Reviews tagging 'Slavery'

When We Were Birds by Ayanna Lloyd Banwo

8 reviews

kobooks's review against another edition

emotional hopeful mysterious slow-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, and Death

Moderate: Violence, Murder, Sexual content, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Slavery

rieviolet's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful mysterious 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? No

4.5

I picked up this book at my library on a whim and I ended up pleasantly surprised. It is a really engaging story and it also feels very fresh, like nothing I've read before. 

It is told in a dual POV and I have to admit I was particularly drawn to Darwin's chapters (compared to the ones in Yejide's perspective). His narrative voice is just so strong and captivating, it was honestly beautiful to witness his character development.  

The writing is very atmospheric and the author does a great job of building and breathing life into the spaces that these characters inhabit.

I didn't like a short segment in Yejide's POV where the writing got a bit too experimental for my liking, it felt too fragmented and stream of consciousness-like. Also, I would have liked a bit more of exploration into Yejide's character and the gift connected to her lineage. 

However, these are minor grievances, overall I really enjoyed the reading experience and I look forward to Ayanna Lloyd Banwo's future projects.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Violence, and Grief

Moderate: Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Abandonment, Blood, Slavery, Bullying, and Body horror

Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Vomit, Sexism, Drug use, Cursing, Pregnancy, Kidnapping, Child death, Sexual content, Alcohol, and Torture

rokinjaguar'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? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

Interesting! Had some cool ideas and was well done, but didn’t fully live up to its potential, I felt. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, and Grief

Moderate: Abandonment and Cursing

Minor: Child death, Bullying, and Slavery

bookishmillennial's review

challenging emotional inspiring mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

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

What a gorgeously written literary romance. I listened to the audiobook and I highly recommend it, as the narration was excellent 👌🏽 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Slavery, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Violence

verysillygoose's review

dark emotional reflective slow-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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent and Death

Moderate: Murder and Violence

Minor: Slavery

kyra_joy's review against another edition

emotional inspiring mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

Took me a bit to getting into the rhythm of the writing but once I did, I fell in love with the characters and the world. Beautiful story, and I love stories that talk about folklore or cultural tales from other places so this was a perfect read. It’s a perfect mix of the supernatural/spiritual and the real world. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death of parent

Minor: Violence and Slavery

neevechristine's review

dark emotional medium-paced

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

3.0

I really struggled to read this before bed! lovely sentiment, took a while to get settled in. Not my usual genre so I found quite eerie and disturbing for me as I’m sensitive 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Murder

Moderate: Violence, Grief, Classism, Death of parent, Slavery, and Bullying

clarabooksit's review against another edition

emotional slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, and Grief

Moderate: Violence

Minor: Slavery, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail