Reviews tagging 'Xenophobia'

City of Thieves by David Benioff

8 reviews

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

stephe's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny sad fast-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

2.5

This book is part of that tired, old genre, “Oh, You Thought WWII was Bad? You Have NO Idea.” Yes, truly horrifying, awful things happened in WWII, but here they’re played for shock more than anything else, as if cannibalism and torture and rape were less tragedy and injustice and more spectacle and opportunities for shallow, serendipitous “heroism.” Not to mention, the prologue frames the book as a fictionalization of events in the life of the author’s grandfather, which one must actually google to find out is it’s own fiction. In short, a fairly self-focused and self-exultant perspective.

I will say, the story was plotted and paced well, even gripping in spite of the exploitative use of fictionalized historical pain and tragedy. And I loved the absurdity of a mission to find a dozen eggs. But the main characters felt flat, as did my feelings toward them; it was hard to care one way or another about their success. And such a non-empathic depiction of human suffering, especially with regard to historical events, was off-putting.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Rape, Violence, Murder, Sexual violence, Animal death, Cannibalism, Death, Misogyny, War, Racial slurs, Xenophobia, and Cursing

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

mandi_lea's review

adventurous dark medium-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? No

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Torture, War, Violence, Death, Gore, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Antisemitism, Confinement, Cursing, Sexual assault, Xenophobia, Blood, Genocide, Sexual violence, Pedophilia, Rape, and Animal death

Minor: Alcohol, Death of parent, Cannibalism, and Excrement

kinahgrace's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Rape, Xenophobia, Racism, Racial slurs, and Genocide

vdavy001's review against another edition

medium-paced

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

5.0

It was just the right amount of everything. It never put its eggs in one basket.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder

Moderate: Xenophobia, War, Violence, Racism, and Blood

michelareadsbooks's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Gun violence, Blood, Death, Torture, Violence, Murder, Sexual assault, Animal death, and Cannibalism

Moderate: Misogyny, Antisemitism, Racism, Rape, and Xenophobia

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