Scan barcode
savvylit's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
reflective
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? Yes
5.0
"There is no such thing as a ghost of the dead. Yet suffering has a way of begging to be remembered. Sometimes, as a story. Sometimes, as a wraith."
Based on the Slavic folktale of Baba Yaga, Thistlefoot is a beautifully written and heartbreaking dark fairytale. The plot and the characters are compelling and not overly fantastical. Isaac and Bellatine are both perfectly imperfect protagonists with unique magical abilities. Thistlefoot, the house, is an enchanting setting AND a dynamic character all on its own. The Longshadow Man is a horrific antagonist. Hubcap, the cat, is the best character and deserved more love. The Duskbreaker Band members are all quite cool and their backstories are the one thing this novel needed to explore in more depth. Winnie is a delight. And Baba Yaga? She was a badass trying her best.
Beyond the deeply memorable characters and plot, the real power of Thistlefoot lies in its exploration of the legacy of suffering and the way that trauma echoes unseen throughout generations. Alongside Isaac and Bellatine, Nethercott invites readers to recognize the power of remembering historical atrocity. If we don't remember, we can't heal. If we don't remember, we can't honor those who have been lost.
This stunning saga is GennaRose Nethercott's debut novel. At first, this fact surprised me given the many achingly gorgeous passages in the novel. However, prior to Thistlefoot, Nethercott was most well-known for her poetry. Additionally, in the acknowledgments, she cites the prose of Angela Carter and Ray Bradbury as inspiration. That inspiration and her clear poetic skill both shine through so vividly in the magical, devastating world that Nethercott has created in Thistlefoot. I won't soon forget the Yaga family story.
Based on the Slavic folktale of Baba Yaga, Thistlefoot is a beautifully written and heartbreaking dark fairytale. The plot and the characters are compelling and not overly fantastical. Isaac and Bellatine are both perfectly imperfect protagonists with unique magical abilities. Thistlefoot, the house, is an enchanting setting AND a dynamic character all on its own. The Longshadow Man is a horrific antagonist. Hubcap, the cat, is the best character and deserved more love. The Duskbreaker Band members are all quite cool and their backstories are the one thing this novel needed to explore in more depth. Winnie is a delight. And Baba Yaga? She was a badass trying her best.
Beyond the deeply memorable characters and plot, the real power of Thistlefoot lies in its exploration of the legacy of suffering and the way that trauma echoes unseen throughout generations. Alongside Isaac and Bellatine, Nethercott invites readers to recognize the power of remembering historical atrocity. If we don't remember, we can't heal. If we don't remember, we can't honor those who have been lost.
This stunning saga is GennaRose Nethercott's debut novel. At first, this fact surprised me given the many achingly gorgeous passages in the novel. However, prior to Thistlefoot, Nethercott was most well-known for her poetry. Additionally, in the acknowledgments, she cites the prose of Angela Carter and Ray Bradbury as inspiration. That inspiration and her clear poetic skill both shine through so vividly in the magical, devastating world that Nethercott has created in Thistlefoot. I won't soon forget the Yaga family story.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Religious bigotry, Stalking, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Physical abuse, Violence, War, Gun violence, Death, Grief, Child death, Murder, and Suicidal thoughts
victoriousbookworm's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
slow-paced
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Grief, and Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Animal death, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, Child death, Antisemitism, War, and Animal cruelty
Minor: Abandonment
teafrog's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
fast-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? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death and Gore
Moderate: Antisemitism, Death, Racism, and War
Minor: Deportation
hngisreading's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
slow-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? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Violence, War, Child death, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Antisemitism, and Death
kcbatts's review against another edition
adventurous
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism
Moderate: Death and War
maregred's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
mysterious
reflective
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? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Hate crime, Antisemitism, Death, and Xenophobia
Moderate: Child death, Grief, War, Violence, Alcohol, and Alcoholism
Minor: Animal death, Sexual violence, Slavery, Colonisation, Blood, and Emotional abuse
kalliegrace's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
This took me so long to get through. I almost gave up about half way in, but I did finish it. It is so slow, and the description is beautiful but there's just too much - this isn't an atmospheric book where the description is the point. I didn't like Isaac. What a jerk. I thought he'd have some redemption with his sister, but it wasn't satisfying enough to put up with him the rest of the book.
I did enjoy the old stories woven into the book. The ending got so dark, it really left me uneasy. It did make me want to read some other baba yaga retellings, so there's that.
I did enjoy the old stories woven into the book. The ending got so dark, it really left me uneasy. It did make me want to read some other baba yaga retellings, so there's that.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, War, and Violence
Moderate: Antisemitism
bookshelf_al's review against another edition
adventurous
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
2.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Genocide, and Antisemitism
Moderate: War
morganpearcy's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
This book grabs your attention right away with a completely different approach to the Baba Yaga myth and magical realism. I was totally taken from the second chapter. It does get slow in the middle, but it’s worth it to keep reading because the conclusion to the story is so good and horrific and sad. This book will wreck you.
It bears noting in the review that if you have birth trauma or child death trauma you shouldn’t read this book.
I absolutely adored the interweaving of Baba Yaga into recent history and the magical realism that allowed it to happen. I think some folx might be agitated that things like shapeshifting and a house on chicken legs and the ability to reanimate the dead don’t receive more visceral responses in the book from onlookers. But I felt that the author did a good job of setting the stage that these kinds of strange events and magical abilities exist in the world and are oddities approached with curiosity rather than so rare that it would cause like a crowd or a burning at the stake like. :) The author does a phenomenal job of exploring the horror of these magical abilities in great detail.
This book deals with a lot of terrible, hard topics. It explores through the re-imagining of the Baba Yaga myth: the holocaust, intergenerational trauma, how the body keeps score and how remembering keeps stories alive. I found the intergenerational trauma pieces to be so true - what we’re discovering now with epigentics is that trauma up to 4 generations past shows up in our bodies in all sorts of forms. This book even explores that. It also explores how true history really has to be kept because you can erase cultures and people and in turn perpetuate violence by erasing their stories. Very applicable to what’s going on today in the US with CRT and book censorship.
I REALLY loved the lesbian love story - it’s not overly erotic or sex and attraction focused, it’s believable and just fits the story. It’s also not the focus which I appreciated a great deal. I squealed at multiple points in delight at the little lesbian budding relationship which really just contributed to the character development as the two involved learned about themselves.
My favorite quotes, which I love so much I had to write down:
“There is no such thing as a ghost of the dead. Yet suffering has a way of begging to be remembered, sometimes as a story, sometimes as a wraith. Today they say the air in what used to be Gedenkrovka is heavier than it should be. So altered, it presses damp on the skin. They say pain can be passed in the blood. A sorrow great enough can alter an ancestral line - can make itself visible in the body even generations later - even once the name of the sorrow is forgotten. How long does it take for the body to realize it is safe? Does it ever? Can a restlessness be a ghost? Can a pair of hands? There are no ghosts of the dead. Your grandfather does not sit at the foot of your bed and sing. Do not be stupid. You do not see a child in a Victorian gown by the window. These are mirages or devils. The dybbuk possessing your husband is simply his anger mixed with drink. There are no ghosts of the dead. And yet, this is a ghost story. There are no ghosts of the dead. But events? Events, if they carry enough wailing can leave a mark. Can squeeze themselves into terrible shapes, grow arms, legs, a head on which to wear a hat, feet on which to follow you. Events — they have a way of coming back.” from chapter 27
“I will ask you these: What happens when the walls we raise outlive the dangers they were built to keep out? At what point does a fort become a cage?” from Chapter 49
Be prepared with tissues. Lots of tissues. At the end. This is easily in my top 3 Baba Yaga books so far. I am tempted to give it 4⭐️ simply because of all the damned fucking tissues I went through and was not anticipating. But it’s too good for that.
It bears noting in the review that if you have birth trauma or child death trauma you shouldn’t read this book.
I absolutely adored the interweaving of Baba Yaga into recent history and the magical realism that allowed it to happen. I think some folx might be agitated that things like shapeshifting and a house on chicken legs and the ability to reanimate the dead don’t receive more visceral responses in the book from onlookers. But I felt that the author did a good job of setting the stage that these kinds of strange events and magical abilities exist in the world and are oddities approached with curiosity rather than so rare that it would cause like a crowd or a burning at the stake like. :) The author does a phenomenal job of exploring the horror of these magical abilities in great detail.
This book deals with a lot of terrible, hard topics. It explores through the re-imagining of the Baba Yaga myth: the holocaust, intergenerational trauma, how the body keeps score and how remembering keeps stories alive. I found the intergenerational trauma pieces to be so true - what we’re discovering now with epigentics is that trauma up to 4 generations past shows up in our bodies in all sorts of forms. This book even explores that. It also explores how true history really has to be kept because you can erase cultures and people and in turn perpetuate violence by erasing their stories. Very applicable to what’s going on today in the US with CRT and book censorship.
I REALLY loved the lesbian love story - it’s not overly erotic or sex and attraction focused, it’s believable and just fits the story. It’s also not the focus which I appreciated a great deal. I squealed at multiple points in delight at the little lesbian budding relationship which really just contributed to the character development as the two involved learned about themselves.
My favorite quotes, which I love so much I had to write down:
“There is no such thing as a ghost of the dead. Yet suffering has a way of begging to be remembered, sometimes as a story, sometimes as a wraith. Today they say the air in what used to be Gedenkrovka is heavier than it should be. So altered, it presses damp on the skin. They say pain can be passed in the blood. A sorrow great enough can alter an ancestral line - can make itself visible in the body even generations later - even once the name of the sorrow is forgotten. How long does it take for the body to realize it is safe? Does it ever? Can a restlessness be a ghost? Can a pair of hands? There are no ghosts of the dead. Your grandfather does not sit at the foot of your bed and sing. Do not be stupid. You do not see a child in a Victorian gown by the window. These are mirages or devils. The dybbuk possessing your husband is simply his anger mixed with drink. There are no ghosts of the dead. And yet, this is a ghost story. There are no ghosts of the dead. But events? Events, if they carry enough wailing can leave a mark. Can squeeze themselves into terrible shapes, grow arms, legs, a head on which to wear a hat, feet on which to follow you. Events — they have a way of coming back.” from chapter 27
“I will ask you these: What happens when the walls we raise outlive the dangers they were built to keep out? At what point does a fort become a cage?” from Chapter 49
Be prepared with tissues. Lots of tissues. At the end. This is easily in my top 3 Baba Yaga books so far. I am tempted to give it 4⭐️ simply because of all the damned fucking tissues I went through and was not anticipating. But it’s too good for that.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Antisemitism, Child death, Genocide, and War
Moderate: Gaslighting, Religious bigotry, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Animal death, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, and Hate crime
Minor: Body horror
booksdogsandcoffee's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-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? It's complicated
5.0
From the first few paragraphs of Thistlefoot I knew it was going to be one of my favorite reads on 2022.
The best way to describe this book is a modern day folklore retelling of Baba Yaga’s descendants. It is about how stories are made and told. How stories can never die, how each generation keeps the stories and myths of old alive. It is a hauntingly beautiful story of two estranged siblings who find each other again, find themselves and confront their generational trauma.
Some of my favorite things about Thistlefoot are 1) the house, Thistlefoot, has its own pov. They are telling you about themself and the many stories and myths of their origin. 2) Isaac Yaga, one of the two Yaga siblings, is Jewish and he has migraines. I rarely see migraine representation in books, especially paired with Jewish representation and to see that part of myself represented brought tears to my eyes. 3) The writing of this book is literal magic. The way Nethercott describes the setting, characters, events that are happening is phenomenal.
The in-depth look at generational trauma, a love of theater and the importance of family is just perfect. On the whole I couldn’t love this book more and I highly highly recommend this book to anyone and everyone.
Tropes & themes
Found family
Traveling theater
Ancestral trauma
Rep
Jewish
Sapphic
Cw
Eugenics
Anti-Semitism
Death of a Child
Immigration
Death
Violence
Gore
Blood
The best way to describe this book is a modern day folklore retelling of Baba Yaga’s descendants. It is about how stories are made and told. How stories can never die, how each generation keeps the stories and myths of old alive. It is a hauntingly beautiful story of two estranged siblings who find each other again, find themselves and confront their generational trauma.
Some of my favorite things about Thistlefoot are 1) the house, Thistlefoot, has its own pov. They are telling you about themself and the many stories and myths of their origin. 2) Isaac Yaga, one of the two Yaga siblings, is Jewish and he has migraines. I rarely see migraine representation in books, especially paired with Jewish representation and to see that part of myself represented brought tears to my eyes. 3) The writing of this book is literal magic. The way Nethercott describes the setting, characters, events that are happening is phenomenal.
The in-depth look at generational trauma, a love of theater and the importance of family is just perfect. On the whole I couldn’t love this book more and I highly highly recommend this book to anyone and everyone.
Tropes & themes
Found family
Traveling theater
Ancestral trauma
Rep
Jewish
Sapphic
Cw
Eugenics
Anti-Semitism
Death of a Child
Immigration
Death
Violence
Gore
Blood
Content Warnings
Graphic: War, Death, Antisemitism, Genocide, Blood, Violence, Religious bigotry, Murder, and Grief
More...