Reviews tagging 'Racism'

Sea of Ruin by Pam Godwin

12 reviews

deathmetalheron's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

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

1.75

Sea of Ruin has a lot going for it. The setting is great, the character dynamics are certainly there, the author knows her chops. The romantic tension is palpable. 
But the delivery of many of these aspects is disappointingly subpar. The characters go through humiliation parade after parade. The garnish of shipping and naval vernacular immediately gives way to crude words for sexual interaction, the transition between the two being jarring at best and non-existent at worse. 
The height of this book comes at Bennett's capture by Ashley Cutler--the dynamics indicated before suggest a conflict between Bennett as a character and her struggle between two loves. I daresay the second fifth to quarter of this book is pretty much phenomenal. 
You could see it in my reading journal, but at the halfway point this book goes from a high tension pirate romance to an absolute slog. Some critical decision are made of Ashley's character that really draw the line and make him seem a bit more manipulative and Bennett (who's been characterized as being headstrong and skeptical) brushes them off. I get this is the appeal of a captor-captive romance but the characterization is quite literally strewn off the deck into the sea, NSFW

squirted into the ocean much like Ashley is described as doing repeatedly.

The final act is an absolute slog where Bennett is NSFW

kidnapped and raped

and then she is

kidnapped and tortured.

The end of the story basically just happens to her. I was turned off from this book at the halfway point, but by the end I was uniquely frustrated. 
Even during the good times, the way sexual interaction is written is hysterical and I saved numerous quotes. In a better story, they would be a fun aspect to giggle about and another layer to add to the story's atmosphere, but given the dark humiliating train to the end they come across as severely out of place and way too lighthearted. I was really hoping this book would be it, but MAN it was not.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Death, Torture, Rape, Kidnapping, Violence, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Confinement, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Sexism

Minor: Colonisation, Racism, Slavery, Alcohol, and Infidelity

oharamboure's review against another edition

adventurous dark medium-paced

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

2.0

I so badly wanted to like this book. The summary sounded awesome, pirate captain searching for treasure that has been promised to her and in the meantime dealing with romance. I liked the way the author wrote, and while the opening is very tragic, it made sense for the characters backstory. What I didn't like was how the audience is supposed to sympathize with one of the MMCs and buy into the romance between him and the FMC after

he brutally abuses her.

There is one scene near the beginning of the book that I found to be so shocking and disturbing that it put me off the character for pretty much the rest of the book. Quick outline of that scene here in case you wanna have a heads up before diving in.

One of the MMCs ties the FMC arms together and throws her off the boat to hang there for over an hour. He then hits her in the genitals many times. He then SAs her.

I was expecting an enemies to lovers between a pirate captain and a high ranking navel officer, but what I got was an abusive MMC. I didn't realize this was a "dark romance" so if you are a fan of that genre and pirates, you might be into this book. It just wasn't for me. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Torture, Physical abuse, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Slavery and Racism

kafflyn's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense fast-paced

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

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault and Rape

Moderate: Slavery and Racism

direguard's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual harassment, Torture, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Murder, Body horror, Death, Gore, Sexual violence, Abandonment, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Violence, Blood, Infidelity, and Sexual content

Moderate: Alcohol, Suicide attempt, Gun violence, Racism, Death of parent, Suicide, and Infertility

Minor: Vomit, Classism, Excrement, Medical content, and Colonisation

mimi30's review against another edition

adventurous dark medium-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Suicide, Sexual content, Rape, Violence, Child abuse, Infidelity, Sexual assault, Torture, Sexual violence, and Death of parent

Moderate: Misogyny, Colonisation, Racism, Slavery, Infertility, and Pedophilia

whathollyread's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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? It's complicated

4.0

Woah… this was a whole lot. A friend recommended this book to me and I trust anything with pages that she throws at me. I went in thinking this was going to be a fun smutty pirate book. And it was! But my god was it sooo much darker than what I bargained for. Once it started it didn’t stop and I felt like I kept reading for the light at the end of the tunnel!

I absolutely loved the author’s dedication to writing in the narrator’s voice for her time period and adding in all the nautical terms (like we knew what any of it meant). Speaking of the narrator, Bennett, I loved the strength of this woman! She was strong and I loved her inner dialogue and her will to live through every horrendous thing that happened to her.

I’m not going to get into all the issues with this book (e.g. white savior, rape, rape-ish behavior that is quickly forgiven…), because I read other reviews that I think do it better justice.

At the end of the day this book… it didn’t steam roll - I need a boat metaphor- maybe it gave a big heave ho over my heart.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Misogyny, Rape, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Confinement, Slavery, Trafficking, Torture, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Colonisation, Murder, Mass/school shootings, Sexual assault, Infidelity, Death of parent, Racism, Vomit, Grief, Gore, Death, Classism, and Sexual violence

gougoulf's review against another edition

dark

4.0

The plot at the end ahjahja

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Colonisation, Death, Trafficking, Emotional abuse, Slavery, Blood, Body horror, Death of parent, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Gore, Infertility, Sexual assault, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, Rape, Sexual content, Cursing, Infidelity, Racial slurs, Toxic relationship, Violence, Murder, and War

katkinslee's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense fast-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? Yes

4.0

I really did enjoy this book but alot of heavy stuff happens and that made it difficult for me to love it. 
This is a dark romance so some questionable stuff happens but for the most part I really enjoyed the romantic interests.
Trigger warnings for sure!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Sexual violence, Gore, Vomit, Torture, Suicide attempt, Racism, Rape, Blood, Violence, Murder, Misogyny, and Kidnapping

gwynn0715's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad fast-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Violence, Toxic relationship, Physical abuse, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Blood, Slavery, Torture, and Racism

my_corner_of_the_library's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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? No

4.75

After my read of To Kill A Kingdom I found myself really craving a sexy, magical pirate story. I wanted Pirates of the Caribbean meets smut…that’s how I found this book, and oh boy…I DEVOURED EVERY PAGE. 

Is this my favorite book of all time with absolutely no criticism? Not at all. But, did I love every page and did it fill my need for such a book? YES. 

So what did I love? A strong, sassy, MC who is fierce and not afraid to be the badass she is. A tall dark and handsome love interest that is smooth talking with eyes for only our MC and will slay the world to get her back. A loyal crew that is more like friends that stand by our MC through the worst of times without question. A second love interest that is poised and beautiful that falls apart for no one else. 

What didn’t I love? Well…
I hate talking bad about this book, but there were things I wasn’t a fan of. The biggest one would be Bennet’s time on the HMS Blitz. I was so looking forward to watching how Bennet navigated being part of ship that wasn’t hers and had such a different culture, but instead we spent literally the entire time in the bedroom obsessing over sex. Now I am as horny as the next smut reader, but it just seemed like too much and really started to feel repetitive and like I was missing out on any plot during that time. 

Also…I understand this was a smutty book, and I went into it with the expectations of there being a lot…but the entire plot revolved around sex, and by the end it started to feel like too much. How is it possible that throughout the entire time of this book and every situation Bennet found herself in the one and only focus and solution to any problem was sex?

Need information? Seduce, repeatedly. 
Get captured? Immediate SA attempt. 
Saved from SA attempt and need an escape plan? Seduce
Taken to another ship? Repeatedly assaulted. 
Saved from ship? Reward with sex.
Need another escape plan? Sex. 

And that’s like…only half the book. I just felt that there could have been some other focus in the book instead of everything revolving around sex.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Death, Death of parent, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Blood, Rape, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Racism, Injury/Injury detail, Slavery, Homophobia, and Trafficking