Reviews tagging 'Cannibalism'

Golden Son by Pierce Brown

10 reviews

gandalf_a's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional inspiring mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Vomit, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Slavery, Physical abuse, Violence, Death, and Classism

Moderate: Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Gun violence, Cursing, and Grief

Minor: Cannibalism, Genocide, Sexual content, Alcohol, Excrement, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, Child death, Trafficking, Death of parent, Medical content, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Rape

haley49's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

4.75

…I’m traumatized with that ending. What

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, War, Sexual violence, Death, Murder, Child death, Cursing, and Violence

Moderate: Slavery, Colonisation, Trafficking, Blood, Body horror, Vomit, Child abuse, Genocide, Torture, Classism, Excrement, Injury/Injury detail, and Physical abuse

Minor: Cannibalism and Rape

paguroidea's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional fast-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

4.0

Loving how this is unfolding into a space epic! There’s definitely an improvement with the prose and storytelling. Wasn’t expecting some of the twists in the story and I have such a soft spot for Sevro, he’s great comedic relief and the kind or ride or die everyone needs.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War and Violence

Moderate: Slavery

Minor: Rape and Cannibalism

theintrovertsbooks's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Classism, Cursing, Death, Murder, Toxic friendship, Body horror, Death of parent, Gore, Mass/school shootings, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Bullying, Physical abuse, Torture, Child death, Classism, Grief, Medical content, Rape, Sexual content, Slavery, Abandonment, and Kidnapping

Minor: Sexism, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Trafficking, War, Pregnancy, Sexual content, Rape, Hate crime, Mental illness, Cannibalism, Colonisation, Excrement, and Genocide

fierymoon's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

4.75

my jaw is on the ground

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, War, and Violence

Moderate: Slavery, Torture, and Blood

Minor: Sexual content and Cannibalism

nytephoenyx's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense fast-paced

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

5.0

Golden Son is like watching a car crash in slow motion and I am absolutely here for it. It was tense, it was exciting, it was emotional, it was stressful…. Gah! Looking forward to book three.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic friendship, Violence, Blood, Death, Injury/Injury detail, and War

Moderate: Kidnapping

Minor: Cannibalism

josiah17's review

dark emotional sad tense fast-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

Pierce Brown...what a ride. I'm really starting to enjoy the first person perspective because of how well Brown writes in Darrow's voice. Something about the prose, which I find to be super consice yet insanely profound, just makes this narrative so digestible.

This book just an insane step up from the first book, which was already a solid entry. Brown just took more time with the right scenes and so much happened. My only critique is the action sometimes feels lacking in setting description, but that's minor and does not hinder the reading experience for Golden Son whatsoever. Best read so far this year.

Edit 11/25/23: Bumping down to a 4.5 I think. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Blood, and Gore

Moderate: Sexual content

Minor: Cannibalism

nicoledelairs's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense fast-paced

• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

*Listened to the Audiobook narrated by Tim Gerard Reynolds*

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Classism, Death, Injury/Injury detail, and Gore

Moderate: Torture, Child death, and Death of parent

Minor: Drug use, Misogyny, Cannibalism, and Toxic friendship

heyjaycee's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark tense fast-paced

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

3.5

A couple of years after the events of Red Rising, Darrow is embedded deep in his campaign to infiltrate Gold society and rise to the top so he can destroy it from within. Out of the Academy, there's bigger and badder foes to deal with, and consequences are more dire. Darrow must navigate politics and war to come out of the turmoil in a position of ultimate power if he's to turn the Golds against themselves, fracture society, and liberate the lowColours. 

I mean, wow. Golden Son went hard. If I thought Red Rising was brutal, then damn, my eyes have been opened. Golden Son is the story of Darrow figuring out how to trust anyone when he's living a deadly lie, and how important trust in his Gold fellows is when he's putting his life on the line in the gambit of civil war. 

Is this too vague? I honestly don't know how to talk about this book, and not just because everything is such a spoiler. So. Much. Happens! Twists and turns all over the place. Absolutely gripping, and very dark.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Death, Murder, Body horror, Bullying, and Gore

Moderate: Sexism and Misogyny

Minor: Cannibalism and Torture

Even more brutal than the first book.

okays1331's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny tense fast-paced

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

5.0

I do not know how to explain this book. I repeatedly had to walk away to process the magnitude of what was happening. But then run back because I HAD to know what was going to happen next. I don't know when Darrow, Sevro, and the rest of the Howlers stole my heart, but I love them so much. Their charisma, their horribleness, their desperation to be something better, and their love for each other.

The space battles, the war, the strategy, the politics are all so well written and nail biting. The author does not pull punches. Brown has no problem murdering anyone on the pages making the battles so much more terrifying to read. There are parts where I honestly thought we were going to get a new main character. Still unsure if that might not be the case...

But my favorite part and the part that is so unexpected to me every time is the poignancy of moments where the author takes apart the characters. What is good? What is an acceptable cost? What is redemption? These books are a mirror held up to us to see ourselves and humanity. Some of my favorite moments are moments where Darrow is talking to his friends or his enemies about themselves and the society.

The ending! I am so upset.

Darrow makes a choice in this book to put his trust into the people he cares about gambling that that trust can change people and make them more than they are. It works. It's so beautiful when Sevro embraces him as a Red and as a brother or when Tactus turns back to him in tears when given a second chance or Ragnar chooses his own destiny instead of a life of slavery. Brown sets it up, so I sit in dread every time Darrow chooses to act like a human instead of Gold. But it works again and again and again until I started to truly believe that because of who Darrow is, he can get through to each of them and build a trust so unshakable it can withstand anything. Even when Mustang runs away from his reveal of the truth, I still believed she would come around.

Then Roque betrays him, kills their friends, and tells him they are not brothers because Darrow is a Red. My heart shattered into tiny tiny pieces. 

 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Cursing, Death, Murder, Slavery, and Violence

Moderate: Genocide, Racism, and Torture

Minor: Cannibalism and Sexual content