Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

The Last Wish by Andrzej Sapkowski

38 reviews

idajoh's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

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

3.5

It's a good fantasy book and it kept me engaged the entire time. However, all the stories were adapted into the TV-show (which is a good thing), but I wish there were some fresh stories for me to enjoy honestly.

The story is mainly told through dialogue which makes it a pretty quick and easy read. The action sequences, although few, are also very good at creating suspense while being believable. I will admig that I was a bit confused throughout most of them, but I just chalked it up to me being tired while I read most of the book.

The major downfall of this book is the extreme misoginy. No women in this book, except maybe Nenneke, is seen as something other than a sex object by all the characters. That includes Geralt. It was extremely off-putting and I'm glad that aspect was toned down in the TV series. At least Yennefer in the TV series had other redeeming qualities except her want of a child.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Body horror, and Blood

Moderate: Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Rape, Murder, Sexual harassment, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Infertility

ravenreader's review against another edition

• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexism, Sexual assault, Violence, Misogyny, Fatphobia, and Body shaming

hannah_krantz's review against another edition

adventurous fast-paced

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

3.0

This entire book was just absolutely dripping in misogyny. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Misogyny and Sexual assault

indianagranger's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny reflective tense 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Racism, Xenophobia, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Violence, Misogyny, Infertility, Incest, and Death

Minor: Colonisation and Pregnancy

angelica02's review against another edition

adventurous medium-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence

Moderate: Sexism, Gore, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Rape, and Sexual content

mirandanoel's review against another edition

fast-paced

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

0.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Rape, Violence, Sexual content, and Misogyny

Minor: Incest

mandaoof's review against another edition

adventurous dark fast-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

1.5

So the world building concept is attractive. I love the show, so I'd thought I would read the books. But ohmygosh- the sexism, the sexual assault, casual groping by the protagonists laughed off as a character trait for that man, it is impossible to escape in this book. The author took the time to describe a literal child and her breasts after she gets turns back from a beast and then critizes her on how she looks ugly. Hell, a literal fourteen year old gets pregnant by an adult and it's played off as a good thing because it is 'destiny'. I don't think I am going to read the rest of the series, and if I do, I won't spend money to do so. Also- people on the internet write better sex scenes than this guy does for free. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Adult/minor relationship, Pedophilia, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Abortion

asami_kukomi's review against another edition

adventurous dark slow-paced

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

3.0

Decided to pick this up after watching season 2 of The Witcher. I enjoyed this book more than I was expecting to, it was an easy read and I liked most of the short stories. It covers a lot of the stories that season 1 of The Witcher is based on, so I was able to get more of an understanding on what was happening.

One thing I found really cool about this book was that it contained elements of fairy tales. Some of the stories were like dark retellings of fairy tales set in the Witcher universe. Beauty and the Beast and Snow White were the two prevalent stories with mentions of other fairytale characters such as Rumpelstiltskin, and Rapunzel like 'monster' princesses who are locked up in towers because they're believed to herald the end of the world.

Overall a decent read, Geralt was definitely more talkative in the books than he is in the show. There's also a lot of nudity in the books, breasts are mentioned quite a few times, so the amount of nudity in the show makes sense, it's canon.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Sexual assault and Sexual content

carwenat's review against another edition

adventurous dark fast-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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Minor: Rape and Sexual assault

katmahalia's review

adventurous funny mysterious medium-paced

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

3.75

I will be completely honest and say I didn’t follow the plot of the short stories that closely because I listened to the audiobook while playing video games, but from what I heard I really enjoyed it. The pacing did not feel too slow as it can in fantasy adventuring stories, and the action never felt disjointed or separated from the plot. And I liked the whole the-princesses-are-the-monsters twist on fairy tale plots, it was a nice nod to the fact that every fairy tale and legend has a bigger story behind it. 

My only gripe: the love interests are not interesting or lovely, mostly just annoying. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Death, Gore, Medical trauma, and Violence

Moderate: Abandonment, Alcohol, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Excrement, Forced institutionalization, Incest, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, Trafficking, Xenophobia, and Ableism

Minor: Child death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Rape, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, and War