Reviews tagging 'Murder'

The Traitor Baru Cormorant by Seth Dickinson

39 reviews

strawberrybex's review against another edition

4.0

Ooh there’s a lot that’s really great abt this book. I had slightly mixed feelings abt some of the pacing, but by in large a solid read. 
please do look through the trigger warnings though! they are very real. and like add on pretty extensive discussions of eugenics (as like a mechanism of the big evil empire but. thorough and frequent)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Death, Homophobia, Violence, Lesbophobia, and Murder

Moderate: Racism, Sexism, Sexual violence, War, and Death of parent

imperialism, colonialism, colonial violence, genocide and cultural genocide, race science and eugenics. also threats of sexual violence include like. threats of FGM. also conversion therapy

jan1e's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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

3.25

Baru is a really cool character and finishing this book makes me excited to read the other two that are out right now. Very long but Dickinson makes it feel worth it with callbacks to other sections of the book. This book had me swept away into another world. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Death, Homophobia, and Lesbophobia

Moderate: Torture

emeraldrina's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad 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? Yes

5.0

A masterpiece of world building and intrigue. Each time I picked up this book I was so immersed that I forgot I was reading. The world is both complex and believable, the characters all beautifully complicated, and the plot just the right amount of knotted mystery to keep you guessing and on the edge of your seat without being confusing. At times the strategic planning was a touch over-explained, but that might just be because I have a background in the subject. And it wasn’t redundant enough to put me off or make me feel bored. Other than that, the writing was stunningly beautiful, and yet never so present that it was distracting from the story.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Lesbophobia, Homophobia, War, and Murder

Minor: Cursing, Blood, Misogyny, Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, Outing, Vomit, Death, and Pandemic/Epidemic

indeedithappens's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Abandonment, Body horror, Sexual content, Addiction, Animal death, Cursing, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Kidnapping, Racism, Sexism, Ableism, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Biphobia, Blood, Body shaming, Chronic illness, Colonisation, Bullying, Child abuse, Violence, Classism, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Misogyny, Pandemic/Epidemic, Sexual harassment, Death of parent, Terminal illness, Excrement, Forced institutionalization, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Vomit, War, Xenophobia, Infidelity, Murder, Physical abuse, Lesbophobia, Police brutality, Suicidal thoughts, Self harm, Slavery, Torture, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship

bisexualwentworth's review against another edition

• 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? Yes

4.0

I loved the political intrigue. I loved the parts of this book that leaned more into being a character study of Baru. I liked Tain Hu and thought that she was handled very well. I just sometimes felt like there was too much emotional and narrative distance between us and Baru, and I’m also not sure how much I care about reading the sequels anytime soon.

That being said, anti-imperialist speculative fiction is my shit, especially when it’s queer, so I absolutely gobbled most of this up. 

Extremely strange encountering the word “sodomite” in a high fantasy novel, though. I will be pondering that choice for a while I think.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Homophobia, Misogyny, Death of parent, War, and Colonisation

Moderate: Racism and Murder

Additional content warnings for murder and drowning. Also, the homophobia is VERY intense here.

bookycnidaria's review against another edition

adventurous dark medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Gaslighting, Murder, Violence, Alcoholism, Genocide, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, and Torture

Moderate: Outing and Pandemic/Epidemic

noetherian's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

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

A book that paces along the fence between depiction and glorification of imperialism's abuses. There are interesting ideas, compelling characters, and a world with history, but it's all chaff for the machinery of whatever may happen in the sequels. If the ends justify the means, how is one to determine whether to keep reading this series? I suspect fans of economics and war will love her better than I could.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Lesbophobia, Homophobia, and Colonisation

Moderate: War, Violence, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Sexism, Racism, Misogyny, Hate crime, Ableism, Sexual harassment, Murder, Classism, and Child abuse

Minor: Torture, Blood, and Fire/Fire injury

Eugenics

searobin's review against another edition

2.5

The book itself was ok, aside from the plot...

I did not love the queer indigenous woman suppresses her sexuality and aids the colonisers to fully colonise another nation in order to somehow maybe save her own nation eventually story line

I got a bit lost in all the dukes and dutcheses and territories, so some moments were probably less poignant than they were supposed to be, but I got the gist.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Animal death, Sexual violence, Animal cruelty, Blood, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Lesbophobia, Medical trauma, Murder, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Vomit, War, and Xenophobia

sarah984's review against another edition

adventurous dark sad medium-paced

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

4.0

I was a little skeptical about this book because I keep seeing it recommended alongside other books I didn't like very much, and the 'take an empire down from the inside' storyline can often be kind of cheesy. I'm glad I gave the book a chance (even though it hurt me severely) - this was a tragic story with fascinating characters that never lets you forget for a second the cost of empire. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, War, Death, Homophobia, and Racism

Moderate: Child abuse, Confinement, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Misogyny, Murder, Outing, Forced institutionalization, Genocide, Police brutality, Religious bigotry, Torture, Xenophobia, Animal death, Grief, and Violence

Minor: Drug use, Vomit, Child death, Pedophilia, Ableism, Addiction, Cannibalism, Fire/Fire injury, Self harm, Slavery, and Suicidal thoughts

peachprince's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Homophobia, Racism, War, Death, Lesbophobia, Murder, Violence, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Sexism, Torture, Forced institutionalization, Misogyny, and Death of parent

Minor: Alcoholism, Sexual violence, and Suicidal thoughts

Eugenics, genital mutilation