Reviews tagging 'Incest'

Island Queen by Vanessa Riley

9 reviews

whatcassiedid's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring 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

4.0

An in depth look at the life of an incredible woman, I really enjoyed this. Riley does a great job of showing the horrors of slavery without getting too into the gory details, which I appreciated. I did have a bit of trouble keeping Dorothy's kids straight as the book went on, but that didn't affect my enjoyment

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Colonisation, Incest, Racism, Rape, and Slavery

tahsintries's review against another edition

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Incest, Rape, Racial slurs, Sexual assault, Sexism, Racism, Misogyny, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Child death, Classism, Grief, Pregnancy, Adult/minor relationship, Colonisation, Genocide, Hate crime, Religious bigotry, Toxic relationship, Death, Torture, and Mental illness

Minor: Infidelity and Infertility

liaandersson's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective tense slow-paced

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Misogyny, Racism, Rape, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Adult/minor relationship, Gore, Incest, Infertility, Kidnapping, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Child death, Colonisation, Mental illness, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Slavery, and Trafficking

stuff4bd's review

challenging slow-paced

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

2.0

After reading the book I still have no better understanding of who Dotty was as a person or why she did the things she did the way she did. The plot was like pins on timeline of major life points with no real explanation or understanding of the day to day. What I did learn of her made her seem unlikable, selfish, and hypocritical. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape

Moderate: War, Child abuse, Pregnancy, Infidelity, Incest, Slavery, and Child death

amerikanerin's review

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring sad slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Slavery, Trafficking, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Racism, Racial slurs, Pregnancy, Physical abuse, Mental illness, Incest, Colonisation, Alcohol, and Abortion

hayy6747's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Death, Sexual violence, Incest, Slavery, Violence, and Rape

Minor: Adult/minor relationship

amandas_bookshelf's review

adventurous emotional informative reflective slow-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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Racial slurs, Rape, Incest, Child death, Colonisation, Misogyny, Slavery, and Sexism

Moderate: Antisemitism

brynngaybee's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative inspiring reflective slow-paced

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

3.5

I think this book could be great for some people. Its subject matter fills a great niche for true success stories of black women. I certainly don't mean to knock the book, I appreciate its goal and I'm certain many readers would enjoy it a lot. I however didn't like reading it. Overall the book really drags and should have been trimmed down a little bit. Much of the plot focuses on Dolly's relationship with various men in her life and this got old quickly as her interactions felt very repetitive and dull. It often felt like I was reading a really boring romance novel. A lot of focus was given to the men around Dolly, but I was in the book for Dolly herself. Vital events, like deaths, seemed to pop up and happen very suddenly, these could have used more exposition. I wish more time had been devoted to how she actually built her empire as I feel I didn't quite understand how it all happened. I appreciated her relationship with her family and how her relationship with slavery was portrayed a lot. It was technically well written and many parts were even compelling, but overall it felt repetitive and boring. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Emotional abuse, Grief, Incest, and Murder

Minor: Alcohol, Antisemitism, Colonisation, and Death

patches's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative sad slow-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

4.0

One thing I love about reading is that it enables you to live other lives, see the world through the eyes of someone else. This book is such a great example of that.

I think one of the best signs that a historical book is good is if you finish it with a better understanding of the world than when you started it. Before reading this book, I knew nothing about Dorothy Kirwan Thomas, but I'm glad that Riley's book was able to bring her story to life and bring attention to her story. This book follows through all of Dolly's life, and it honestly makes you feel that you've seen and lived alongside her. 

This book is well written and heartbreaking. Dorothy was such a strong and intelligent woman, unfortunately her life was filled with a lot of pain in many forms. She did everything she could to make sure her children and grandchildren could live happier and easier lives than she did. 

I highly recommend this book. I'm not usually the biggest fan of historical books because they are usually very dry and boring, but this book comes alive and tells Dorothy's story in a bright and engaging way. You aren't simply reading history, you're experiencing it through Dolly's eyes. 

Do be aware, this book does contain mentions of sensitive topics such as incest and rape. 

Overall, this book is solidly between 4 and 5 stars. Unfortunately, the copy I read was missing pages (503-518), but even with a portion of the story missing, it was a fantastic book.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Grief, Incest, Misogyny, Rape, and Slavery

Minor: Infertility and Suicidal thoughts