Reviews tagging 'Bullying'

Raybearer by Jordan Ifueko

14 reviews

fleur____'s review

adventurous emotional inspiring 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Colonisation, Death of parent, Misogyny, Abandonment, Fire/Fire injury, Violence, and Sexism

Moderate: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Blood, Physical abuse, and Bullying

Minor: Slavery, Alcohol, Excrement, Xenophobia, Body horror, Classism, and Vomit

talonsontypewriters's review

adventurous emotional hopeful fast-paced

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

2.5

Yet another book with 80%+ 4-5 star ratings that I ended up being disappointed by, so maybe the issue is really just that I'm a hater :/ Loved the ideas and themes, but the characters (especially the more minor ones, had trouble keeping track of the background council members) didn't feel fleshed-out enough, the worldbuilding is conveyed mostly in blocky exposition dumps, and the pacing in general feels... odd, with a lot of unnecessary jumps in time and awkward transitions. Lots of potential in theory, but didn't quite live up to it in execution for me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Violence, Fire/Fire injury, Misogyny, Gaslighting, Sexism, Abandonment, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Colonisation, Confinement, Grief, Death, Death of parent, Bullying, Murder, Xenophobia, and Classism

Minor: Slavery, Vomit, Incest, Rape, Sexual content, Acephobia/Arophobia, Domestic abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Pedophilia, and Suicide

Relationship between characters with unspecified ages but presumably one around 15-17 and the other at least in his 20s. Crush/romantic undertones (no actual relationship) between characters later revealed to be related.

friendly_neighborhood_grandma's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.25

I highly recommand the audiobook. The narrator is incredible, very engaging and even thogh the world is complicated and full of names im not used to, i didnt feel lost. The story itself is unlike anything i ever read before, and i loved it. It was very interesting and felt real. Incredible worldbuilding. I would recommend it to people who would like a new taste of fantacy, rich lore and worldbuilding, found family and messy family relations, and a brave, complicated fmc.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Murder, Emotional abuse, Death, Abandonment, Classism, Confinement, Death of parent, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Vomit, Grief, Misogyny, and Violence

Moderate: Violence

eni_iilorak's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Misogyny, Murder, Sexism, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Abandonment, Toxic friendship, and Violence

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, Confinement, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Domestic abuse, Bullying, Classism, and Medical content

Minor: Acephobia/Arophobia, Alcohol, Rape, and Slavery

akvolcano's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Genocide, Slavery, Abandonment, Bullying, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Emotional abuse, Police brutality, Classism, Confinement, Child abuse, Gaslighting, Death, and Domestic abuse

tigger89's review against another edition

adventurous emotional 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

4.5

I loved the worldbuilding here, particularly the depictions of the lands we got to visit and the themes of embracing unique cultures vs assimilation. There's a darker edge to many of the systems in this world, which I also appreciated. While the protagonist was rather unquestioning of some things that should have thrown red flags(basically everything about the council), this is only the first book of a duology, so those aspects might be examined later.

The central conflict is, of course, Tarisai's struggle to break free of her mother's command. I initially got some Ella Enchanted vibes from this setup, but the resolution wound up being so much more. It wasn't enough for her to merely want to disobey, or even to desire to protect the prince with her whole heart; to break a curse of this magnitude, it would take much more than that. I also appreciated how her mother was handled in the narrative. She wasn't purely evil, but she wasn't misunderstood either; she was a complicated, wounded character who committed great harms.

Overall, I enjoyed this a lot more than I'd expected to. It helped that the romance was firmly a subplot, and there was no love triangle. I'll say that again for those in the back: this YA title has no love triangle! It was so refreshing to see a depiction of platonic love develop between two characters. There was even a prominent character who was explicitly asexual. As mentioned, this is the first book in a duology, and I intend to pick up the sequel, Redemptor, whenever I manage to find a gap in my TBR(lol).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, and Slavery

Moderate: Bullying, Confinement, and Death of parent

Minor: Rape

fromjuliereads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging hopeful inspiring 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

4.25

I really enjoyed this! This was one of my 12 friend recommendation reads for this year and I was so happy I enjoyed this one! The characters and the story are so well done. I can't wait to read the sequel next!!

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood, Bullying, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Murder, and Violence

Minor: Abandonment

bookcaptivated's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring reflective 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: Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Grief, Misogyny, and Violence

Minor: Classism, Domestic abuse, Child abuse, Confinement, Sexual content, Vomit, and Bullying

oliverreeds's review

funny hopeful medium-paced

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

5.0

i greatly enjoyed this book (note the five stars lol) mainly because i could tell the author listened to their story. everything made sense: the characters were logical and believable, the world-building was paced well and easy to understand, and the way that racial/religious tensions were discussed in the book was pretty great. sometimes, however, it felt like the author was rushing. like they knew what was going to happen next and wanted it to happen so much that it just did and the readers missed a lot in the cut scenes.

specifically after tarisai tries to kill dayo, sanjeet just like.. forgives her really fast. i feel like a lot more could have been explored there in ways that would have added some intensity to their relationship and things that could have ultimately strengthened it. i was also upset that there wasn't closure between tarisai and dayo. things kind of fell apart between them? there was a lot left unsaid and i feel like there was time for them to have a conversation and to explore more into their relationship after she yknow tried to kill him. he seemed to forgive her very quickly, but also, he didnt? it was weird and i understood what the author was going for, but there was time and space that could have been allotted to exploring that part of their relationship and how it changed/would change after the attempt. this also applies to tarisai and kirah. kirah just forgives her very fast and doesn't question a whole lot, when i felt like she should have.

my main critic is that there was a lot of complexity that could have been explored through dialogue, through description, through reactions that simply wasn't mentioned again. tensions resolved too quickly and too neatly. i wanted there to be dissent. i wanted something to rub the wrong way and i wanted every character to feel it. i think the author came close to this but didn't quite reach it. i didn't realize this book was a series initially, but i'm excited to read the next books as they come out. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Blood, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Murder, Rape, Torture, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: War

starryorbit12's review

adventurous challenging emotional tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Raybearer is one of the books you can't put down. If your a fan of found family and stories about breaking cycles of abuse, this book is for you. The Lady shows an abuse child that grows up to hurt others on the way she was hurt. Tarsai is a abused child who grew up wanting to do things that would help instead of hurt. Sanjeet is also another abused and also bullied child that choose to protect and heal instead of seeking vengeance or choosing to inflict pain to make other hurt they way he has. This is also a story of women erased from history and how child are often  sacrificed to preserve the status quo. It not just about breaking the cycle of abuse and finding purpose outside the life parents wish for you, but it also about do what is right even if it not easy to make a better world for everyone. Frankly, this is my favorite read in 2021 so far.

The only thing I really wanted more from in the story would be the other count members outside of Sanjeet and Kirah. Tarsai talk about the fondly and says she loves them like family, but we only get a few interactions with them. Often, the other members blend together because we don't hear enough or speak to them enough for them to stand out in the way Dayo, Sanjeet, and Kirah do. However, they don't do much in the grand scheme of the story compared to Dayo, Sanjeet, and Kirah so I can see why they weren't as fleshed out.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Bullying, Child abuse, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Genocide, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexism, and Violence