Reviews tagging 'Sexual content'

City of Thieves by David Benioff

8 reviews

buer's review

adventurous dark reflective tense fast-paced

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

2.0

Aside from the fact that Benioff is incapable of writing a female character who isn't leered at (which was a huge turnoff for me: this is not a book that welcomes readers who aren't horny boys/men), I initially thought this was a really lovely story. Its structure is elegant, it has a satisfying arc and conclusion, and it is peppered with visceral moments. Many of the events are absurd, but - especially when prefaced with the old "truth is stranger than fiction" adage - they are believable.

Of course a military leader would spare two condemned men's lives in exchange for a personal favor, of course that same leader hedged his bets and wound up with an unfair surplus of extravagant food while his countrymen starved around him, of course friendly fire kills one of our leads. Of course of course of course.

I did a little digging after reading and realized that the forward - which explicitly says that the book is based on actual events - is fiction. I have always loved stories that play with the line between truth and fiction. I am a strong believer that fictional stories can sometimes do a better job of getting at the truth of a historical event than a recitation of facts. But this preface strikes me as dishonest. It uses the "truth is stranger than fiction" adage as its excuse to tell an oftentimes unbelievable fictional story. 

My TLDNR is this: Making a horny war story is a weird fucking choice. Especially when it's not grounded in the truth you promise your readers.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, War, Sexual content, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Trafficking and Antisemitism

Minor: Rape

gailbird's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative medium-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Violence, Death, War, Cannibalism, and Animal death

Moderate: Antisemitism, Classism, Cursing, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Death, Homophobia, Gore, and Sexual content

Minor: Excrement, Religious bigotry, Alcohol, and Xenophobia

kgoody's review against another edition

adventurous sad medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Rape, Animal death, War, Torture, Murder, Cannibalism, Blood, Suicide, Sexual content, Child death, and Racism

booksandmo's review against another edition

adventurous dark sad medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Racism, Physical abuse, Violence, War, Religious bigotry, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Cannibalism, Gore, Hate crime, Xenophobia, and Antisemitism

Moderate: Animal death, Confinement, Child death, Sexual content, Genocide, Animal cruelty, Grief, Kidnapping, and Medical trauma

zoiejanelle's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny informative sad tense 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? No

4.0

FUCK david benioff for writing this sad-ass book that made me bawl my eyes out.

last minute plot twist causing major character death

is a SHITTY trope. overall, the writing and the story were great. i genuinely loved it, but i'll never read it again. too tragic, too homoerotic (queer bait), too good to live again. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Gore, War, and Gun violence

Moderate: Alcohol, Classism, Addiction, Animal death, Blood, Grief, Police brutality, Sexual content, Child death, Death, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder

kayleaman's review

adventurous dark funny hopeful tense fast-paced

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

3.0

so to start out, this book is insanely horny. i get that the story centers 2 young men but it got to the point where it felt like every chapter would have a mention of sex/jerking off/naked women/etc. go to be pretty annoying. vika shows up and they probably talk more about wanting to know if she has boobs or is flat chested more than they talk about anything else to do with her. other than that i enjoyed the story. even though it was dark and the setting is grim, the writer brought a sort of light heartedness that was needed. having an optimistic character like kolya to be the opposite of the pessimistic lev was a good idea. there almost needed to be a suspension of disbelief that these two could go on this crazy mission with barely a scratch. that’s why the end to me felt very lazy. like a cheap grab for emotion right at the end. would have been a more interesting and consistent story if the author didn’t make that choice. i’m sure there’s some sort of convoluted metaphor there that i don’t really feel like taking the time to figure out. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Sexual assault, and Sexual content

Moderate: Cannibalism

jonicash's review

fast-paced

• Diverse cast of characters? No

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cannibalism, Murder, Antisemitism, War, and Torture

Moderate: Sexual content, Sexual violence, and Gore

Minor: Alcohol, Excrement, and Grief

foggie's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative fast-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Xenophobia, Genocide, Cursing, and Antisemitism

Moderate: Cannibalism, Murder, Violence, Animal death, Sexual content, Gun violence, Death, and Blood

Minor: Rape, Homophobia, and Excrement