Reviews tagging 'Rape'

Perdido Street Station by China Miéville

36 reviews

themysteriouserk's review against another edition

challenging dark funny mysterious reflective 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

3.75

While I did find some pacing issues, I loved the story world (a blend of classic fantasy tropes with totally new ideas and references to mythologies not often represented in fantasy, at least in English) and found the characters intriguing.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, and Violence

Minor: Drug use and Rape

A rape ends up being important to the main plot, but happens “off-screen,” isn’t described in detail, and is responded to by the characters with knowledge of it. There’s a fairly extensive section where a major character is held prisoner by a crime boss and tortured, but the fantasy setting makes it a bit less real and hard-hitting than similar subject matter in other books and some of the most harmful tropes associated with that kind of situation are either avoided or subverted.

ajcorn's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark funny mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.0

This is an incredible book. It is challenging, hard to read and confusing, as is often the case with Miéville's novels, but as is also always true, it is made up of incredibly detailed worldbuilding that vividly evokes the world of Bas-Lag. From the geography, to the magic ('thaumaturgy'), to the political powers and revolutions building in the background, to the demons and monstrous creatures, nothing is overlooked. Miéville is truly a genius of worldbuilding. Despite taking me months to read the whole book, I was invested in the plot and the characters. I recommend this book if you're looking for a challenging and weird novel. The books in the series are standalones within the same world, so it is also easy to treat Perdido Street Station as a one-off.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror

Minor: Rape

feebles640's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror and Violence

Minor: Rape and Sexual violence

gay333's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

Minor: Rape

monsteraadansonii's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious sad slow-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Gore

Moderate: Rape, Trafficking, Sexual assault, Torture, Police brutality, and Drug use

noel_b's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

If I had to describe this book in one word, it would be "weird". The world is constantly surprising you with new and weirder elements and I was just so intrigued by it all.

The writing style is on the literary side and the prose does draw attention to itself. It stops to describe the scenery or certain areas of the city every once in a while, and the author is not shy about using "challenging" or "big" words (to give you an idea, the word "palimpsest" shows up weirdly often). I thoroughly enjoyed it, but if you are looking for straightforward prose that keeps the plot moving nonstop, this may not be for you.

 I would say that this book is more about the journey (the weird, weird journey) than the destination. Personally, I loved it, but if you want a fast paced, tightly written mystery/thriller, you may want to look elsewhere. 

The pacing is not particularly fast, mostly because the book takes the time to explore different neighborhoods and aspects of life in that city. Everything is in service of investigating the main mystery or following a side plot, but we do spend a lot of time discovering new bizarre elements of this world.

if nothing else, the city of New Crobuzon is constantly surprising. Sometimes wonderful, many times grotesque. Always surprising

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Death, Drug use, Excrement, Mental illness, Rape, and Sexual assault