Reviews with content warning for Gore - The Wolf and the Woodsman

Reviews tagging 'Gore'

The Wolf and the Woodsman by Ava Reid

190 reviews

fesd5's review against another edition

adventurous medium-paced

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

4.5

An excellent read, perfect for lovers of Naomi Novik (particularly Uprooted and Spinning Silver). This book defies norms and as a result, serves as a human, intricate, gripping and gruesome telling of oppression, being without a place, and finding a home. Despite the book being excellently written with incredible characters and intriguing plot, I felt I couldn't give this book all 5 stars because I didn't find it as gripping as other novels I've read.

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josisbooks's review against another edition

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slow-paced

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

3.0

this was very gory and longer than it needed to be imo. evike as a narrator was unfortunately very repetitive and the writing overall wasn’t for me. any character development felt like two steps forward and five steps back - i get anger, disdain, hatred, feeling betrayed and hurt, but what else are you feeling? what else is there to build on? we got all these things but (at least for me) far too late into the plot. i started enjoying this book when i had inly 80 pages left to the end.

the story was still a good one, there’s a lot of potential to expand on the universe or write prequels. for that to work, the writing needs to be a little more concise though.

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nettleviolet's review against another edition

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adventurous dark medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? N/A

1.75

This had to be one of my least favourite books of the year, which was super disappointing. To start, I found the characters really inconsistent, unbelievable, repetitive and one-dimensional and the romance between the two main characters to be totally unbelievable and gross. I hate the trope of "the oppressed falls for the oppressor" (where the oppressor is a person of great power in the oppressive system) because it is very hard to do and they did it really poorly in this book.

The first half was mostly this blossoming, totally unbelievable and really gross romance, which consisted of the "strong female character" doing her best to both be mean to, but not hurt the feelings of, her captor that she is "falling in love" with.

But, into the second half, I enjoyed the story more as it delved more into politics, spirituality, family and ancestry. Not enough to enjoy the book, but enough to rate it more than 1 star.

There were many folk tales peppered through the book which were my favourite part, and the mythology was well developed as was the magic system. However, neither of these were good enough to redeem the book.

I'm not super into horror/gore and there was a lot of it in this book and that was also off-putting. BUT I have definitely tolerated higher levels of horror/gore in books I've enjoyed, so I think it just was a point against a book I already hated.

Overall, if I hadn't been reading this for a bookclub I would've DNF'd it about 20% in, if not sooner.

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saurahsaurus's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful 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

3.75

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riththewarluid's review against another edition

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adventurous dark reflective medium-paced

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

4.5

Pacing is a bit off, especially in the middle of the book, but remarkable premise and absolutely beautiful writing. Very heavy on descriptions.

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savagesav25's review against another edition

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adventurous dark tense medium-paced

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

4.0

i loved the writing and lore of this book. it was interesting to immerse myself in this story, but my one complaint was the main character. i feel as though there was very little character development through the book, and that she was still making the same silly mistakes at the end as she did in the beginning. i also feel as though the prince had very little character throughout the book in general. it also felt somewhat predictable and flat overall. that being said the book was very entertaining and the writing was pretty good. the lore itself was enough to drive the story and increase my interest.

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r_a_bell's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious 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

4.5

The perfect example of what a stand-alone should be! You get all of the story of a trilogy in one book. The beginning journey did seem a little pointless in the end, and I kind of wish it had been a bit shorter if it wasn’t really going to go anywhere. However, it was still enjoyable to read and didn’t feel unnecessarily drawn out. I love how realistic it was its depiction of social structures and relationships, especially in regard to religion. I also really liked the end! It didn’t wrap everything up in a neat little bow just because that’s what the author thought readers would want. The ending was realistic and true to the story, yet satisfying, and it left that little kernel of hope that everything would end up as a “happily ever after.”

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teaspoonaddict's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.5

This book was a beast in the best way possible. I found that I did personally struggle in the beginning but was allured by the darkness and the want for survival, specifically Évike and her growth from wanting to survive as an individual to wanting her culture and history to survive. It was absolutely gut-wrenching. To see her anguish, to fight mentally and physically, was beautiful and such a gift. This book was an amazing challenge and I feel as if I have learned and grown so much with it.

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jessslibrary's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark 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

4.0

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jasperdotpdf's review against another edition

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adventurous dark tense slow-paced

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

3.75

Did I have a single ounce of an idea what was going on? No.
Did I still enjoy reading this? Absolutely.
Was the writing beautiful? 100%.

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