Reviews tagging 'Sexual violence'

The Winter King by Bernard Cornwell

8 reviews

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

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

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

novelideea's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Violence, Toxic relationship, Religious bigotry, Sexual violence, Rape, Gore, Blood, Sexual assault, Slavery, Misogyny, Excrement, Cursing, and Toxic friendship

kissmelicia's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark inspiring tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Death, and Violence

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Sexual violence, Rape, and Animal death

seanml's review against another edition

adventurous dark informative tense slow-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? Yes

4.0

The Once and Future King is my favorite book. To call this A Tale of Arthur and then have the narrative focus on a warrior named Derfel? It is certainly a bold move, but I think in the end it is a good choice. Trying to base the historically spotty, retroactively-Christian narrative of Arthur in the actual post-Roman dark ages of Britain is no easy task. But Cornwell’s attention to historical detail and respect of it makes for a very fun and interesting read. As long as you can stomach historical sexism and misogyny, which I wouldn’t blame you for skipping.

Also, this Lancelot is wildly different from T. H. White’s, which I didn’t expect. What a dick. 8/10.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Colonisation, Death, Death of parent, Genocide, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Murder, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, War, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Child death, Cursing, Grief, Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Pregnancy, Racism, Religious bigotry, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Slavery

Minor: Abandonment, Abortion, Alcohol, Cannibalism, Fire/Fire injury, and Vomit

carmenghia's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark tense slow-paced

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

2.0

Cornwell is a decent hand a writing, and a solid researcher. He's connected dots from what can be scraped out of that era of history. Yet, yes yet, I just didn't quite enjoy this. It's all battle, gore, rape, oath, battle, enslavement, unnecessary gore, ridiculous oath, reasons why monarchy is a terrible idea, ridiculous allegiance, more rape, lots of spitting, and repeated references to swords with names. To be fair, if the story is engaging, I can be quite forgiving of gore and monarchy and things I don't like, but this just dragged on from battle to battle for causes you never support - who would want Mordred on the throne? Nimue is the only interesting character.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual violence, Violence, Gore, and War

yurana's review against another edition

What a absolutely miserable book. Not in that it was badly written but that everything and everyone in it seems miserable. This is sold as a realistic take on the Arthur myth, in with realistic apparently means add lots of violence and rape. I’m only six chapters in and is far there is not a single female character that has not been murdered, raped or horribly disfigured. All this seems to be perfectly normal in this dystopian world where people might talk about law but the only law that actually exists is “might makes right”. There seems to be hardly any positive emotion or friendship or even love (unless you count people laughing about the sexual abuse of a female slave as positive emotion). Women use men to get some measure of safety against a world that sees them as sex toys and brood mares, men use women for sexual gratification and as status objects. And above all rule the warlords most of whom seem to think nothing of slaughtering whole villages if it gets them power or money. 
Arthur himself has hardly made an appearance so far. He apparently objects to rape and murder, but not enough to do something about it, when it is political inexpedient. I guess that makes him the good guy?
There is also the underlying story of the rivalry between Christianity and the old Druidic faith. The Christians all seem to be uneducated fanatics (and sometimes also pedophiles… let’s throw that in for flavor, too), while the druids are really into human sacrifice. I have no idea who I’m supposed to like here. 
There is enough misery in this world already, I don’t need more of it. Especially since the book seems to have nothing more to say on the topic of violence and rape, except; “it happens isn’t that horrible(and/or exciting)?” Yes it is horrible and I don’t want anymore of it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death and Murder

Moderate: Child abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, and Torture