Reviews

Joan by Katherine J. Chen

mayav_p's review

adventurous dark 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

3.5

semperlunaris's review

emotional sad medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Child abuse, Gore, Misogyny, War, and Child death

Moderate: Sexual harassment and Rape

jools_cope's review

DNF due to how slow and uneventful I found the book.

harveyhorse321's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful medium-paced

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

4.0

Overall I really enjoyed this book. Initially I found it hard to get into because of the amount of focus on her basically just being abused by her dad - was a little too much. Having said that, it does feed into Joan’s character development really nicely later on and is really important in truly understanding her. As soon as Joan meets Charles, the book transformed and instantly became a page-turner for me (as I predicted).
I loved how in Katherine J Chen really puts the reader in Joan’s head; it always felt very personal, like I knew her and to an extent was her. I also enjoyed the choice of making her relationship with God so strained to begin with because it left the question of whether she truly was divine or blessed so open and ambiguous.
This is not only a great read, but also I think an important one, and would highly recommend.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death and Child abuse

Minor: Rape

justineprince's review against another edition

challenging dark hopeful inspiring 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

paularobbie's review against another edition

emotional informative sad 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

mulleinandmoonstone's review

5.0

Brilliant. The best historical fiction I’ve read in a very long time.

rie's review

adventurous emotional inspiring medium-paced

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

4.0

 The pacing was a little slow at times, but I loved the writing and thought the author did fantastic at bringing these historic figures to life. 

christy4's review

adventurous hopeful inspiring sad medium-paced

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

4.0

lydreading's review against another edition

adventurous emotional medium-paced

4.0