Reviews with content warning for Rape - Wild and Wicked Things

Reviews tagging 'Rape'

Wild and Wicked Things by Francesca May

9 reviews

prosenheim's review

Go to review page

adventurous dark mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

3.5

Content Warnings

lucianagrimm's review

Go to review page

dark emotional mysterious slow-paced

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

3.5

Wild and Wicked Things had beautiful imagery and lore surrounding its setting on the mysterious Crow Island. The landscape and its history are strongly embedded in the course of the plot. I loved the character of Émmeline but found Bea to be rather unlikeable. I struggled with the pacing. The slow burn as it was a mix of fast and slow and was difficult for me to keep up with. Overall, I liked the story and its establishment of breaking the boundaries of post war taboos with, not only witchcraft but also, queerness. Despite not explicitly detailed, the accents and traits of the queer characters are done really well, especially through their fashion and body language. I was slightly disappointed with the ended and had hoped for more information as to where the characters went next.

Content Warnings

epithetofthemoon's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark tense slow-paced

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

2.5

Content Warnings

marcostorin's review

Go to review page

adventurous dark mysterious slow-paced

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

3.5

Content Warnings

thereisnotry54's review

Go to review page

dark mysterious sad tense medium-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? Yes

2.0

I enjoyed some of the over-the-top romance, but it was very confusing. There were interludes from other perspectives which did tie in nicely eventually. The style of book changed to get a lot more intense.

Content Warnings

frogggirl2's review

Go to review page

dark slow-paced

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

2.5

This book is entirely made up of purposefully obfuscating key plot points - it's relentless and heavy-handed. The chapters set in a previous time frame are completely useless - they're brief and they don't really build characterization or add anything to the plot (except briefly showing what should have been easily explained in the normal timeline). The historical timeline establishes some horrific abuse which is insufficiently dealt with in the book.

Everyone speaks as if this is a contemporary, American YA novel, however, this is allegedly set in England post WWI. The various POV narrative voices are indistinguishable.

This has a very familiar vibe: Alix E Harrow's, "The Once and Future Witches" plus "Practical Magic" plus "The Great Gatsby." The ideas here have been done before (often better) in these books. That said, it's the execution that's lacking. This tediously slow book could be edited down by a 100+ pages and be greatly improved.

Content Warnings

azrah786's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark slow-paced

3.25

[This review can also be found on my BLOG]

**I received a proof copy from Orbit Books in exchange for an honest review**

CW: blood, gore, injury, self harm, murder, death, death of parent, domestic abuse, parental neglect, sexual assault/rape, pregnancy, abortion, alcohol/drug use, panic attacks
--

I’ve got to start by saying that there were parts of this book that I enjoyed but it sadly didn’t blow me away like I expected it to.

Wild and Wicked Things is an historical fantasy novel that centres on a young woman, called Annie who arrives on Crow Island to claim an inheritance left by her late and estranged father. With a rumoured history of dark magic the island itself has a reputation of being the favoured haunt for those who wish to dabble in illicit magical vices – things that Annie wants to very much steer clear of.

However, when she witnesses an altercation between her childhood friend Bea and her mysterious and infamous neighbour, Emmeline Delacroix who is rumoured to be a witch, Annie finds herself unable to resist the pull she feels towards Emmeline and her world.

“Magic is…a trickster. It draws you in, makes you think you can control it. You get a taste and then you get careless. You can’t control it any more than you can the tide or the rise of the moon.”

Described as a sapphic Great Gatsby meets Practical Magic I came running for the Gatsby side of things.

May’s writing beautifully pairs together the small and mysterious island atmosphere with all the glitz and glamour of the 20’s. The ambiance from the classic was definitely there but more so in the beginning with how there was a brooding figure throwing parties to attract the attention of a certain someone, and in all honesty Emmeline did have a Jay Gatsby air about her and Annie that of Nick Carraway. However, I wouldn’t class this book as an all-out retelling as it definitely leans more towards witchy territory. Particularly the second half of the story that develops more of a gothic thriller storyline.

I personally haven’t read Practical Magic so can’t comment on the likeness to it but I became enthralled with the magic and witchcraft side of the worldbuilding. The titbits of backstory that showed how magic had originally been so imbedded into people’s lives and their work until its usage in the war made it become prohibited really intrigued me. As did getting a glimpse at the differing powers that the various witches we meet in the story have.

Though I also feel like this wasn’t focused on enough and the progression of the plot was favoured instead of the magic ever properly being explained.

“Just a glance from Emmeline and I wasn’t myself. Or maybe I was more myself than I’d ever been.”

However, I think the main reason I didn’t love this one lies with the characters. I am a reader who loves to get caught up in the characters and their relationships and I’ve got to say the supporting characters and their stories seemed more interesting to me than the primary ones. I mean I liked Annie enough and she did have a pretty remarkable character development but I felt like there wasn’t enough of a balance when it came to how many chapters were split between her perspective and Emmeline’s perspective.

Also I wasn’t entirely convinced with their relationship until right near the very end and this has got a lot to do with the back and forth that was going on between Emmeline, Annie and Bea which was going on for most of the book and I found myself getting bored of it early on. I enjoyed the moments when Emmeline was with Nathan and Isobel a lot more – I loved their little found family unit.

I am glad I managed to push through the slow pacing and dragging middle part of the story though because the last 90 or so pages were in my opinion the best part of the book.

Anyways a lot of these points are very much me things so I think if you enjoy gothic witchy stories that border the horror genre then you should definitely give this one a read.
Final Rating 3.25/5 Stars

Content Warnings

ellenigrace's review

Go to review page

dark emotional mysterious tense

4.5

Content Warnings

ellaandcoffee's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark mysterious sad 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

4.0

First of all, a big thank you to Netgalley, Hachette Audio and Redhook for giving me the chance to review Wild and Wicked Things. I love a good audiobook and this one was excellently executed, with great narrators!

Overall I really enjoy Wild and Wicked Things. But it does start off annoyingly slow. I wasn’t hooked until after the first 25%. I wish the magical world would have been explained earlier in the book as it was quite confusing in the beginning. The author kept mentioning the magic as some big and ominous thing but since I as a reader had no clue in the first 25% what that was about, it was just a bit odd.

Once I got past the ‘boring part’, I did in fact love the characters and the story. Wild and Wicked Things is gloomy and dark, sapphic witch story that takes place on a spooky island. Right up my alley! It is also described as a The Great Gatsby retelling but, except for the fancy parties, I found that the comparison stops there. And I was glad about that as I am not a Great Gatsby fan.

Don’t forget to look up the trigger warnings before reading!

Content Warnings

More...