Reviews tagging 'Rape'

The Winter King by Bernard Cornwell

18 reviews

amber_lfor's review against another edition

I wanted to like this book. I read the series when I was younger, and put up with a lot, the second reading I just couldn't do! The women lack personality, and are mainly seen as beautiful and meek, or defiant and ugly in some way. I'm about 100 pages in and 3 women have been raped. All I want is a good historical book that does women justice! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexism, and War

I would only bother if you have a strong stomach and can bare outdated writing about women.

unluckycat13's review against another edition

Really vile, sexist stuff in this one. Not because it's historically accurate mind you, they never are when it comes to women. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Child abuse, Colonisation, Blood, Death, Domestic abuse, Infertility, Injury/Injury detail, Miscarriage, Chronic illness, Pedophilia, Toxic relationship, War, Xenophobia, Slavery, Sexism, Violence, Ableism, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Sexual assault, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Rape, Sexual harassment, and Sexual violence

edenpadzinski's review against another edition

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia and Rape

nerdkitten'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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Toxic relationship, War, Fire/Fire injury, Mental illness, Murder, Sexism, Blood, Violence, Ableism, Death, Alcohol, Gore, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Alcoholism, Colonisation, Pregnancy, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Slavery, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Xenophobia, Forced institutionalization, Child death, Excrement, Animal death, Body horror, Cursing, Rape, and Sexual content

Minor: Pedophilia, Torture, Adult/minor relationship, Cannibalism, Abortion, Confinement, Infertility, Trafficking, Drug use, Vomit, Medical content, Animal cruelty, and Classism

andrealinia's review against another edition

There's only so much I can stomach of the female characters being raped, "taught their duties", and kept as sex slaves.

Not a book I was enjoying so I decided to call it quits.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape and Misogyny

daria66's review against another edition

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Mental illness, Child abuse, and Misogyny

girish0731's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

Brilliant start to a darker age and brutal retelling of Arthurian tales. The book starts out slow with its characters but picks up close to 1/4th into the book and doesn't let go of the steam and pacing. The atmosphere of 5th to 6th century Britain is portrayed in a grim picture.The characters are the most important draw for this series. Must read for anyone wanting to pick up a historical fiction with fantasy elements mixed in very less amounts.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Animal death, Grief, Classism, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Religious bigotry, Blood, Child death, Gore, Racial slurs, Racism, and Misogyny

cjblandford's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark sad 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

4.0

I enjoyed this more realistic take on the legend of Arthur. Here he is not presented as a King, but as a Warlord who is trying(and many times failing) to unite Britons against the invading Saxons, but just as often, he is battling other Britons who are vying for more power. This was first published in 1996 and I think, even though this is more definitely historical fiction (less fantasy), this influenced a lot of the grimdark fiction that came after this in the fantasy genre. It is dark, violent, gory, ruthless, and at times hard to read, especially the sexual assault scenes. The author was trying to accurately portray the violence of daily life that was inescapable during this time, and in that regard he was successful. As far as the story goes, the plot meandered a bit before an overarching story revealed itself. A lot of time was spent establishing the characters and this world. The characters are well-rounded and interesting. Arthur is a flawed, tragic human whose nature has him fighting himself as much as his enemies. Merlin is a crazed, single-minded asshole who is only looking to reestablish Britain's "natural gods" and to kick out any invaders. Our narrator is very sympathetic, and at the beginning of this story, has a bit of hero-worship for Arthur going on. As the story progresses, and as he matures, our narrator learns that Arthur is still a hero, but he's also just a man, not some God-like being. And that's what I find interesting about this novel, it reimagines a legend and mythic character as a real person, with ambitions, flaws, and weaknesses. I'm looking forward to seeing how this story plays out, even though I know if it follows the legend, it won't end well for Arthur...

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Sexual violence, Slavery, Sexism, Blood, Animal death, Gore, Death, Rape, and Violence

lyla_lynn's review against another edition

There is a lot of mention of rape and not only is it used as a way for a female character to gain wisdom that same character is happy when another woman is raped. I don't tolerate that in any book and I don't care that the author thinks it's historical because this is a fantasy and he could have chosen not to. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence

Moderate: Rape

pagesofash's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape