Reviews tagging 'Colonisation'

Island Queen by Vanessa Riley

9 reviews

baghaii's review against another edition

adventurous informative medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Slavery, and Rape

Moderate: Religious bigotry, Colonisation, and Abandonment

Minor: Child death

whatcassiedid's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring 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? Yes

4.0

An in depth look at the life of an incredible woman, I really enjoyed this. Riley does a great job of showing the horrors of slavery without getting too into the gory details, which I appreciated. I did have a bit of trouble keeping Dorothy's kids straight as the book went on, but that didn't affect my enjoyment

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Colonisation, Incest, Racism, Rape, and Slavery

tahsintries's review

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Incest, Rape, Racial slurs, Sexual assault, Sexism, Racism, Misogyny, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Child death, Classism, Grief, Pregnancy, Adult/minor relationship, Colonisation, Genocide, Hate crime, Religious bigotry, Toxic relationship, Death, Torture, and Mental illness

Minor: Infidelity and Infertility

liaandersson's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective tense slow-paced

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Misogyny, Racism, Rape, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Adult/minor relationship, Gore, Incest, Infertility, Kidnapping, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Child death, Colonisation, Mental illness, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Slavery, and Trafficking

amerikanerin's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring sad slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Slavery, Trafficking, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Racism, Racial slurs, Pregnancy, Physical abuse, Mental illness, Incest, Colonisation, Alcohol, and Abortion

emzireads's review against another edition

adventurous informative reflective tense slow-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Slavery, Sexual assault, Colonisation, and Racism

hayy6747's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• 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: Colonisation, Death, Sexual violence, Incest, Slavery, Violence, and Rape

Minor: Adult/minor relationship

amandas_bookshelf's review against another edition

adventurous emotional informative reflective slow-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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Racial slurs, Rape, Incest, Child death, Colonisation, Misogyny, Slavery, and Sexism

Moderate: Antisemitism

brynngaybee's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative inspiring reflective slow-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? It's complicated

3.5

I think this book could be great for some people. Its subject matter fills a great niche for true success stories of black women. I certainly don't mean to knock the book, I appreciate its goal and I'm certain many readers would enjoy it a lot. I however didn't like reading it. Overall the book really drags and should have been trimmed down a little bit. Much of the plot focuses on Dolly's relationship with various men in her life and this got old quickly as her interactions felt very repetitive and dull. It often felt like I was reading a really boring romance novel. A lot of focus was given to the men around Dolly, but I was in the book for Dolly herself. Vital events, like deaths, seemed to pop up and happen very suddenly, these could have used more exposition. I wish more time had been devoted to how she actually built her empire as I feel I didn't quite understand how it all happened. I appreciated her relationship with her family and how her relationship with slavery was portrayed a lot. It was technically well written and many parts were even compelling, but overall it felt repetitive and boring. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Emotional abuse, Grief, Incest, and Murder

Minor: Alcohol, Antisemitism, Colonisation, and Death