Reviews tagging 'Trafficking'

The Descent of the Drowned by Ana Lal Din

10 reviews

soniajoy98's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative sad tense slow-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

this book was like a punch to the gut in the best and worst ways possible. trigger warning for everything but specifically sexual assault and suicide and torture and child abuse in all possible forms and also violence against trans and intersex people. this book is truly amazing but also very hard to read, which it should be considering the real life parallels, but still, read with caution. 
spoiler-ish stuff below and a reminder: trigger warning !!

Roma referring to her body as her shell broke me a little bit, and i spent the entire book just praying that nobody hurt her again and we got SO CLOSE but then everything with Chirag happened (i can’t even think about him right now without wanting to burst into tears for how awful his life ended and how he deserved so much more) and Roma is back in that dark place but it’s worse and she’s so deeply traumatized and the moments before her suicide attempt when she’s yelling at herself just made my entire body go cold. i started off interested in Levi and i’m still interested but i couldn’t care about him when Roma was suffering i needed to know she would be okay. i’m still in shock from this book and can’t write much more rambling nonsense but i want to make it clear i loved reading this even when it made me sob and have a mini breakdown it’s amazingly well written and the perspective of Roma is so wonderful and terrible and incredible all at once. especially reading this today after the mass shooting committed against 8 Asian women in Atlanta, this book filled with the lasting effects of violence against Asian and Middle Eastern women, but also the strength of those women and their incredible ability to survive was really powerful to read. rest in power to those taken from us too soon by racism and sexism, you deserved so much more and we will fight for you

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Colonisation, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Murder, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Torture, Trafficking, Transphobia, Violence, Vomit, War, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Drug abuse, Drug use, Medical trauma, and Miscarriage

natnoble66693's review

challenging dark emotional 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Racism, Racial slurs, Trafficking, Torture, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual harassment, Sexism, Police brutality, Physical abuse, Misogyny, Hate crime, Gore, Emotional abuse, Drug use, Death, Child abuse, Blood, Alcoholism, and Adult/minor relationship

Moderate: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Colonisation, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Grief, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, and Trafficking

cailink29's review

dark emotional tense

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gaslighting, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Trafficking

pls read trigger warning before reading!!! but it was fantastic

morganphoenix's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Self harm, Suicide, Addiction, Violence, Gore, Trafficking, Transphobia, Child abuse, Sexual harassment, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Death of parent

lhleonard's review

challenging dark tense slow-paced

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

3.75

Tough read. See content warnings.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Torture, Trafficking, and Violence

estosnosonlibros's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Drug abuse, Sexual assault, Rape, and Trafficking

miyaosamu's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative inspiring mysterious reflective relaxing sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

 “But everything doesn't have to be a reminder of what you've lost. Some things can be a powerful symbol of what you've survived.”

This was an absolutely exhilarating read that I could not put down, definitely an unexpected book that consumed me from beginning to end. The Descent of the Drowned is a tough read to stomach for sure, the author includes trigger warnings before the start of story. Saying one of the 2 mains, Roma goes through a lot is an understatement, her character is a product of the system of child prostitution and slavery being brainwashed that it is their divine duty since birth, yet Roma is the only one out of all her sisters in the system that doubts and she is just so profoundly fierce unnerving but my heart breaks once the reader learns more of her trauma and her mental headspace. On top of the topics I just mentioned this book also includes torture, multiple accounts of rape, violent assault, mutilation, emotional abuse and manipulation and more. The world building was enthralling along with the complex social hierarchy and magic systems along how mythology was intertwined with it all. The pre-Islamic Arabian mythology was so intriguing with how Lal din wrote it into villagers daily lives and majority depending on it. Also the dual perspectives, wow there is nothing more satisfying to me than dual povs that are done so well especially with letting us into the deeper minds and thoughts of both mains. Levi, the male main, both him and Roma being counterparts yet both so morally grey, in conflict with themselves, and suffering through traumas similar in nature with how it led to the person they have become and deeply burying their overwhelming amount of pain and emotions they don't want to process. I just love them both so much. Levi being a complex character who feels too much, love and pain and more, with his childhood of love and kind hearted soul yet forced to endure military training and become a ruthless unfeeling soldier on the surface level. Both characters' inner monologues were captivating and hard hitting in feeling every single emotion and vulnerability that runs through them. A lot of the revelations were surprising yet unsurprising to me as I expected this with looking forward to how it's going to be explored in the next book. Gah I just find myself so easily emotionally attached to morally gray characters who have so much more to unpack within themselves. After that ending, I'm highly anticipated and 2022 cannot come sooner!

arc provided by publisher via netgalley 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Murder, Rape, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexism, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Torture, Trafficking, and Violence

Moderate: Death of parent

lyonsdenprojects's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense 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

5.0

This book was unlike anything I had ever read before. It is dark, and beautiful, and power, and sad all at the same time. The world building of this Persian inspired fantasy is spectacular and the slow progression of the plot never left me bored only ever yearning for more. I can't WAIT for the sequel and look forward to more amazing things yet to come from this author. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, and Violence

Moderate: Rape, Trafficking, and Transphobia

Minor: Death of parent, Pedophilia, and Self harm

gigireadseverything's review

adventurous challenging dark mysterious sad slow-paced

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

3.5

*I received this ARC from NetGalley*

Trigger warnings include, but certainly aren’t limited to, rape, child abuse, sexual slavery, trafficking, violence, murder, verbal abuse, emotional abuse, and drug use.

 

The world created in this book is incredibly complex and richly drawn. Full points to the author for creating such a real world in a debut. However, it’s a world that is so unrelentingly dark and violent that it quickly becomes an overwhelming and depressing read.

 

I had to double check that this was actually classified as YA because the staggeringly dark themes and the slow development made me think this must be adult fantasy but it’s not. Personally, I would reclassify this as New Adult or Adult rather than YA. 

 

The pain and violence that are ever present in this book are intentional on the author’s part. The book is dedicated to Rohingya Muslims and the author says in her acknowledgment that she wanted to draw attention to war crimes, trafficking, ethnic cleansing, etc. She succeeded in that regard.  

 

When I finished this book, I was convinced I wasn’t going to read the sequel, despite finding it well written and giving it a 3.5 star rating, because of how emotionally draining it was to read. However, now that two weeks have passed (and I’ve recovered by reading a fluffy contemporary romance), I find myself deeply curious about where Roma’s journey will take her in the next book. Levi is significantly less interesting to me (the side characters connected to him even less so) but Roma’s story could continue in a myriad of ways and I find myself wanting to see what happens to her. I just hope we’re past the point where trauma after trauma after trauma is inflicted on her.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Grief, Hate crime, Kidnapping, Murder, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Rape, Sexual violence, Slavery, Trafficking, and Violence

catcomments's review

challenging dark slow-paced

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

1.5

This book is straight trauma.
Plot starts at 50% mark.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Murder, and Misogyny

Moderate: Suicide attempt and Sexual assault

Minor: Transphobia and Trafficking