Reviews tagging 'Religious bigotry'

The Evening and the Morning by Ken Follett

11 reviews

oberynmelonlord's review

dark emotional hopeful sad slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Pedophilia, Infidelity, Classism, Death, Rape, Violence, War, Slavery, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Sexism, Religious bigotry, Misogyny, Kidnapping, and Adult/minor relationship

eatingfiction's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense medium-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? Yes

3.25

Another great start to my reading year with another great Ken Follett historical epic. As always, his writing is immerserve and detailed. I was transported to the dark ages and invested in the tumultuous lives of our vast cast of characters. Follett really has a way of making you despise his villains and rooting for his heroes.

Unfortunately though, at this point I've read the following three Kingsbridge novels and they begin to feel formulaic. I doubt any of them will ever reach the heights of Pillars of The Earth (and maybe that was because it was the first one). I didn't connect with the characters as much in this one, and the plot was aimless at times. But i enjoyed the nitty gritty of everyday medieval life and the politics. This remains a great read, especially for the beach where this 900 page tome only took me 3 days to consume instead of 3 weeks! 

Looking forward to reading Armour of Light next summer. 😅

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Child death, Slavery, Murder, Rape, Religious bigotry, and Sexual violence

goldenlake's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Sexual harassment, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, Abandonment, Addiction, Murder, Alcohol, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Slavery, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Religious bigotry, Racial slurs, Stalking, Terminal illness, Mental illness, Bullying, Alcoholism, Violence, Sexism, Infidelity, Misogyny, Gore, Chronic illness, Sexual assault, Dementia, Grief, Forced institutionalization, Physical abuse, Blood, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Animal death, Animal cruelty, Xenophobia, Vomit, Trafficking, War, Pregnancy, and Confinement

Minor: Colonisation, Genocide, Excrement, Fire/Fire injury, Infertility, and Cursing

laurareadsbig's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Emotional abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Religious bigotry, Physical abuse, Misogyny, Death, Sexual assault, Injury/Injury detail, Child death, Kidnapping, Domestic abuse, Murder, Gore, Pregnancy, and Confinement

stinekristin's review against another edition

adventurous fast-paced

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Slavery, Death, Murder, Violence, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, Domestic abuse, and Religious bigotry

ahinks's review

adventurous dark funny informative sad 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Rape, Torture, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, and Violence

Moderate: Grief, Gaslighting, Death, Adult/minor relationship, War, Trafficking, and Incest

sirius_feanor's review

2.75

It was rather a captivating story. But the amount of rape and misogyny in it was almost off putting. I understand it was for "historical accuracy" or whatever, but still yikes. 

The sex scenes are one of the worst I've ever read! And most of them are told from a female point of view. They are so obviously written by a male it's just ridiculous. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Slavery, Child death, Death of parent, Infidelity, Misogyny, Emotional abuse, Rape, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, Murder, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Pedophilia, Torture, Chronic illness, and Grief

vibrantautumn's review

emotional hopeful slow-paced

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

3.0

I enjoyed the other books in this series, and this book was no exception, and no different. At all. The characters and plot were the same as in previous books. Nevertheless, I was hooked halfway through. I had hoped that this book wouldn’t feature women being raped, but of course that was there just like everything else.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Slavery, Confinement, Sexual violence, Child death, Violence, and Sexism

Moderate: Infidelity, Grief, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Terminal illness, and Pregnancy

Minor: Sexual harassment, Pedophilia, War, Infertility, Suicidal thoughts, Death of parent, and Religious bigotry

morgiah's review against another edition

adventurous informative relaxing slow-paced

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

3.0

i feel very conflicted about this book.

it only took me about a fifth of the way in to realize follett was a gross perv who needs to take classes on how to write women and queer people. his writing was insensitive, vulgar, and uncomfortable. many passages made me cringe, especially the bit in the middle where ragna basically described an oedipus complex between gytha and wilwulf, and recalled the same behavior in her mother and brother and assumed it was normal. freudian bullshit was certainly not needed at all.

having a woman forced to marry her rapist was also unnecessary. there were many other plot points and conflict that could have been included in place of this. 

nevertheless, i did find myself enjoying everything else surrounding the story. it was well written for the most part, and excluding any talks of appearances or sex, ragna was a riveting character with good amounts of development. i fell in love with her just as quickly as edgar. 

the time period this is set in is rare for historical fiction, which also inclined me to let myself enjoy it despite my criticisms. i haven’t decided whether or not i’ll continue to read the pillars of eternity, aka whether or not i’ll be able to put up with more unnecessary descriptions of a woman’s breasts at random intervals. we’ll see. i think this book is worth reading if you also enjoy this historical time period and are able to separate parts of a book you criticize with parts of a book you enjoy.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Slavery, Kidnapping, Confinement, and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Religious bigotry, Murder, and Misogyny

Minor: Death of parent

crystalmethany's review

emotional

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Violence, Slavery, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Sexism, Religious bigotry, Misogyny, Kidnapping, Infidelity, and Murder

Moderate: Body shaming, Alcoholism, Adult/minor relationship, Confinement, Trafficking, Rape, Pregnancy, Terminal illness, and Pedophilia

Minor: Infertility and Grief