Reviews with content warning for Fire/Fire injury - The Mercies

Reviews tagging 'Fire/Fire injury'

The Mercies by Kiran Millwood Hargrave

55 reviews

plantgal_jill's review

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dark emotional 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? No

3.75

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jcinf's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad slow-paced

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

4.0

I should have read the content warnings before starting this, because I’m getting tired of reading about abuse toward women 🫠

That said, I did enjoy this book for the most part.

I’ll have to dock some points for the audiobook tax — aka: the times I forget to pay attention and listen. So take my star rating with a grain of salt.

I enjoyed reading about this time period and this particular historical event and culture. It’s something I knew nothing about, so I like that I got to be introduced to a new topic.

I also didn’t realize this would be LGBTQ+ because I started listening to this book on Libby and didn’t start tracking on StoryGraph until a little later. So that was a pleasant surprise for me when I found out it was queer.

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ruthmoog's review against another edition

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challenging reflective sad slow-paced

3.25

This kicks off right away with a racial slur that's continued throughout the book... the historical note at the end really hits hard because the racial element is a side note to the stories of the women in the book, and it's just harrowing tbh. And the Samí are still being sidelined by Norway today.

Having said that, all the action happens in the last few chapters. After the storm at the beginning - the very interesting premise! - it plods slowly through the life of a timid protagonist... Over half way through the book I felt like nothing had happened.

But given that it's based on actual events in Vardø ther 's only so much you can do to stay true to the story of a village devastated by a storm.

edit: after reading other reviews I would note, I had no idea this was based on true events or about witch trials when I started, I only knew about the storm leaving a village of women be ind

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klsreads's review

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

I picked this up on a whim to read alongside Caliban and the Witch, and I ended up loving it. The writing is an absolute feast - I felt I could touch the world and characters. +100 for a gorgeous exploration of Sapphic desire and love.

This book is sad but the subjects are treated with immense tenderness. Will definitely be reading more of Kiran Millwood Hargrave.

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eleanora's review against another edition

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dark sad medium-paced

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

4.0

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flissrobyn's review

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challenging reflective tense slow-paced

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

4.0

The writing is beautiful, but makes for an effort full read as it’s slow paced at the beginning. Really loved the plot, found it brought to mind a lot of feelings, with the plot being quite dark. Beautiful book to read and I enjoyed it, but not an easy read or a happy-endings style book.

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