Reviews tagging 'Torture'

Spin the Dawn by Elizabeth Lim

13 reviews

vivelarevolution's review

medium-paced

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

1.0

I loved this book when I was younger and I wanted to love it now. I mean, come on, magic and sewing and spinning and knitting! What could be more up my alley?

Unfortunately I found the ableism to be absolutely intolerable and the love interest to be frustratingly sexist. I hated how the main character pushed her disabled brother into taking "one step every day" while she was off on her adventure as if that isn't an incredibly fucked up thing to encourage a disabled person to do, and I hated that she (poorly) faked his disability in order to pretend to be him. I stopped reading when she got drunk and strange men goaded her love interest (who she was not in a relationship with yet) into kissing her and she kissed him on the cheek to attempt to satisfy this request without making herself uncomfortable and then he kissed her anyway. Like, what the hell? Also, I assume that her love interest is also a teenager, but there were some weird references to him maybe being immortal that made me wonder. I can't remember my first reading well enough to say for certain whether or not this relationship was straight up pedophilic.

Also, this is one of my more minor gripes, but why have the main character come out as a gay man while going out of your way to establish that her love interest knew her gender the entire time and therefore nothing about that relationship is actually queer? It's not funny or cute, it's just weird.

Also, introducing a whole (fake, but still) ethnic group as "barbarians" and then having the main character meet some and learn "they're not all barbarians"? That's sick.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Classism, Violence, Blood, Misogyny, Sexism, Xenophobia, Death of parent, Torture, and Ableism

Minor: War

lags2much's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad slow-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

3.75

I really like the story but the pace is painfully slow. I wish the story were told in half the time. I’m very curious to learn how everything resolves but I’m kind of dreading the time commitment to get through the second book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism and Violence

Moderate: Death of parent, Grief, War, and Death

Minor: Slavery and Torture

iwinatcookie's review

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Death, Torture, Animal death, Murder, Violence, Sexism, and Misogyny

Moderate: War, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, Blood, and Confinement

acidicgoddess's review

emotional funny sad 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? No

4.25

The main character was kind of annoying, especially when the romance finally kicked in. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexism, Animal death, and Misogyny

Minor: Torture, Violence, Slavery, and Sexual content

themiscyra_anna's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Toxic relationship, Adult/minor relationship, Torture, and War

Moderate: Confinement, Misogyny, Injury/Injury detail, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Body shaming and Alcohol

- threat of sexual slavery AKA unconsentual marriage - historically-inspired setting meaning cissexism in description and assumptions about others and the world - magical personalised and institutionalised form of slavery

kejchaput's review against another edition

adventurous lighthearted medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Death of parent, Torture, and War

Minor: Rape

spaghettii's review

adventurous challenging tense slow-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? Yes

3.0

This book was very slow paced, main character was still cool I guess 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, War, Death, Torture, Violence, Death of parent, Misogyny, and Sexism

matheo's review

adventurous emotional funny sad

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Colonisation, Death, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Blood, Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Death of parent, Misogyny, Murder, Sexism, Slavery, Torture, War, Gore, and Alcohol

Moderate: Rape and Sexual content

onemamareads's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad 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? Yes

4.0

Read my full review here:  https://onemamassummer.weebly.com/book-reviews/spin-the-dawn

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, and Sexism

Moderate: Murder, War, Torture, Classism, and Misogyny

Minor: Death of parent

wiktoria88's review

adventurous emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Torture, Death, and Violence