Reviews tagging 'Torture'

Woven in Moonlight by Isabel Ibañez

16 reviews

annamay1021's review against another edition

adventurous challenging tense 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? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Death, Violence, Torture, and Confinement

saskiajva's review

adventurous 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

3.75

Overall I really enjoyed this book and am excited to read the next one. Much of the plot did feature predictable tropes and story arcs, and I think there were only one or two unsuspected twists in the book for me. However the culture and world the author builds is fun and interesting. I read the majority of the book in one day, and even though i guessed what was coming I still had fun getting there.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Physical abuse, Blood, Classism, Colonisation, Murder, Death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Torture, Violence, and Vomit

lit_with_lauren's review

adventurous 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture

ka_ke's review

adventurous medium-paced

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

4.5

Imagine a Legend of Zorro retelling, set in Bolivia, using the South American continent’s modern day political and social problems. That sums up Woven in Moonlight without fail. It is a beautifully written story about a young woman who realizes that the solution is not more violence, but unity towards a common problem. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Religious bigotry, Classism, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Gore, Sexism, Violence, Xenophobia, Colonisation, Domestic abuse, Blood, and Misogyny

Minor: Addiction, Body shaming, Murder, Vomit, War, and Abandonment

gemstonejasper's review

adventurous hopeful inspiring 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? It's complicated

4.5

Engaging story. Beautiful writing. Lovable characters. This book is the whole package. My only complaint is that the first chapter or two didn't grab me. I took a week between reading the first chapter and the second because I wasn't interested. But as soon as I read that second chapter, I was hooked.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Torture, and War

sarah_speaks's review against another edition

adventurous 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? Yes

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, and Blood

Moderate: Murder, Racism, War, Animal death, Addiction, Colonisation, and Drug abuse

Minor: Death of parent

emliza's review

adventurous hopeful reflective fast-paced

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

1.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Genocide, Grief, Hate crime, Abandonment, Eating disorder, Blood, and Colonisation

Minor: Xenophobia, Addiction, Cultural appropriation, Murder, Religious bigotry, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Violence, War, Death of parent, and Physical abuse

libbylou905's review

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious medium-paced

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

4.75

I really liked this book! 
The only reason it didn't get 5 stars is because it was a little slow for a while there.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Grief, Blood, Torture, Classism, Death of parent, War, Death, Drug abuse, and Drug use

onthesamepage's review

adventurous dark fast-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

3.0

Before you read my review, please check out this review by lou reading things for a deep-dive into what makes this book problematic: https://youtu.be/r4BgWYkVhfY?t=358 

While I enjoyed my reading experience overall and knew it was inspired by Bolivia going in, I wasn't aware of the exact parallels while reading the book, and after reading and watching several reviews I have lowered my rating. I think it's definitely important to know about this before deciding whether you want to try this book or not.

I did enjoy the story and the characters. It has similar beats to The Winner's Curse and is overall fast-paced and entertaining. The romance is a bit weird in how it develops because things escalate pretty fast at some point, and not in an entirely believable manner. The author uses some Quechua and Spanish words throughout the book (mostly for food and there's a glossary at the back), and whether you'll enjoy that or not will be a matter of personal preference. I will say I've seen this done better, and I wouldn't have minded more complex dialogue in something other than English. I have a phone, I can Google it.

The usage of Quechua for the names did stand out to me. I have no idea if these are names that are commonly used, but the meanings behind most of these are so on the nose I rolled my eyes.

The whole mystery behind El Lobo was honestly pretty obvious, but I still had fun reaching the conclusion.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder and Torture

Minor: Colonisation

mengzhenreads's review

adventurous challenging emotional 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

This was an incredibly impressive debut and I feel like you can really tell that the author really put their heart and soul into this book. The world that the story takes place in is absolutely thrilling and I loved the infusion of Bolivian culture with the magic system and story. The Spanish that is thrown in definitely enhances the experience, and although it could be troublesome for someone who doesn't speak Spanish, I think it really adds a lot of character and extra detail to this book that truly makes the story and characters come alive. I liked the romance, but the best thing about this book was definitely Ximena's character development throughout the story and the discussions and exploration of the aftermath of war and the intricacies of morality, which overall just made this book a great read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Death, and Gore

Moderate: Blood, Physical abuse, and Torture

Minor: Addiction, Animal death, and Drug abuse