Reviews with content warning for Sexual content - City of Thieves

Reviews tagging 'Sexual content'

City of Thieves by David Benioff

11 reviews

elysahenegar's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

This is a well-written but graphically brutal WWII novel that tells the story of two young Russian men thrown together during the war. Their conversations often tend toward coarse discussions about sexuality which seem to offer them only slight distractions from the horrors they witness and experience. If you enjoy WWII fiction, this one definitely offers a unique plot and perspective, and may be one you want to read, if you can handle the brutality and coarseness of the telling.

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sdolanadamec's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny fast-paced

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

5.0

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amachonis's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense 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? It's complicated

4.5

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buer's review against another edition

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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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gailbird's review against another edition

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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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kgoody's review against another edition

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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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booksandmo's review against another edition

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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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shingekiyes's review against another edition

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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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kayleaman's review against another edition

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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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jonicash's review against another edition

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fast-paced

Diverse cast of characters? No

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