Reviews tagging 'Self harm'

Jenž utopil svět by Shelley Parker-Chan

247 reviews

tbd24's review against another edition

5.0

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: Yes

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gay wrongs. what’s not to love

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Death, Gore, Homophobia, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, War

Minor: Emotional abuse, Rape, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Pregnancy, Outing, Injury/Injury detail

nightmarebees's review against another edition

4.5

slow-paced

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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twists and turns! intrigue! gender! betrayal! gay sex! i loved the addition of more perspectives, particularly madame zhang’s. i don’t usually love military-heavy fantasy and this kept me hooked. 

the only things keeping this from a full 5 for me are:
1) ma is my favorite and she got less page time here
2) some big character deaths felt anticlimactic

this duology whips ass. gonna be thinking about it for a while 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Dysphoria

Moderate: Homophobia

madscientistcat's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous dark emotional 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: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Homophobia, Misogyny, Rape, Self harm, Violence, Grief, Murder, War, Injury/Injury detail

anglerfishinariver's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous dark emotional hopeful reflective sad 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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This is the first book that has ever really managed to change my perspective on something. I always love revenge plots and power trips where people don't regret anything, and get annoyed when they realize they didn't gain anything, but did book did it beautifully. He Who Drowned The World is a book about power, fate, love, regret, revenge, misogyny, homophobia, transphobia, corruption, pain, and so much more. 
I loved the scheming and strategizing from different perspectives, and how much effort was put into writing out the battles and their significance, even though I thought the battle against Chen was goofy. 
Regardless, the book's real strengths were the characters and the relationships between them. I have never ever read a book that explored characters' personality in so much detail and with so much care. It was a truly incredible experience, and I felt and suffered for every character, no matter how evil they were. And they were all completely different people, they felt raw and real. None of them were perfect, but I loved them with all my heart. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Rape, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts

30something_reads's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful sad 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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Hey, umm how dare you, Shelley Parker-Chan??

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Child death, Death, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Grief, Murder, War, Injury/Injury detail

saltyseakitten's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring reflective sad 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: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Outing, Abandonment, Dysphoria, War, Injury/Injury detail

hanz's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous dark medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, War, Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Homophobia, Slavery, Pregnancy

tayrod4594's review against another edition

4.0

dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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This is beautifully written, but I'll be honest - the sheer emotional and physical torture each character faces is very difficult to wade through. I still love the way gender dynamics are put into play here, but the constant weaponization of and disgust toward feminity started to feel very heavy-handed by the end. There was still satisfaction to ve found, however, in the well-charted character arcs that feel both earned and complete by the novel's finish. I don't think I'll reread it, but I'm very glad I read it once. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Grief, Murder, Pregnancy, Injury/Injury detail

leonoor's review against another edition

4.75

challenging dark emotional mysterious 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 loved the first book of this series, so I expected to love the sequel as well. And I did, but it wasn't what I expected. Like the first book, he who drowned the world is a historical war novel, but the plot is much more violent. There are graphic descriptions of murder, rape, cruelty, and (self-)mutilation. It's a story full of betrayal, pain, hate and anger. We don't see as much of the loveable characters in this book. We are confronted with self-destructive hate, and most characters in this book do unspeakable things to achieve their goals. Yet Shelley Parker-Chan has written about it in such a beautiful, elegant and vulnerable way, that I found myself feeling empathy for these characters. 

I debated giving this book 5 stars, since I found it very well-written and intruiging, but I decided on a 4.75 only because the pace of the beginning and middle part of the book is a bit slow. This, combined with the fact that some chapters are very dark and heavy to read, made me put the book away quite often. However, I always enjoyed returning to this beautifully intricate world the author has described. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, War

Moderate: Body shaming, Transphobia

bitofadisgrace's review against another edition

5.0

dark 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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Phenomenal historical fiction that manages to portray characters that are achingly real and complicated. The author manages to pack in tons of historical and cultural information that add to the story instead of distracting or boring the reader, and adds magic and ghosts without making this very serious story silly.

Apart from that, the author's explorations of gender, family betrayal, revenge, and hunger for power were unique and very moving. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Self harm