Reviews tagging 'Ableism'

Lui che annegò il mondo by Shelley Parker-Chan

96 reviews

szuum's review against another edition

4.5

dark tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Bullying, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Infidelity, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Grief, Murder, Dysphoria, War, Classism

pvp_niki's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous challenging dark reflective fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Biphobia, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Torture, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Outing, Toxic friendship, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Slavery

Minor: Infertility, Vomit

klbreyfogle's review against another edition

4.0

challenging dark emotional medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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I’m giving this a 4 for the quality of the writing, characterization, and the political intrigue. I love morally grey characters but my goodness these characters were too morally grey for me.

We hit the second child murder in the series and the violent rape scene and it was just… a lot.

I also think for all the horrible things the characters did and experienced the author could’ve leaned further into an ambiguous ending, it felt a little like the last 5 pages transferred from a more traditional happy ending after 400 pages of plotting and intrigue. Lot of trigger warnings in this one, so definitely believe those. I wanted to like the characters more than I did. If you’re really into political intrigue and like an immoral (or amoral) protagonist then you’ll like it. Normally I support gay rights and gay wrongs but this is a few too many gay wrongs for me, personally. Also… everyone is super into using sex to get what they want.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Body shaming, Homophobia, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Transphobia, Violence, Murder, Dysphoria, War

Moderate: Child death, Miscarriage, Sexual content, Slavery, Suicide, Xenophobia, Outing, Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Torture, Vomit, Pregnancy

adoto's review against another edition

4.75

adventurous emotional tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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My only complaint is I wanted an epilogue of Zhu and Ma being happily married at the end. But other than that, Shelley Parker-Chan is so fucking powerful to get me attached to a literal fucking incel 

There were a lot of BDSM undertones that I normally wouldn't care for but I felt the author had a riot of a good time writing them so I liked them too. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Rape, Self harm, Sexual violence

Moderate: Ableism, Homophobia, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Torture

Minor: Miscarriage, Pregnancy

30something_reads's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful sad tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Hey, umm how dare you, Shelley Parker-Chan??

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Child death, Death, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Grief, Murder, War, Injury/Injury detail

leonoor's review against another edition

4.75

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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I loved the first book of this series, so I expected to love the sequel as well. And I did, but it wasn't what I expected. Like the first book, he who drowned the world is a historical war novel, but the plot is much more violent. There are graphic descriptions of murder, rape, cruelty, and (self-)mutilation. It's a story full of betrayal, pain, hate and anger. We don't see as much of the loveable characters in this book. We are confronted with self-destructive hate, and most characters in this book do unspeakable things to achieve their goals. Yet Shelley Parker-Chan has written about it in such a beautiful, elegant and vulnerable way, that I found myself feeling empathy for these characters. 

I debated giving this book 5 stars, since I found it very well-written and intruiging, but I decided on a 4.75 only because the pace of the beginning and middle part of the book is a bit slow. This, combined with the fact that some chapters are very dark and heavy to read, made me put the book away quite often. However, I always enjoyed returning to this beautifully intricate world the author has described. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, War

Moderate: Body shaming, Transphobia

edelyra's review against another edition

5.0

dark emotional informative reflective sad tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Body horror, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Slavery, Torture, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Dysphoria, War, Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Miscarriage

linde_ahobbit's review against another edition

4.75

adventurous dark 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: Complicated

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A great ending for this duology. Well and skillfully written. I really enjoyed the interactions between Zhu and Ouyang. I already want to reread this books, since it has been two years since I read the first one. And I'm hoping for a future book in which Ouyang and Esen find each other again in another time, pretty please!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Body horror, Body shaming, Death, Self harm

laurak483's review against another edition

4.0

dark emotional inspiring reflective sad tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault

Moderate: Torture

ilqua's review against another edition

3.0

dark emotional sad tense

Loveable characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Death, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual content, Violence, Grief

Moderate: Miscarriage, Misogyny