Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

Blood Over Bright Haven by M.L. Wang

246 reviews

literarykitten's review against another edition

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Colonisation, and Classism

Moderate: Sexual assault

armandbaguette's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious sad medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Xenophobia, Religious bigotry, and Classism

Moderate: Bullying and Death

Minor: Suicide and Suicide attempt

xxshlee's review against another edition

adventurous dark medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Colonisation

Moderate: Misogyny, Racism, and War

Minor: Sexual assault and Sexual harassment

daydreamsofareader's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Genocide, Gore, Hate crime, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Slavery, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Grief, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Animal death, Confinement, Gun violence, Infertility, Sexual assault, Vomit, Police brutality, Abandonment, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Ableism, Homophobia, Miscarriage, Cannibalism, and Pregnancy

zypeee's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

3.75

I don’t even know what or how to write this review. A well written very compelling story, but a terribly horrific subject matter. It’s hard to like something so terrible. Read with caution. See trigger warnings. 

A very driven young lady, rejects the crushing male dominance of her society to prove herself amongst the top magic wielders. Only to find out that the magic she has loved above all else comes with a deadly cost. Good does not always win. Books don’t always have happy endings. Some are just sad tales of what could easily become our realities, and in someways were and still are. 

Phew. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Hate crime, Infertility, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

luckyyyfelix's review against another edition

4.25

I really loved the concept and the world and the characters, but it’s not an A grade book for me. The main themes (racism, sexism/patriarchy/misogyny, corruption, “she’s different”, etc) got overly preachy at times, and that always took me out of the world with an eye roll. We could have used more showing instead of telling in those moments. Additionally, the very small romance aspect felt disingenuous and lackluster. Do it right or leave it out. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Violence, and Murder

fantastiskfiktion's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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: Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual assault, and Death of parent

Moderate: Suicide attempt

Minor: Suicide and Vomit

ashsok's review against another edition

adventurous emotional reflective fast-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

4.5

Wow! Just wow! I enjoyed this so much more than The Sword of Kaigen. I thought that both the characters were complex and you could understand their motivations for their actions.

The only thing that I have some form of criticism of is that the discussions of feminism, racism, gender equality, colonialism, occupation etc. are a bit heavy handed. At some points I kept thinking, yes I get it men hate women. Having said that it was important to the progression of the novel so I understand to an extent.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Genocide, Mental illness, Racism, Sexual assault, Suicide attempt, Colonisation, and Classism

Colonisation, death, classism, racism, genocide are quite big topics of the book. Sexual assault and suicide are mentioned briefly in the context of mental illness

napathetic's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense 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

4.25

It took maybe 100-150 pages for me to get into it, but then I flew through it. Ultimately it was worth it. Well-developed and creative “magic” system (think coding), religion, and culture, even though I thought it was a bit over-explained at times. Like, it didn’t seem necessary to go over every single detail of the mechanics of spell-casting in the beginning portion, and I don’t know that I fully understood the Leonite/whatever distinction in the Tiranish religion or thought it was important to the story. 

Thematically, the story is similar to The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas— individual comfort vs. social conscience. There are aspects of the plot that were a bit predictable, but it didn’t take away from the story for me. I loved the ending and thought it was so impactful.

In my opinion, Sciona had to die to be redeemed, and it ended up being devastating even though she was so self-centered and unlikable at the beginning.

The romance was just okay— it was nice to have a romance subplot, but I felt a little weird about the dynamics involved, given Sciona’s prejudices in the beginning. But I loved Thomil and would have liked to read more from his POV.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence

Moderate: Sexual assault

chelseawisner's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism

Moderate: Genocide

Minor: Sexual assault