Reviews tagging 'Cultural appropriation'

A Master of Djinn by P. Djèlí Clark

32 reviews

novella42's review

adventurous dark hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

This book was beautiful, the worldbuilding was excellent, the characters were multi-dimensional, their problems and responses were believable, and Clark explored social issues with nuance. I loved so much of this book!

The story began a little slow for me because I'm not into mysteries, but by the second half I was having a hard time putting it down as the pacing built more and more. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Racism, Gore, Slavery, Racial slurs, Police brutality, Violence, War, Self harm, Gun violence, Murder, Colonisation, Cultural appropriation, Classism, Addiction, Xenophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Animal death, Misogyny, Sexism, Blood, Body horror, and Confinement

Moderate: Religious bigotry, Homophobia, War, Death of parent, Islamophobia, Hate crime, and Stalking

Minor: Kidnapping, Sexual content, Grief, Alcohol, and Death of parent

jpremmel's review

adventurous dark funny lighthearted mysterious 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Cultural appropriation, Gore, Racism, Self harm, Body horror, and Colonisation

Minor: Slavery

crystalisreading's review

adventurous slow-paced

• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.5

#23for23

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Racism, Slavery, Violence, Classism, Cultural appropriation, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Sexism, Murder, and Islamophobia

Minor: Homophobia, Religious bigotry, Colonisation, and Lesbophobia

avacadosocks's review

adventurous funny mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood, Body horror, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Colonisation, Cultural appropriation, Murder, and Racism

Minor: Slavery

ninjamuse's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious medium-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? No

3.5

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Content Warnings

Minor: Racism and Cultural appropriation

kseret's review

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, Classism, Cultural appropriation, Hate crime, Misogyny, and Racism

anni_swanilda's review

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful informative mysterious 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Gun violence, Cultural appropriation, Death, Body horror, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Racial slurs, Fire/Fire injury, Racism, Violence, Xenophobia, and Gore

Moderate: Classism, Blood, Slavery, Police brutality, and Colonisation

Minor: Addiction and Alcohol

ha1yan's review against another edition

adventurous 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

5.0

Such a fun listen on audiobook! Suehyla El-Attar was a delightful narrator and I loved hearing their improvement throughout the book! Super fun characters and worldbuilding with many moments that had me on the edge of my seat. Some plot moments/reveals could have had more buildup. Also, I could deduce certain parts of the mystery long before the characters themselves which confused me a bit.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Racism, Self harm, Violence, Murder, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Police brutality, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Vomit, Religious bigotry, Cultural appropriation, Colonisation, Racial slurs, and Sexism

discarded_dust_jacket's review

adventurous funny mysterious medium-paced

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

2.75

I thought this book was very well thought-out. The world that Clark has built is incredibly unique and impressive. The characters are equally dynamic.

I struggled with it perhaps for the same reason that I struggled with The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida: mysteries (especially murder/crime mysteries) that deal too much with politics tend to lose my attention easily.

So the case here is once again not that the book was bad, but more that it was for me.

I also found the “twist” to be too easily predictable. Clark pulled a Big Hero 6 here by setting up a character the reader is obviously meant to be suspicious of from the start as the logical villain, except it was too obvious and too perfect, making it easy to spot as a diversion from a mile away. 

I kind of hoped that I wasn’t right about Abigail and that Clark was going to truly surprise me, but ended up disappointed.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Slavery, Misogyny, Racism, Murder, Cultural appropriation, and Fire/Fire injury

talonsontypewriters's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Injury/Injury detail, Fire/Fire injury, and Violence

Moderate: Sexism, Gun violence, Classism, Racism, Self harm, Death of parent, Police brutality, Religious bigotry, Colonisation, Murder, War, Xenophobia, Slavery, Body horror, Misogyny, and Gore

Minor: Alcohol, Sexual content, Stalking, Cultural appropriation, Addiction, Pedophilia, Kidnapping, and Racial slurs

Suffocation/strangulation. Smoking. Mind control/alteration, mild unreality.