Reviews tagging 'Animal cruelty'

La Belle Sauvage by Philip Pullman

32 reviews

tifftastic87's review against another edition

adventurous emotional fast-paced

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

4.5

I really enjoyed this book a lot. It was such a quick and good read and it was wonderful to go back into the world of Pullman. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Kidnapping, Stalking, Murder, Police brutality, and Child abuse

Moderate: Sexual assault, Classism, Vomit, Sexual harassment, Physical abuse, Torture, Sexism, Religious bigotry, and Blood

Minor: Sexual content, Gun violence, Ableism, Alcohol, Animal death, Racism, Gaslighting, Alcoholism, and Rape

velociraptor's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty

Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, and Pedophilia

zoey_blk's review against another edition

adventurous challenging mysterious tense 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

2.5

I found the extremely long introduction to be very boring and unnecessary, the actual plot, as teaserd by the author, on the other hand is too quick. The world building wasn't convincing either and half of the time I questioned the entire point of the book. I admit, I didn't read it voluntarily, so my judgment might be biased. To me it just felt like the plot wasn't really going anywhere for ¾ of the book and the author put the actual story in the last ¼. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia

Minor: Animal cruelty

angelbabe_cj's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Animal cruelty, and Murder

Moderate: Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Police brutality, Religious bigotry, and Violence

Minor: Sexual assault and Sexual content

cowardlyteaman's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful tense slow-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

4.75

I've been very generous with the hig  ratings lately, but I can't help it when so many books are good.

It's been a while since I read His Dark Materials, but I absolutely love this return of the universe. It's obvious how Malcolm Polstead influenced Lyra's subconsciousness.

However, I must admit that this book starts off so incredibly with so many amazing areas to explore, and it really raises your expectations on the story-to-come, but in the second half most of these things are pretty much just dropped? The League of St. Alexander, for example, was something I really really liked and wanted more explored in the book.

I have to leave off a note on how amazing the names in this book are, though. I will never seize to fall in love with Pullman's choices on character names. Malcolm, Asta, Asriel, Sophonax, Pantalaimon, Coram van Texel??? So sexy. Not to mention the beautiful image of the Trout you get in the first chapter—with the terrace over the water and the two peacocks.

I absolutely recommend this book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Animal cruelty, Sexual harassment, Murder, Self harm, Pedophilia, Sexual violence, Religious bigotry, and Stalking

Moderate: Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Animal death, Blood, Adult/minor relationship, and Child death

Minor: Cursing

moonybombadil's review against another edition

adventurous inspiring mysterious tense fast-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Animal cruelty, Violence, Blood, and Murder

Minor: Sexual harassment and Gun violence

kateships's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

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

4.5

A great prequel to HDM. The characters mostly are new to us as readers so at first, it’s hard to know how the stories connect. It feels a bit different from the original series but is still a great adventure that ties right in and brings you back to the universe. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death and Animal cruelty

Minor: Rape and Sexual assault

labeanorita's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Rape and Animal cruelty

grizzliffin's review against another edition

adventurous dark reflective

• 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty

Moderate: Pedophilia and Sexual assault

katie_345's review against another edition

adventurous challenging 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? No

2.25

I really enjoyed the characters and the storyline, however it was too dark for me I especially didn’t like the animal cruelty - it made me feel uncomfortable and a little bit sick reading it.  

P.s this book left some stuff unresolved as it’s a first of three, also this book doesn’t really talk about Dust or get into it in nearly as much detail as it does other topics ... the title could be misleading but we might find out more about dust in the follow up novel (not that I’ll read it for fear it will mentally scar me!😂 😳)


“This was all very difficult “- Malcolm   - I hear ya Malcolm, me too!

“Then there was the word Dust, with a capital D as if it wasn’t ordinary dust but something special.” - Malcolm 

“The weather office, so highly regarded by some of the drinkers at the trout and disdained by others, did what they always did and told their attendants exactly what they could have seen by looking at the sky.” 

“It’s a nice life being a baby!” - Malcolm 

“Nothing she had ever seen or heard  , had pleased her more then this crazy plunge down a waterfall in the total darkness” - Malcolm 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Animal cruelty, Blood, Death, Gore, Murder, Hate crime, and Sexual content

Moderate: Cursing, Pedophilia, Police brutality, Murder, and Physical abuse

Minor: Alcohol, Gore, Bullying, Cursing, Gun violence, Hate crime, Vomit, and Medical content