clear in the book and it feels petty.
- underwhelming ending, not helped by me thinking for some reason that this one the last one. was disappointed.
- its dragged too long now. think this should've been last one for sure.

overall, disappointing and frustrating, because it was good up until a sour end, much like her.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual harassment, Fatphobia, Emotional abuse, Racism, Pedophilia, Murder, Grief, Eating disorder, Alcohol, Ableism, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Racial slurs, Physical abuse, Misogyny, Injury/Injury detail, Infidelity, Blood, Antisemitism, Animal cruelty, Alcoholism, Adult/minor relationship, Addiction, Violence, Stalking, Sexism, Mental illness, Medical content, Homophobia, Drug use, Drug abuse, Domestic abuse, Death of parent, Death, Cursing, Chronic illness, Child abuse, Bullying, and Body shaming

brandilovesbooks's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

2.75

I was so eager to read this new installment, but spent the majority of the booking forcing myself to trudge through. The last 15% of this book was great.  The rest of it, though. The case was extremely complex. It was very difficult to keep track of who was who. This was exaggerated by the Twitter conversations and in game conversations under different names.  Robin and Strike's relationship was extremely annoying despite the fact that I have previously loved them.  I found  myself wondering  what point JK Rowling was trying to make about the underlying messages in the cartoon and not coming up with an answer.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Homophobia, Racism, Murder, Sexual harassment, Religious bigotry, Hate crime, and Sexism

kathrynamonett's review against another edition

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Body shaming, Toxic relationship, Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail, Hate crime, Death, Chronic illness, Ableism, Pedophilia, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Sexism, Misogyny, Mental illness, Racism, Eating disorder, Antisemitism, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Self harm, Rape, Child abuse, Alcohol, Sexual violence, Racial slurs, Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Physical abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, and Murder

isabellaoliveira's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny and Sexism

Moderate: Suicide attempt, Murder, and Racism

jhbandcats's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative mysterious 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

4.25

I love the Cormoran Strike series. Rowling (aka, Galbraith) is an accomplished storyteller who can handle multiple characters and a complex storyline. Here she shows a facility with online gaming that, to me as a non-gamer, is mind-boggling. While I really respect her talent, I found the story so complex that I need to go back and reread this to see what I missed. Definitely recommend the entire series starting with The Cuckoo’s Calling. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Bullying, Child abuse, Death of parent, Drug use, Medical trauma, Racism, Toxic relationship, Ableism, Homophobia, Murder, Sexual assault, Abandonment, Blood, Body shaming, Eating disorder, Misogyny, Violence, Death, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Pedophilia, Sexual harassment, Suicide attempt, Addiction, Antisemitism, Cursing, Gore, Hate crime, and Mental illness

kponturo's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Misogyny, and Death

Moderate: Sexual violence, Eating disorder, Self harm, Rape, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Antisemitism, Suicide, Pedophilia, and Racism

jodiesackettbrown's review against another edition

dark informative mysterious 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: Adult/minor relationship, Antisemitism, Bullying, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Infidelity, Misogyny, Racism, Racial slurs, Suicide attempt, Rape, Violence, Drug abuse, Drug use, Hate crime, and Mental illness

This is a spectacular book despite all the constant warnings I’ve given.

jamwatson's review against another edition

0.25

WAY too long, too many uninteresting side characters, so much unnecessary detail unrelated to the plot. Even without the myriad problematic bits the book is just awful. Do not waste your time.
Some notable quotes:
“A deep cavern of cleavage was revealed”
“He probably thinks I’m special needs after the conversation we just had”

Also the character who calls out the racism/ableism/transphobia of the murdered author is revealed to be a pedophile 🙄 along with the others who criticized her being revealed as alt right incels.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Racism, Sexism, and Homophobia

Minor: Fatphobia and Rape

mypatronusisajedi's review against another edition

dark tense slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Suicidal thoughts, Antisemitism, Body shaming, Bullying, Chronic illness, Suicide attempt, Injury/Injury detail, Racial slurs, Drug use, Racism, Drug abuse, Hate crime, Mental illness, Self harm, Alcohol, Domestic abuse, Murder, Physical abuse, Addiction, Child abuse, Cursing, Emotional abuse, and Ableism

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Violence, Dysphoria, Eating disorder, Adult/minor relationship, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Stalking, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Rape, Cancer, Pedophilia, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, and Pregnancy