Reviews tagging 'Sexual content'

Who Fears Death by Nnedi Okorafor

24 reviews

eclipse799's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful sad tense medium-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? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Violence, Vomit, Sexual harassment, Child death, Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Child abuse, Misogyny, Sexual content, Slavery, Classism, Colonisation, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Gore, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Emotional abuse, Grief, Gun violence, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Rape, Racism, Sexism, Incest, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Pedophilia, War, Xenophobia, Bullying, Death, Death of parent, Hate crime, and Pregnancy

juniperbranches's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

5.0

This has been such an honour to read. Onyesonwu is a child of rape, of anger and of magic. Living in a post apocalyptic African society Onye is living through a genocide of her mother’s people committed by the people of her unknown biological father. When ancient shapeshifter magic stores in her bones Onyesonwu knows she can keep her primal rage silent no more and sets into the desert to change the world. 

Listen, if you are going to read this book there are a ton of trigger warnings. But, oh god is it worth it. This book is going to be one I think I about constantly. Please read it if you have the capacity.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Pregnancy, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Xenophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Death, War, Murder, Violence, Religious bigotry, Rape, Vomit, Slavery, Sexual violence, Racial slurs, Hate crime, Genocide, and Racism

biobeetle's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional reflective sad 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Grief, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Genocide, Violence, Racism, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual harassment, and Torture

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Sexual content, Pregnancy, Gun violence, and Medical trauma

Minor: Excrement and Vomit

careinthelibrary's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.0

This will probably be a 5 star when I reread it one day. Wow. It's a complex story, feels epic in scale, but also has relatable and realistic characters. My new favourite Nnedi Okorafor book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Rape, Hate crime, Violence, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual assault, Racism, Death, and Sexism

Moderate: Pregnancy, Alcohol, Slavery, Blood, Infidelity, Death of parent, Body shaming, Torture, Toxic relationship, Grief, Bullying, War, and Fire/Fire injury

Female genital mutilation

bites_of_books's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-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? It's complicated

5.0

Dr. Nnedi Okorafor writes the most interesting characters and hasn't failed for me yet. 

Here we follow Onyesonwu throughout her life as she goes through many trials to find out exactly what it is that is her purpose. Onye is a child of rape and is discriminated against because of her mixed heritage, which can be easily seen on her features. Set in a far future Sudan, this novel still carries issues that have been known in the region, such as weaponized rape, child soldiers, violence against women, racism, etc. 

I really appreciated how Okorafor built the spiritual and magical aspects of the story. In many ways, they reminded me of magical realism as well as showed me a completely different way to think about ancestors and the way that people can be connected via their spiritual beliefs. 

Overall what it came down to were the characters. I love it when characters aren't just the idealized hero and the perfect side characters. They are all flawed in different ways, they might be stubborn, be incredibly impatient, or even let their carnal desires take over when they might need to prioritize other things in their lives. 

All in all, if you want to see a completely different take on fantasy that features a strong woman and also strong supporting partner and companions, do check this out. Do take the content warnings seriously before reading though! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Gore, Pregnancy, Racism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Animal death, Blood, Murder, Rape, Sexual assault, Death of parent, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Slavery, War, and Violence

essireads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark hopeful sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Slavery, Misogyny, Xenophobia, Hate crime, Sexual content, Sexual assault, and War

krys_kilz's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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? Yes

3.75

This book felt a little slow paced for me and then rushed at the end. A lot of the story was focused on Onyesonwu's coming of age, so I would describe the book as a Bildungsroman/hero's journey with post-apocalyptic and fantasy elements. Some of the elements in this book fell a bit flat for me, but I still plan to continue reading Okorafor's work as I deeply appreciate the worlds she imagines.

Please be mindful of the content warnings before reading as there are a lot of heavy topics discussed.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Death of parent, Genocide, Misogyny, Murder, Death, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, and Violence

Moderate: Body horror

Minor: Vomit

saint_eleanor's review against another edition

I had to return it

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Violence, Physical abuse, Misogyny, Self harm, Torture, Sexual violence, and Sexual content

Extremely graphic female circumcision descriptions/ and SA

applesaucecreachur's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad 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

4.25

If you're searching for a sci-fi fantasy of nonstop honest love, graphic violence, and jaw-dropping magic, look no further. Who Fears Death has it all. The magic system? Absolutely enchanting. It seemed to have no definitive boundaries on what was and was not possible, and this made sense within a story contrasting rigid tradition with radical change. The characters operated within a gendered and highly racialized society and subverted its expectations. Their personalities and relationships were well fleshed-out and I found myself either loving or loving to hate them. Onyesonwu, as the protagonist, often bordered on being a Mary Sue with her unique appearance

and immense magical power.

However, she was also flawed and often irrational, and her actions all had their appropriate consequences. 

That said, the story was not without its issues (though granted, I am used to reading Western authors telling Western or Westernized tales): the

villainous sorcerer/father to the protagonist Daib seemed often too villainous, and the tropes that propped his character diminished his efficacy as an antagonist

. Once Onyesonwu learned

to refine her healing powers and command death, the heinous injuries and demise throughout began to lose their touch on me as the reader. Don't get me wrong, I want Mwita alive and well in the next book as much as the next fan of flawed but devoted love interests. Still, I believe the final chapter cheapened his impactful death.

.

And the ending. Oh my God.

Mwita, Luyu, and Onyesonwu's deaths aside, the conclusion to this first book came way out of left field. I'm still grappling with it. Powers? For everyone? A maimed and weakened Daib?

So much feels left unsaid. I pray that the prequel answers some of my questions, but truly, only a future installment could do this with the shifting nature of Okorafor's world. It's a world I itch to return to. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Slavery, Violence, and Racism

Moderate: Death, Gore, Pregnancy, Sexual content, and War

tigger89's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional medium-paced

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

4.0

I don't want to say that I enjoyed this book, because I didn't. The content warnings aren't a joke, and I encourage you to check the list. But I am glad I read the book, especially after also reading the afterword which pointed me to the real-world atrocity that inspired the Ewu(the mixed-race group the main character belongs to). If it had come entirely from the author's mind it would have been too much, but of course it was based in reality, because humans never stop finding new ways to be monstrously cruel to each other.

The thing I liked the most about it was diving into the magic systems(yes, plural - there's the more commonplace juju, and also the sorcery that the main character learns to wield), particularly that they were explained enough to give me the flavor without being explained to death. I also loved the almost-meta themes surrounding destiny and agency, and the ending of the book was perfect(fight me). Something else I appreciated was that the characters were allowed to be human, with all the flaws, tempers and mistakes that come along with that.

The main thing I didn't like was how much sex and relationship drama was in the story. Once they were adults, it seemed like every chapter someone was having intercourse with someone else and a third person was being salty about it. Realistic? Yes, but not my cup of tea. Also, the way the novel revolved around pregnancy was a bit squick for me, though I'm aware this one is a me problem. Nothing in this point seemed out of character, it just very much wasn't for me. The other criticism I have is that the book was extremely gender binary, which isn't too surprising for a book published in 2010.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Slavery, Death, Death of parent, Racism, Sexism, Genocide, Pregnancy, and Rape

Moderate: Incest, Murder, Pedophilia, Sexual content, and War

The main character undergoes(and spends a lot of time thinking about) female genital mutilation.

This is used as a means of controlling women, presented as wrong, and is later reversed by her sorcery.