Reviews tagging 'Death'

The Mercies by Kiran Millwood Hargrave

142 reviews

sskinner155's review

emotional reflective sad 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? No

4.5

An tense story at the start of the Norwegian witch trials of 1621. How hysteria, racism and petty grudges resulted in a small isolated village to be torn apart and how friendship and love both protected and condemned these women.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Sexual assault, Murder, and Racism

malinhalia's review against another edition

challenging dark sad slow-paced

• Loveable characters? No

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape and Sexual assault

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Death, Sexism, Torture, Violence, Racism, Racial slurs, Injury/Injury detail, Colonisation, Religious bigotry, Miscarriage, and Misogyny

Minor: Ableism, Domestic abuse, and Alcohol

templetoncecelia's review against another edition

dark emotional slow-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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Religious bigotry, Misogyny, Death, Toxic relationship, Rape, Murder, and Miscarriage

Moderate: Grief, Child death, Death of parent, Physical abuse, and Blood

rosa_inverno's review

challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes

5.0

Exceptional. This one might be my top book I've read this year, or at the very least one of. It is heartbreaking, infuriating, lyrically written, and utterly brilliant.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Religious bigotry

Moderate: Death and Grief

samlopez93's review

dark emotional sad tense 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Toxic relationship, Death, Violence, Domestic abuse, Murder, Misogyny, Physical abuse, and Rape

Minor: Death of parent

hilarylouise's review against another edition

dark 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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Murder, Religious bigotry, and Death

Moderate: Domestic abuse

Minor: Miscarriage

ericaflaten's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Death, Violence, Sexual violence, Misogyny, Torture, Rape, Religious bigotry, and Miscarriage

nyk4envy's review

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

I enjoyed this book immensely. The writing and language was something to get used to, but once I did, I saw it for it’s beauty. A tragic story of pain and love and survival. It can only reflect on the current state of our world. Being prosecuted, oppressed, losing and grieving, finding yourself grounded by loves in your life. It was incredible to read, sometimes I couldn’t put it down. Sometimes I needed to put it down. I cried with the characters, I raged with them. 
Incredible story based on a far away tragedy and I couldn’t have asked for me. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Misogyny, Racism, Death of parent, Forced institutionalization, Religious bigotry, Racial slurs, Rape, Homophobia, Violence, Colonisation, Infertility, Fatphobia, Hate crime, Murder, Torture, Death, and Grief

fmooks's review

dark emotional sad medium-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? No

5.0

Wow wow wow. This book was an emotional read that showed the complex human experience that we can imagine these characters would've had. From grief, jealousy, cruelty to shame, guilt and love. 

Somehow Kiran Millwood Hargrave made me hate specific characters and then cry for them in the end. 

While this novel is about the Vardo Witch Trials, it focused more on the conditions that could lead to a Witch Trial in this remote area of Finnmark in the first place - rather than the trials themselves. This book really dug into familial relationships, relationships within a small community, and how all of that is impacted by grief. 

I did think that the ending was slightly rushed. I see what the author was trying to do with how they wrapped it up but it left me slightly dissatisfied. That didn't take away from my 5* rating though. At one point I was laying in bed, reading, crying (lol) at the "breathe deep" scene - and that will stay with me. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape and Grief

Moderate: Death

careinthelibrary's review against another edition

dark emotional informative sad tense medium-paced

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Religious bigotry, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, and Miscarriage

Moderate: Torture, Child abuse, and Child death