Reviews with content warning for Grief - Root Magic

Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Root Magic by Eden Royce

11 reviews

saracat's review against another edition

dark emotional informative inspiring 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? No

4.75

This book gave me so much to think about. And I definitely got close to tears a few times as well. It was a powerful story. The author’s note at the end talking about Gullah people and some of their family enforced how important this and stories like it are.

I loved the main character Jez, but the adult in me sometimes wanted her to not take certain risks or actions without her mother or uncle there. But, I think if I would a kid reading this, that would never cross my mind. And she is an amazing kid. I just think that despite not having my own kids, I can relate to the concern her mom and uncle showed.

I also loved how Jez’s compassion and kindness are highlighted in the story. But also show how her anger, hurt, and frustration don’t leave her immune from having darker thoughts at times as well.

The way Royce brought the novel full circle was very beautiful. I definitely want to see if they’ve written anything else.

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therainbowshelf's review

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adventurous challenging emotional hopeful informative mysterious reflective 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? No

5.0

Step into young Jezebel’s life as she and her twin brother start learning root magic, and experience a vibrant story exploring Gullah life and culture, friendship, and history. I absolutely loved this. Every choice Jezebel makes feels authentic to her character, and we’re brought on an emotional ride filled with friendship, grief, the terrors of racism, and magic.

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careinthelibrary's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional informative mysterious sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

Root Magic is great! I liked the two siblings and the whole cast of characters. The history that was incorporated into the story was fantastic and done naturally. I appreciated this one and will look forward to reading something else from this author in the future. Some really cool imagery and a world that I won't soon forget.

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ofpagesandparagraphs's review against another edition

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adventurous dark 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? N/A

4.0

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jojo_'s review

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adventurous dark emotional 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

4.0

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vasha's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional inspiring 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

4.5

I needed something immersive, and this story set in the 1963 Sea Islands was just the thing. I may've been briefly distracted by a few didactic moments, but after all, to the narrator, 11-year-old Jezebel Turner, learning about her ancestral traditions is important: a connection to her departed grandmother, transmitted by her beloved uncle, and necessary for her emotional survival through stressful times. The (brief) lectures are scattered among a whirlwind of events (cool to read about, tough to live through) and grounded in an excellent family. Hours after finishing the book I still feel like I'm living with Jez and her brother, mother, and uncle.

And, of course, it's magic. In learning root work, you might say Jez is attending magical school -- a serious school with high stakes. She also attends regular school, where the other girls sneer at her for the backwardness of belonging to a family of witch doctors (her uncle says the proper term is root worker, but he doesn't mind at all being called a witch doctor). One strand of the story is launched when Jez works some magic to try to get a friend. As if this wasn't stressful enough, on top of her grandmother's death, the lingering uncertainty of her father's disappearance a few years before, and the feeling that she's growing apart from her twin brother Jay, she has to cope with supernatural creatures that want to feed off her magic and, worse, the local policeman, Deputy Collins, who's been carrying on a program of harassment and violence against any Black people said to be doing root work. Although Collins is satisfactorily dealt with (not before leaving behind traumatic damage) we never learn why he's acting as he is. But, as another Black character rightly put it in a book I read earlier this year, "Who knows why white people do anything?" Nothing obliges Collins to explain himself. The supernatural beings turn out to be more approachable and understandable than he is. Nonetheless, the times are full of hope for an improvement in racial relations, with President Kennedy insisting on integration and, locally, the arrival of a reform-minded sheriff.

There's so much to like in this book: not just the "chills and thrills" but the wonderful characters (Jez's mother is especially excellent), the sights, sounds and smells of the farm and the tidal marsh, and Jez's description of the feeling of being supported by her community and her ancestors, especially in the moving final chapter.

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f18's review against another edition

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emotional inspiring mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes

4.5

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readerforlife's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark hopeful inspiring mysterious slow-paced

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

4.25

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bookishcori's review against another edition

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adventurous dark informative inspiring mysterious medium-paced

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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adoras's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious reflective 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

Wow. I am so impressed with this novel. It has such a beautiful sense of time and place, set in South Carolina in 1963, and has so many little details that really put me in the characters' shoes, particularly talk about language and a lot of descriptions of food. The world building is fantastic, especially in the natural way we learn about magic (root work) as Jezebel and Jay learn about it. Also, for a middle grade novel, it's genuinely creepy and upsetting and scary at points. There were parts where I really felt chilled or worried for the characters' safety. I'm bumping this up to 4.5 stars because of how well it stuck the landing. While I find that many fantasy and/or middle grade books have a great set-up, this had a solid set up and then kept ramping up, really delivering in the third act.

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