Reviews tagging 'Death'

The Water Outlaws by S.L. Huang

25 reviews

_theresenatalie's review

adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Torture, Death, War, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Blood, Cannibalism, and Gore

Minor: Suicide attempt

beckahh_i's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark funny hopeful inspiring tense 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Gore, Death, Injury/Injury detail, and Blood

Moderate: Cannibalism and Sexual assault

mika_the_librarian's review

adventurous hopeful inspiring sad medium-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Murder, Torture, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Cannibalism, and Grief

double_el's review

adventurous dark funny hopeful lighthearted 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Violence, and Death

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Sexual assault

shay43geek's review

adventurous dark funny 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? No

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Death, Sexual harassment, War, Gore, Sexual assault, and Sexism

kiwi_00's review

adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Sexual assault, and Death

Moderate: Misogyny

Everything about this book was fantastic!!! I loved the diversity of the characters and the way that they reacted to certain situations seemed realistic.

Lin Chong is the realest bitch ever!!!

ag_berry's review against another edition

adventurous inspiring 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? No

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, War, and Death

Moderate: Sexual assault

livcab's review

adventurous 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Death, Torture, Misogyny, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, and War

Minor: Rape

jrbenson95's review

adventurous inspiring tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Misogyny, Violence, Death, Injury/Injury detail, War, Cannibalism, Sexism, Gore, and Murder

Minor: Sexual assault

displacedcactus's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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? No

This book was something alright. Queer, feminist retelling of the classic Chinese story The Water Margin, but it was really violent and some of the heroes took some actions which were so unheroic I almost DNFed about 2/3-3/4 of the way through... and then it was never mentioned again and had no real impact on the story so it felt like it was just there for shock value? Make sure you read the  TW/CW on this one, and realize that some of this stuff is done by the protagonists, not just the antagonists! 

For those who prefer their books without romance, it didn't have any romantic subplot, so there's that. 

Over all, the writing was pretty strong. Characters behaved consistently, pacing didn't bog down too much, and the martial arts fights were really well-described, allowing me to really picture them as scenes from a wuxia film! I suspect some readers who really enjoy morally grey/anti-hero characters will enjoy the heck out of this one. I definitely enjoyed parts of it, but overall it wasn't one of my favorite reads of the year and I'd hesitate to recommend it without a whole lot of caveats.

Note: I've never read The Water Margin so I don't know how closely this cleaves to the original and how many of my complaints are related to the original content. I don't feel like my enjoyment of the best parts of the book was hampered by my lack of familiarity with the book that inspired it, but probably people who are familiar will get more enjoyment!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Torture, Death, and Blood

Moderate: Sexual assault, Cannibalism, and Sexism