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enyltiak's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
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
Lying was reductive, but in a way, all art was a form of lying. Poets hyperbolize. Painters heighten colors, smudge edges. Actors shapeshift. All ways to twist reality in order to tell a deeper, more potent truth. Fact only goes so far. There are a finite number of facts in the universe with which to tell a story. Lies, on the other hand, are limitless.
What an incredible, wonderful book. Stories about houses, about hauntings, about stories themselves, will always draw me in and delight me. I can't express the love I have for this story. I'd rate it six stars if I could, if not more. Utter perfection, falling somewhere between the cozy epic-ness of Six of Crows and the comforting gothic of A Series of Unfortunate Events. It's a book about folk tales and magic and siblings and ghosts and memory, told from the perspective of the house in which the characters reside. I cannot recommend it enough. An instant new favorite.
What an incredible, wonderful book. Stories about houses, about hauntings, about stories themselves, will always draw me in and delight me. I can't express the love I have for this story. I'd rate it six stars if I could, if not more. Utter perfection, falling somewhere between the cozy epic-ness of Six of Crows and the comforting gothic of A Series of Unfortunate Events. It's a book about folk tales and magic and siblings and ghosts and memory, told from the perspective of the house in which the characters reside. I cannot recommend it enough. An instant new favorite.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Hate crime, War, Genocide, Xenophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Antisemitism, Child death, Death, and Violence
amiablemath's review against another edition
dark
emotional
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
4.5
While I felt the book was a bit slow and not terribly engaging, the ending was very well done and abs lutely made it with the read. However, it was also terribly dark and I doubt I will ever have the desire to read this one again.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Child death, War, Antisemitism, and Self harm
Minor: Sexual violence
abscott's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
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? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death and Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Abandonment, Death, Genocide, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Xenophobia, Antisemitism, Self harm, Cursing, and Violence
amandadelbrocco's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
informative
mysterious
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
3.5
This just felt like it was missing something for me. It never really hooked me. I did like the historical elements.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Antisemitism
lancemama's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
funny
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
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? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent, Abandonment, Child death, Death, Religious bigotry, Antisemitism, Colonisation, Grief, War, Xenophobia, Cursing, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Racism, Violence, Hate crime, and Murder
judah_g's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
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? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Violence, and Antisemitism
ominousspectre's review against another edition
1.5
Prose: purple
Themes: heavy handed
I very much wanted to like this. If you showed the blurb to any of my friends, they'd immediately be like oh! This is so on brand for you, almost to a way that's borderline spooky. However, I hated the execution of this.
It's unfortunate because this is a very personal story to her as one side of her family is Jewish Ukrainian. She helps run the Lore podcast. Clearly she's done her research. There are good pieces in here (I loved the line from the villain that said, "I am not a what, I'm a when). But overall, I have a lot of issues with it.
The Longshadow man isn't even really an allegory for bigotry/white supremacy, because he just walks up to people and says alt right talking points at them for a few minutes until they commit a hate crime. I'm not kidding. It's very on the nose. Though the pipeline moves fast, it doesn't work THAT fast, so those scenes felt disingenuous.
What irked me the most was Baba Yaga reimagined as a Jewish Ukrainian in 1919. Nothing inherently wrong with that, I love folklore retellings or generally inspired things. But the connection of Baba Yaga basically stops at the name. She's just a woman who is sort of made fun of in town and given that nickname, and she thenexperiences horrible violence very common of the Jewish experience during that time period. No explanation needed.
Nothing inherently wrong with that either, but otherwise, there's no tie in to any of the actual themes of Baba Yaga the original myth. I was expecting some sort of reclamation of the name and how she's a social outcast, a villain arc, SOMETHING, but there's nothing there.
Weirder still is that it's then just a strange naming convention. I get that she never went by her real name, but you're telling me the only surname she passed on was Yaga???? If you're not familiar with Ukrainian naming conventions, this would make her kids stand out like a sore thumb.
Baba obviously means grandmother or more derogatorily, a hag
Yaga has no true consensus on what it means, but historians believe it comes from different possible Old Slavonic descriptors that are all again derogatory in nature. It's like giving your kids the possible surnames of Witch, Anger, Horror, or Disease. Like those are the possibilities they've come up with for what Yaga means.
I would've even accepted if we didn't know her name from the start, and it was revealed as the story went on as a sort of OH! That's why they inh rited the chicken leg house! But as with the rest of the themes, it must be heavy handed.
As a less serious aside: crazy how Isaac is a tit for tat self insert character I would've written in middle school. Not even kidding, younger me feels so called out. It's honestly very funny
Themes: heavy handed
I very much wanted to like this. If you showed the blurb to any of my friends, they'd immediately be like oh! This is so on brand for you, almost to a way that's borderline spooky. However, I hated the execution of this.
It's unfortunate because this is a very personal story to her as one side of her family is Jewish Ukrainian. She helps run the Lore podcast. Clearly she's done her research. There are good pieces in here (I loved the line from the villain that said, "I am not a what, I'm a when). But overall, I have a lot of issues with it.
The Longshadow man isn't even really an allegory for bigotry/white supremacy, because he just walks up to people and says alt right talking points at them for a few minutes until they commit a hate crime. I'm not kidding. It's very on the nose. Though the pipeline moves fast, it doesn't work THAT fast, so those scenes felt disingenuous.
What irked me the most was Baba Yaga reimagined as a Jewish Ukrainian in 1919. Nothing inherently wrong with that, I love folklore retellings or generally inspired things. But the connection of Baba Yaga basically stops at the name. She's just a woman who is sort of made fun of in town and given that nickname, and she then
Nothing inherently wrong with that either, but otherwise, there's no tie in to any of the actual themes of Baba Yaga the original myth. I was expecting some sort of reclamation of the name and how she's a social outcast, a villain arc, SOMETHING, but there's nothing there.
Weirder still is that it's then just a strange naming convention. I get that she never went by her real name, but you're telling me the only surname she passed on was Yaga???? If you're not familiar with Ukrainian naming conventions, this would make her kids stand out like a sore thumb.
Baba obviously means grandmother or more derogatorily, a hag
Yaga has no true consensus on what it means, but historians believe it comes from different possible Old Slavonic descriptors that are all again derogatory in nature. It's like giving your kids the possible surnames of Witch, Anger, Horror, or Disease. Like those are the possibilities they've come up with for what Yaga means.
I would've even accepted if we didn't know her name from the start, and it was revealed as the story went on as a sort of OH! That's why they inh rited the chicken leg house! But as with the rest of the themes, it must be heavy handed.
As a less serious aside: crazy how Isaac is a tit for tat self insert character I would've written in middle school. Not even kidding, younger me feels so called out. It's honestly very funny
Content Warnings
Graphic: Antisemitism, Racism, and Hate crime
kaywhiteley's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
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
4.75
While a little slow at times, this book was an incredible exploration of generational trauma and the power that our stories have.
The ending felt a bit rushed but it was beautifully written and I loved the different POVs
The ending felt a bit rushed but it was beautifully written and I loved the different POVs
Content Warnings
Graphic: Genocide, Antisemitism, and Violence
savvy999's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
tense
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
4.5
This is such a treasure of a book, I am so glad to have finally read it. It is lush and detailed, moving and energetic. Mixed in with the magical there is a deep sense of urgency and fear, captures the prescient sense of the dangers of alienation and the insidiousness of oppression.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Antisemitism, Child death, War, Fire/Fire injury, and Xenophobia
caebrown's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
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
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Child death, Self harm, Antisemitism, Death, Genocide, Animal death, Violence, and Hate crime