Reviews tagging 'Violence'

Lui che annegò il mondo by Shelley Parker-Chan

208 reviews

jaqylantern's review against another edition

4.75

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

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This duology is so wonderful. 
Everyone in this book needs hot chocolate and a weighted blanket. I wish there had been a chance for more characters to heal and find happiness. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence

jesshaleth's review against another edition

4.5

dark emotional 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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If there had been slightly fewer moments meriting a content warning it would've been 5 stars for me, so maybe it will be for you. But yeah - I think it ticked more content warnings than it didn't, so, at your own risk.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Grief, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Murder, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, Outing, Sexual harassment, Dysphoria, War, Injury/Injury detail

itsemmaofc's review against another edition

3.75

challenging dark medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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I loved following Zhu’s storyline, but I felt like the book got really bogged down by so many POVs. Some characters honestly were not so interesting to justify a whole POV. I agree with a lot of other reviewers that I would’ve liked this more if it was split into two books and if some of the more compelling characters’ plot lines were teased out. 

 I also really struggled with

so many scenes depicting sexual violence or talking about sexual trauma. It didn’t always seem necessary for the plot or the characters, but I will give props to the author bc it wasn’t entirely meaningless dumping (compare to books like GoT).

 

I think I liked this book because of how much I liked the first book, and this is kinda riding on the coat tails. 3.75-4 stars

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence

Moderate: Sexual content, Violence

dreadspawn's review against another edition

4.5

adventurous challenging 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, Child death, Death, Gore, Homophobia, Misogyny, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, War, Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Infertility, Miscarriage, Abortion, Pregnancy

aehc's review against another edition

4.5

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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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I’ll say it: this should have been a trilogy. The pacing is maintained at an extremely fast clip, but it picks up steam so rapidly in the back half that I was holding on with white knuckles not to get swept away. It’s a testament to Parker-Chan’s superb skills that this pace means that the book is merely very very good, as opposed to transcendant and triumphant as the first novel was. I do think that a slightly more leisurely pace and a third book would have strengthened the narrative by allowing for some more breathing room and space for the reader to sink in to the world. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Violence, Murder

helfire124's review against another edition

4.5

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Homophobia, Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Outing, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism

stacyaj's review against another edition

5.0

dark 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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Self harm, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood

dreamer626's review against another edition

4.25

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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 wanted to punch a couple of characters.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Sexual content, Violence

casserole_cg's review against another edition

4.25

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring reflective sad tense slow-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: Complicated

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Rape, Self harm, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism

Moderate: Animal death, Body shaming, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Infertility, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Pregnancy

jes312's review against another edition

3.5

challenging dark tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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I loved the first book, but had a harder time with the second installment (partially because this is much darker--see content warnings). There are more POV in this book, which I wasn't as invested in from the first book, and because of that, I felt like it bogged the story down. I loved that

Zhu and Ouyang teamed up

and I wanted more from Ma's perspective, especially given how instrumental her story is in the last part of the book.

I know this is a duology, but I kind of wish there was a third, so we could see if

Zhu lives up to expectations as Emperor. Was all the sacrifice worth it?

Not knowing anything about the Ming Empire, I was left wanting more and the story feels unfinished.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Body shaming, Child death, Death, Gore, Homophobia, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Pregnancy, Outing, War, Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Abortion

Minor: Abandonment