Reviews tagging 'Racism'

A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray

10 reviews

mar1ska's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious slow-paced

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

4.0

It really intrigued me when I was 11 but I felt too young to really understand it, nonetheless it has been on my mind for years and I'm happy I found the title (thanks reddit)!

Reading up on this story and looking back on it, Fidelity definitely must've had a part in my gay awakening. Little me in her sheltered Christian family was crying and reading this book in secret...

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Death of parent, and Self harm

Moderate: Classism and Racism

bzliz's review against another edition

challenging mysterious reflective slow-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

3.75

Although this is categorized as YA, I don’t think I could have endured or enjoyed it as a young adult. I picked it up because I remember the cover from when I was younger but I don’t recall ever reading it. Even after finishing, I can’t be sure if I read it and forgot or if the cover is just burned in my brain for some reason. 

Gemma Doyle leads a group of sheltered girls into a world of magic that she herself doesn’t understand and has only just begun to experience. The group discovers the past tragedy of a group before them called the Order whose desire for power had deadly consequences and tread the fine line of falling into that same tragedy. 

Portions drag on a little and to enjoy this you need to endure the historical trappings of misogyny and racism, plus the performative propriety and customs of the time. The magic system explored is less of a system encountered in many fantasy novels and is more like a nebulous innate ability that no one can explain and at times it left me outright confused. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death

Moderate: Death, Death of parent, and Suicide

Minor: Racism, Self harm, Vomit, and Sexism

madisone's review

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

Though this book was written in 2003 (a sometimes rough period for Y. A. books featuring a female protagonist), it was quite enjoyable in 2022. The best way to describe this book is a gothic fantasy that takes place in the Victorian era. It was a slow pace at the beginning, but as you get more into the intricacies of the plot, it gets much quicker. The characters were complex and intriguing because of their flaws and opinions. This book covers topics such as the restrictions put upon women (especially in the Victorian era), female relationships, and forgiveness with just a touch of a mystery. While I would have liked to see more into different characters family life, I realize this is only the first in a series. Would recommend this book, but there are a few trigger warnings you should look up.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Death of parent, and Suicide

Moderate: Child death, Racism, Fire/Fire injury, Suicidal thoughts, and Body shaming

Minor: Sexual content, Infidelity, and Adult/minor relationship

haleymaxinee's review

adventurous dark mysterious slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Animal cruelty, Self harm, Murder, and Death of parent

Moderate: Sexism, Bullying, Body shaming, Classism, Fatphobia, Fire/Fire injury, Lesbophobia, Racism, and Toxic friendship

zombiezami's review against another edition

dark emotional funny mysterious medium-paced

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

3.75

I first read this book when I was a teenager, and I rated it 5 stars at that time. I value the book for what it gave to me at the time, feeling seen for having experiences like wondering who I truly am and wondering who would ever understand me. Plus, there's fulfillment of the teenage girl urge to have a magical world where you're all powerful for good measure. This book is, in a lot of ways, an aged up spiritual successor to The Secret Garden. 

Reading this as an adult, there are parts that I'm not so enamored with, hence the lower rating. The friendship between the main characters strikes me as much more toxic than it did when I was a teenager, especially since Pippa and Felicity never apologize for tormenting Ann. I also find it hard to root for Kartik to be with Gemma, since Gemma keeps implying threats that she will get him arrested, which, at that time period, would basically be a death threat. That being said, I still really like Ms. Moore as a character. 

I look forward to my re-read of the rest of the series. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Animal death, Blood, Bullying, Child death, Classism, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Self harm, Suicide, and Sexism

Moderate: Addiction, Body horror, Body shaming, Chronic illness, Fatphobia, Gaslighting, Lesbophobia, Racism, Sexual harassment, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Colonisation, Fire/Fire injury, Infidelity, and Sexual content

Neglect, Antiziganism, Seizures

atrkula's review

mysterious tense fast-paced

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

2.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Chronic illness, Cultural appropriation, Lesbophobia, Racism, Self harm, Suicide, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Bullying, Cultural appropriation, Death of parent, and Death

caryndi's review

1.0

I remember loving these books as a child but it turns out, thinking back, they are super racist, which is a bummer.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism and Racial slurs

erythrai's review

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Racial slurs, Racism, Body shaming, and Bullying

celery's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Emotional abuse, Violence, Addiction, Chronic illness, Racism, Self harm, Vomit, Fatphobia, Murder, Sexism, Stalking, Child death, Fire/Fire injury, Blood, Death, Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Body shaming, Classism, Death of parent, Alcoholism, Animal death, Ableism, Alcohol, Grief, and Misogyny

ravensandlace's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

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

3.0

Find this review and others like it at https://aravenclawlibraryx.wordpress.com

This is a pre goodreads/storygraph era book. I read this book when I was in high school. Back then, I devoured books like it was my job. I was in my school library just about every other day to get books. I think the librarian had to order more books just so I had something to read. Oh, those were the days. Now I’m lucky if I can finish a book in a week. Anyway, I remember this book being so cool and the concept of travelling to a different world where you could have everything you ever wanted was the epitome of awesome. So I thought I would reread this book and see if I still loved it. It had such fond feelings for me.

Spoiler alert: I did not love the book like I did when I was in high school. I think as I have gotten older, my taste in books have changed. One of my biggest problems was Gemma, the MC. My god, she was a giant brat. While I understand that this book takes place in the late 1800s and times were different, Gemma could still be a bit more nicer. She was just a brat. She treated her family like crap. She treated her friends like crap. She was selfish and did things only for herself. Felicity and Pippa were honestly no better. They were mean to each other and to others. They acted like they were better than everyone. It really put me off from enjoying the book at all. Anne was the only decent character but she was so two dimensional. She was bullied by everyone and nobody did anything about it. 

The whole book just seemed to be about how Gemma is mourning her mom and being a brat. The cool magic concept was overshadowed by Gemma and her poor decisions. I understand that she was in shock losing her mom in such a tragic way but there were ways to grieve and not constantly put yourself at risk. I am really unsure if I’m going to continue with the trilogy because I can’t remember if Gemma gets any better. Shame because this had the promise to be really good. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Blood, Bullying, Death, Emotional abuse, Grief, Islamophobia, Misogyny, Racism, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Xenophobia