Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

Nevernight by Jay Kristoff

13 reviews

dragonaion's review

adventurous dark emotional inspiring reflective sad 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? It's complicated

5.0

USA said it well, 

"Harry Potter meets The Lies of Locke Lamora."

And from my 5 star review of The Lies of Locke Lamora, I say that Nevernight is absolutely a story-sibling to Lynch's work while standing on its own and is a fantastic read. I devoured half the book in a day and am already shouting at Amazon to "take my money!" for the sequels.
For those who haven't read Lynch's book (which you should, if you enjoy Nevernight), this is a story of the brotherhood (and sisterhood!) of thieves, love in the dark, knowing what the dark is, and how to walk in Her shadow. Not for the faint of heart, this is a brilliant magical fantasy that will remind you of The Elder Scroll's Night Mother and Daedric Prince Nocturnal with every word. It is brilliant, emotional, tangible, and had me almost crying at a few spots.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Murder, Torture, Sexual content, Violence, Physical abuse, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Child abuse and Slavery

Minor: Sexual assault, Child death, Mental illness, Rape, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Excrement, and Fire/Fire injury

moonchild_cos's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Cursing, Blood, Animal death, Death, Sexual content, Death of parent, Murder, Torture, Injury/Injury detail, and Violence

Moderate: Grief, War, Sexual assault, Medical content, Sexism, Gore, Sexual harassment, and Torture

Minor: Alcohol, Body shaming, Classism, and Alcoholism

whenjessreads's review against another edition

adventurous dark medium-paced

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

3.5

I loved this book, I really did. I was expecting some sort of mild YA dark academia (why did I think this? I do not know) and what I got was a punch in the face of serious fantasy. It was surprising, refreshing, and after the first 100 pages or of set up the pacing was great and the characters intriguing. 

The excessive metaphor was something I liked, although occasionally I had to read a phrase over a few times for comprehension.

The footnotes that the author used gave me flashbacks to the Bartimaeus Trilogy by Jonathan Stroud - adding humour and small infodumps via an unknown narrator. I do find them slightly jarring when trying to read a story smoothly, but if that’s the author’s style, what can you do? 😅

From what I can gather, this book is either loved or hated. The author is Australian - you can tell - and that’s pretty representative of the how the Australian personality is received in general.😅😂 This book was also pretty strong with the male gaze, although it wasn’t enough that it made me stop reading.

The one thing I will point out as being problematic is the author’s representation of Māori ta moko, or facial tattoos. Though Kristoff has said he didn’t intend for people to make that comparison, as someone of Māori heritage (though that should be irrelevant), I felt a bit uncomfortable reading it. I think without this I would have rated a 4 😊

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Murder, Death, Gore, Sexual content, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, Alcohol, and Cursing

Minor: Sexual assault, Suicide, Pedophilia, Cultural appropriation, Slavery, Child abuse, and Rape

maddie2's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Violence, Torture, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, and Death of parent

Moderate: Animal death, Slavery, Sexual assault, and Rape

cynt's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

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

1.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Murder, Sexual content, and Torture

lettigirl101's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Blood, Death, Death of parent, Animal death, Sexual content, and Murder

Moderate: Slavery

Minor: Child death, Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

astoryofpages's review against another edition

slow-paced

1.0

I found this reading to be quite lengthy, 750 pages in French, with lengths, descriptions of little interest and useless. Still, the author has potential, but there are far too many similes and metaphors that quite often mean nothing (aka the oinking sea). I would have preferred that the information passed more clearly. The footnotes are far too numerous: I didn't read most of them because I was lost in my reading.

Wordbuilding is pretty good, even if we are drowned by pieces of information. They are useless to us since we do not travel in the universe. The atmosphere is actually quite good, very dark (small trigger warning). I just wish Mia's powers were more emphasized, this is one of her peculiarities, and it is not "used" and even left out for much of the story. Some characters were quite good, but I must admit I didn't appreciate the competitiveness between girls while the guys stay aside to watch the show… Big up to Mister Kindly. I loved him! He is very well thought out, original and brilliant! As for the end, I can't find much to say, except maybe "All that fuss for nothing?". We end up with a kind of reversal of the situation that made me a little angry because it concerns a character we only see twice. So whether he is there or not, it does not change the plot. I also find that his end does not stick to the characters. The author gives us specific pictures of his characters, but he does not even respect them.

I hated the hyper-sexualization of Mia and women in general. I didn't like how the author described the female body (which really embarrassed me and made me feel like an object or a curiosity). This femme fatale role could have been well thought out if it had not been glued to a 16-year-old girl. He wrote scenes of s*xual relationships between two children (16 and 17 years old), and I found that very unhealthy. I don't understand what this brings to the story apart from voyeurism and unease. I could also talk for hours about my anger at Mia's body "transformation" scene. She does not give her consent. I did not feel any rebellion on her part. Aalea has a tremendous hold on her to the point of handling her. But a woman does not have to answer the criteria set by men to be beautiful and desirable. Warning, also romanticization of death and suicide through metaphors; some people can be triggered.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Alcohol, Blood, Body shaming, Child abuse, Death, Gore, Murder, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicide, Torture, Violence, and Cultural appropriation

Plastic surgery (in form of Magic), graphic sex scenes involving painful intercourse, threatened rape (several)

commander_zander's review

adventurous dark funny mysterious fast-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

Freaking great.

This is a R-rated YA-style book about young assassins. It's irreverent, unapologetic, & very extra. The characters are largely amoral, which is refreshing. It has lots of gratuitous violence & jokes about sexual violence. If that sounds off-putting then skip this book.

If you like YA books that are weird & extra, you might love this. What i love about this book is its passionate enthusiasm, its overflowing love for the Red Church, its charisma, & its surprisingly great plot twists.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder and Violence

Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, and Cursing

sleepytessa's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Bullying, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Incest, Murder, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, and Violence

Minor: Cursing and Vomit

bexsters's review

adventurous dark funny lighthearted mysterious 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

Amazing! One of the best I've ever read in the genre. Engaged me instantly.

The third part in particular was so full of twist and turns I had to finish it on the day I started. One part nearly lost me, when it seemed Mia had been stupid enough to let Jess steal her notes for Spiderkiller's class. I felt disappointed and it felt out of character... until I learned the truth! That she was the one to trick them! My faith was restored.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Violence, Sexual assault, and Cursing