Reviews tagging 'Racial slurs'

The Black Queen by Jumata Emill

10 reviews

ashleythebard's review against another edition

dark informative mysterious reflective tense 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

3.75

I wish Duchess would have been the central character and not Tinsley. I liked having both views but wish the person who got the more chapters was switched 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism and Sexual assault

Moderate: Police brutality and Racial slurs

jaz_gets_literary's review

adventurous emotional mysterious tense 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

5.0

Please go over the trigger warnings before starting this book as it may be triggering to some. 

I really enjoyed this book. I thought I had the who done it figured out and I was shocked when it was actually revealed. I did figure out a few things along the way but the actual person had me like 😳 lots of important talking points in this book. Police brutality, racism, classism, and more. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Abortion, Murder, Rape, Child abuse, Sexual assault, Infidelity, Death, and Racism

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Pregnancy, Pedophilia, and Grief

Minor: Suicide, Chronic illness, and Racial slurs

thissagreads's review

challenging dark mysterious tense fast-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

4.0

Loved this mystery! And I really appreciated having multiple narrators because this story was told from 2 different perspectives that really rounded out the story. I’d definitely recommend this read! Let me reading so quickly that I could hardly put the book down. 🙌🏾

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

Minor: Racism, Sexual assault, and Racial slurs

jillkaarlela's review

adventurous challenging emotional informative mysterious reflective 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? It's complicated

4.5

This was “The Hate U Give” by Angie Thomas meets “Ace of Spades” by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé! I loved this murder mystery, because not only was the mystery really complex, unexpected and nuanced, but the overarching themes of systemic racism opinions towards the police were really well explored. I thought it was a really interesting and smart choice to have this in a dual POV with the friend of the main girl who died as well as a rich white girl who seems to be a “villain” at the beginning, and doesn’t understand how racist and privileged she is. It provided and interest contrast, as we get to see Tinsley’s character growth as she is doing the work and research needed to better herself (although we do hate her quite a lot at times). I also liked the talk about the relationship with the police, especially since the main character (Duchess’s) black father is also a police officer. This is a story full of secrets, lies, deception, twists and turns, important political issues, and tons of nuance. 

Another fun fact about the author, Jumata Emill is that he used to be a crime reporter! I think this really helped his story, and made him able to write such a great mystery.  

Age rating: 14+ (language)

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Racism

Minor: Police brutality, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Rape, Violence, Adult/minor relationship, and Suicide

anna_wa's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious sad tense

• 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Police brutality, Bullying, Death, Addiction, Murder, Alcoholism, Blood, Emotional abuse, Grief, Racism, Gaslighting, Hate crime, and Infidelity

Moderate: Abortion, Injury/Injury detail, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, Child abuse, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Adult/minor relationship, Cancer, Death of parent, Incest, and Pedophilia

Minor: Vomit and Abandonment

danaslitlist's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Murder, and Racial slurs

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, and Pedophilia

mals_reads's review

challenging emotional mysterious 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Racism, Death, and Child death

Moderate: Sexual violence, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, and Sexual assault

Minor: Abortion, Incest, Pedophilia, Bullying, and Adult/minor relationship

imstephtacular's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Hate crime, Classism, Police brutality, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Racism, and Violence

Moderate: Sexual content, Child abuse, Gun violence, Bullying, Cancer, Medical content, Emotional abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Cursing, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Abortion, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Sexual assault, and Cultural appropriation

caseythereader's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious 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

4.25

Thanks to Books Forward PR for the free advance copy of this book.

 - THE BLACK QUEEN is a YA thriller that digs in deep to issues of race and class. I think fans of Tiffany D. Jackson will want to check this one out.
- At first I was unsure of the dual POV, switching back and forth between Duchess and Tinsley, because it felt so strange to get the perspective of the white person who was doing the harm. However, the more I think about it, the more important I think that might be to include in a YA novel, to allow kids to either see themselves in Tinsley and learn from it or see their classmates and have their feelings validated.
- Not only does THE BLACK QUEEN have real, messy characters, but it has twist after twist. You won't be able to put it down. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, Abandonment, Blood, Death, Infidelity, Murder, Pedophilia, Bullying, Classism, Cursing, Medical content, Alcohol, Child death, Grief, and Vomit

Moderate: Rape, Death of parent, Abortion, and Police brutality

bookstarbri's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious 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? Yes

3.0

I'm a bit torn between 3.5 and 4 so we're just going to go with 3.75!

So there were a lot of things in this I really enjoyed. For one, I think Jumata Emill did a great job with characterization. These characters all felt very real to me and the dilemmas they faced and their behaviors were so perfectly executed. Their motivations were clear and who they are to their core was clear as well. I also loved the plot of this. I'm always a big fan of murder mysteries and so reading this and having one that was equal parts heartbreaking as it was twisty was really great. I loved Nova. Though she's dead, her presence is really felt throughout the entire book and she is her own character, especially as we learn more about her life and the struggles she went through. Honestly, she was probably my favorite character in all of this, despite her not actually being a living figure for the majority of the story.

That being said, there were some bits I didn't love. For one, the slang in here was interesting. Sometimes it felt like natural slang and sometimes it felt very forced. Some of it also felt really old for the age of the characters. Then, I had a lot of issues with Tinsley's character arc. I was expecting her to grow on me by the end of the book and she just...didn't. She said and did some really awful things in the beginning and though she definitely got better by the end, it just didn't feel like she fully earned her redemption. There were some other aspects of this that I didn't love, but I don't know how to fully explain those.

Anyway, I'll also say that I guessed the really big plot twist pretty early on and since I had, I wasn't too surprised by the ending. However that didn't really stop me from enjoying reading it all unfold, but it wasn't quite as twisty and shocking as I would've liked.

Despite those things though, this was a good read and I think it's an especially important one for all the social commentary it makes. Thanks so much to Writers House and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism and Bullying

Moderate: Racial slurs, Death of parent, Adult/minor relationship, Cursing, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Cancer, Sexual assault, Infidelity, and Abortion