Reviews tagging 'Sexual violence'

The Girl in The Tower by Katherine Arden

16 reviews

eagoldberg's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Sexism, Sexual violence, Blood, Kidnapping, and Misogyny

readingoverbreathing's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

I'll be honest, even though I read The Bear and the Nightingale only a year ago, I'd forgotten a lot of the details already. But it seemed appropriate to dive into this as winter was coming to a close, and before my memories of the first book became too far gone.

Thankfully, though still a bit fuzzy, those recollections did slowly come back to me as I reoriented myself in this world. I did find the first half rather frustrating — Vasya is missing for the first 100 pages, and then we get vaulted into the past to see what she had been up to in the meantime. I didn't at all understand the point of this; simply moving back and forth between perspectives would, I think, have been perfectly adequate here. But once the group emerges out of the woods, with the initial threat seemingly conquered and still half the book to go, the intrigue really picked up, and so did my interest in the story.

Arden's writing is truly lovely, lush and descriptive, and really does make this seem like you're reading a fairytale. But I think because of that fairytale framework, there is very little here that feels original. The characters are all barely disguised stereotypes, and while the world of spirits and demons that only Vasya can see is interesting, it's nothing I haven't come across before. I remember a lot more of the domovoi and other spirits in the first book; while they do play some part in the plot here, there was not as much interaction with them as I would have liked. The generic, snowy Russian setting of these books is certainly atmospheric, but, again, just not original.

I did enjoy this, so I am willing to still give it four stars, but to be honest, I am just not invested enough to continue any further with this series. The end to this installment was dramatic and definitive enough that I feel pretty satisfied to go no further. I would definitely, however, be interested in exploring more of Arden's work outside of this series and seeing if she has developed her creativity to live up to the exquisite flow of her writing.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood and Child death

Moderate: Gaslighting, Pregnancy, Sexual violence, Kidnapping, Murder, and Sexual assault

Minor: Trafficking, Rape, Vomit, and Violence

bookycnidaria's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• 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: Death, Fire/Fire injury, Violence, War, Misogyny, Physical abuse, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Slavery and Kidnapping

basil_touche's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

I'd say that this is even better than the first book. No word is wasted here, yet it paints such a vivid and clear story of a girl fighting for her freedom in a period that denies her that, while also trying to keep what family she has left in Moscow safe from those who seek to use her to gain power. 

Also learned some things about Medieval Russia, the whole narrative feels very well researched in that regard.

It was also quite neat to see more of the mythical beings of Russian Folklore in this, but I feel that they don't appear as much as in the first novel. However, with this story leaving certain threads unanswered, I feel that the last book of the trilogy will feature more of them while also revealing what has been hidden under the surface the last two books. I eagerly anticipate reading it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Misogyny, Murder, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Violence, Death, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, Child death, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, and War

Moderate: Xenophobia, Grief, and Self harm

Minor: Slavery

kaiyakaiyo's review

adventurous dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

3.5

3.5 stars rounded up! 

I liked this sequel, and I liked that we saw some failure from Vasya. She seemed to miraculously know most things last book, so seeing her have to put pieces together and realize that everything won’t be handed to her added more depth to her than she had before. She makes hasty choices and they have consequences, and seeing her deal with that made her feel much more real.

I was not into how much this book leaned on assault and objectification to strike fear into Vasya; bodily harm (because yknow, war & magic battles) without rape threat and violent misogyny would’ve been sufficient. Staying historically accurate doesn’t require focusing in on details like that. The Game of Thrones school of dealing with misogyny in history should be burned to the ground, but I digress 

I was afraid this book would bore me because it verged on political intrigue, but honestly those parts were easy to gloss over to get to the magic bits. I love the balance the author found there. I don’t care about palace life beyond how it directly impacts our characters, and I don’t enjoy reading about political machinations. This book gave me just enough context to continue making its point about gender & power dynamics in this time period

Overall fun, but I’ll be honest in saying that I hope the next book is far from a palace. I also find myself ready for a conclusion, so I’m glad this is a trilogy. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Sexism, Misogyny, and War

Moderate: Sexual violence, Vomit, Violence, Child death, Child abuse, and Pregnancy

bannedfrombookclub's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful mysterious medium-paced

4.0

A strong sequel that carries the story on, same well written world and characters. I thought the characters were even better expressed this time, less sameness to their voices. 

I have some minor issues with the plot but still a great read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Sexual violence, and Violence

About Olga's pregnancy

there is a stillbirth with discription of the infant

vigil's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

*seasonal re-read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Misogyny, War, Blood, Sexual violence, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Sexual assault, Violence, and Xenophobia

lisa_m's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I loved this book even more than the first one in the series! If the 3rd installment can keep up this might become one of my favourite series!

I started to love Vasya as the main character even more. I feel like she had so much more personality and drive in this book. Also I generally really love the 'girl dresses up as a boy in order to be taken seriously' trope - especially when she then comments on the things that come so easy to her just because of that small change, as well as all the things she would never have been allowed to do otherwise.
The end was a great conclusion to the story of this book. I realised that even though the story is a continuation of the first book, every book could really stand on it's own as well. They are clearly connected and part of a series, but they all tell their own stories that just happen to the same cast of charaters. I am really excited for 'The Winter of the Witch' and I really hope Katherine Arden will write more mythology retellings because she is truly doing such an amazing job!

I really like reading the Glossary at the end as well as her own reflecton upon the book. In this one she even gives secondary sources for further research into the base myths and storys of the books. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Grief, Medical content, Miscarriage, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Slavery, Sexual violence, Trafficking, Violence, Classism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Child death, Death, Gaslighting, Confinement, Misogyny, Sexual harassment, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Kidnapping, Murder, and Religious bigotry

typedtruths's review against another edition

dark emotional tense slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Sexual assault, and Misogyny

saintyeehaw's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious sad tense 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

4.0

This was kind of a slog to get through from the beginning to middle, but once it started picking up toward the end I was hooked into the series once again so I will continue to the final book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Outing, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Body shaming, Child abuse, Classism, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Murder, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Slavery, Trafficking, Violence, and Religious bigotry