Reviews tagging 'Blood'

De schaduwkoning by Maaza Mengiste

12 reviews

stabilesero's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad 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

4.5

Mengiste did this story justice; what a beautiful nod to her grandmother and those who fought in the Italian-Ethiopian war; particularly for those who went unrecognised.
I'm really keen to pick up Mengiste's other novels, The Shadow King was beautiful.
It wasn't perfect, I agree with other readers who also said there were a lot of side characters and names to keep up with, but I see why there were so many by the end of the book. A little bit of repetition regarding describing light and surroundings, but again, it didn't put me off. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Gun violence, Blood, Death, Rape, Slavery, Torture, Body horror, Adult/minor relationship, Violence, War, Sexual assault, Child death, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child death

kittyka0s's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Violence, Rape, Sexual violence, War, Pedophilia, Torture, Physical abuse, Murder, Death, Misogyny, Child abuse, Gun violence, Blood, and Adult/minor relationship

booksjessreads's review against another edition

challenging dark slow-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

4.0

This book took me ages to read but this was such a rewarding novel and honestly stick with it if you are struggling. This book is centred around military history, but demonstrating how war in Ethiopia against the Italians in 1935 was not strictly masculine territory. Mengiste's work demonstrates women fighting for their place to be amongst their fellow men on the battlefield, following the story of Hirut and her master Kidane. 

I liked how this book showed you how no character was 100% good or bad and that each person had their own good and bad qualities. It demonstrates that the oppressed can also be the oppressor and provokes mixed feelings for each character throughout the novel. 

I really loved the writing style too, beautiful prose. I found the lack of speech marks hard at first, but like with Girl, Woman, Other, you get there when you get into the flow of the book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Blood, Murder, Racism, and War

Moderate: Violence, Physical abuse, Misogyny, and Antisemitism

vaniavela's review against another edition

challenging dark informative tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Murder, Violence, Gun violence, Blood, and Death

Minor: Death of parent

athenaia's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-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

4.75

The book is very challenging to read but beautifully written. However it is also not a book that is for light reading. The topics that are discussed were sometimes hard to deal with and I would recommend anyone who wants to read it to do it slowly and stop if it is too much for one day. In my opinion the book is a fantastic litterary work even though I needed half a year to finish it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Antisemitism, Blood, Colonisation, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Misogyny, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Racism, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, and War

theres_claire's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Gun violence, and Rape

Minor: Death of parent

hardcoverhearts's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark informative tense 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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Confinement, Death, Grief, Violence, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Rape, Murder, and Forced institutionalization

sarrasegway's review against another edition

dark reflective sad slow-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: Blood, Death, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Antisemitism, Child death, Confinement, Excrement, and Gun violence

tabitha_isabelle's review against another edition

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Bullying, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Mental illness, Murder, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, and Violence

boogsbooks's review against another edition

adventurous emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

The Shadow King tells the story of the unsung among the Ethiopian armies who fought the Italians during the Second Italo-Ethiopian War in the mid-1930s. It asks: What is home? What is honor? What is owed? It’s an intimate look of the pain and glory of war shared mostly through the eyes of Hirut, a servant girl turned soldier. Hirut works for and fights alongside Aster and her husband Kidane. Each character is a person who buries their grief, sadness, and shame in anger, ego, or false ownership. Infuriating and all the more compelling because of it.

A portion of the story is also told through the lens of Ettore, an Italian photographer who has no business being in war. Ettore’s story revolves around his father, where his father comes from, and how that defines him. While I was interested in the layer Ettore’s father added to the book, I felt as though Ettore was here simply to carry the novel’s focus on photography as storytelling. Excerpts throughout the book are told as descriptions of photos. This worked well but made me question the role of Ettore as a central character.

This was my final read of 2020 and it felt like such a fitting ending. It’s epic in all of its forms. It left me reflective, cheering for the underdog, acknowledging pain in repeated history, and finding hope in moving forward.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Confinement, Grief, Gun violence, Infidelity, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Slavery, Torture, and Xenophobia