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spellboundchapters's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
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
4.0
This book reminded me why I like slow paced books and slow-burn romances. ♥️ But don’t be fooled, although the romance occupies quite a big part of the story, it mainly focuses on heavier topics such as ethnic cleansing, religious persecution, or generational trauma.
Even though this book takes its sweet time, it manages to never be boring; and I feel like the sudden change in the pacing made the action scenes even more intense and unexpected whenever they happened.
My favourite thing in this book was probably the addition of all the myths and legends of all the different faiths. This added so much dimension to the story. And I appreciate how they permitted to discuss religions (both as faiths and institutions), and more precisely the similarities between different religions, without it feeling forced.
The entire worldbuilding was fascinating — a whole magic system based on body horror was not something I ever thought I would want more of in my fantasy stories, but I weirdly enjoyed it. It was so different from what I’m used to reading!
The romance was a delight to read. Finally, an enemies-to-lovers where they’re actually enemies at the start! 😂 The tension and pining between Évike and Gáspár… *chef’s kiss* is all I have to say; if you love Six of Crows’s Helnik you will probably love these two as well. 🥺
Took a star off because some of the writing was sometimes a bit repetitive, and because I didn’t feel like Évike was behaving like someone who has been bullied and abused during the majority of her life. And it featured one of my least favourite trope ever: the abused sacrificing themselves for their abusers and thinking things like "but I know they still loved me even if they never told me or showed me in any way" nope nope nopeee.
Even though this book takes its sweet time, it manages to never be boring; and I feel like the sudden change in the pacing made the action scenes even more intense and unexpected whenever they happened.
My favourite thing in this book was probably the addition of all the myths and legends of all the different faiths. This added so much dimension to the story. And I appreciate how they permitted to discuss religions (both as faiths and institutions), and more precisely the similarities between different religions, without it feeling forced.
The entire worldbuilding was fascinating — a whole magic system based on body horror was not something I ever thought I would want more of in my fantasy stories, but I weirdly enjoyed it. It was so different from what I’m used to reading!
The romance was a delight to read. Finally, an enemies-to-lovers where they’re actually enemies at the start! 😂 The tension and pining between Évike and Gáspár… *chef’s kiss* is all I have to say; if you love Six of Crows’s Helnik you will probably love these two as well. 🥺
Took a star off because some of the writing was sometimes a bit repetitive, and because I didn’t feel like Évike was behaving like someone who has been bullied and abused during the majority of her life. And it featured one of my least favourite trope ever: the abused sacrificing themselves for their abusers and thinking things like "but I know they still loved me even if they never told me or showed me in any way" nope nope nopeee.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Genocide, Gore, Physical abuse, Self harm, Torture, Vomit, and Antisemitism
Moderate: Animal cruelty and Animal death
lolaslalaland's review against another edition
5.0
Very reminiscent of medieval times in religious turmoil.
The story is told through such a folkloric lense, I loved it.
The characters were all so great and believable and I was rooting for our romantic duo.
The story is told through such a folkloric lense, I loved it.
The characters were all so great and believable and I was rooting for our romantic duo.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, and Religious bigotry
riskugel's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Physical abuse, Racism, Self harm, Torture, Violence, War, and Injury/Injury detail
wolfinthestars's review against another edition
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Body shaming, Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Self harm, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Religious bigotry, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Animal death, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Racism, Vomit, Fire/Fire injury, and Colonisation
thoughtsontomes's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
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? It's complicated
5.0
This has a combination of everything I love to make it perfect for me: sentient forests, Eastern European folklore and monsters, enemies to reluctant allies to lovers, slow burn, history woven with magic systems from a bunch of different religions, a stubborn and impulsive main character, and full fleshed out cast of characters.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Gore, Violence, Blood, and Religious bigotry
Moderate: Bullying, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, and Self harm
Minor: Death of parent
astitchnastory's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Violence, Religious bigotry, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail
cemeterygay's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
5.0
I am so immensely happy I read this as my first fantasy of the year. If you're looking for a phenomenal fantasy steeped in aspects of Jewish and Hungarian folklore with a heavy dose of gore and beautiful prose, I could not recommend this book enough. This book is just a spectacular debut for Ava Reid.
The beautiful lyrical writing style works so brilliantly with both the quick pacing of the story and the horror elements so beautifully to create an almost gruesome fairytale-esque vibe. While some of the gore and horror elements can be quite intense the writing style almost happens to spin it into a softer vibe along the lines of darker fairytales and folk stories like Cinderella or Beowulf. The choice of POV worked wonderfully in tandem with both the writing style and pacing. As the pacing of the book is just so quick limiting the book to a first-person POV helps immensely as you are often learning aspects of the world as Evike learns them or are having them gradually recounted by her which helps make the quick pacing feasible. It also helps to establish a lot more about Evike as a person and to better illustrate the many internal conflicts she was dealing with which allowed the lyrical writing style to not only just be pleasing to read but to give it purpose by helping the reader to better understand Evike and how she thinks.
That brings me to Evike as a character. She is such a brilliant protagonist who is given both great space to grow and falter and really delve into her internal struggles of cultural identity, grief, and morality while confronting the horrors of religious persecution and colonization that she faces. Evike's deep empathy and sense of internal morality colliding with both external concepts of morality and her own grief and suffering is so interesting to read as it handled with such grace and sensitivity. Watching Evike grapple and find peace with her struggles of religious and ethnic identity is so deeply interesting and satisfying. The ultimate trajectory of her story is intensely satisfying and works so beautifully with the themes of the story.
The relationship between Evike and Gaspar is so well-handled as is Gaspar as a character. I'm not a big enemies to lovers person but this, this is the blueprint for how to effectively write an enemies to lovers story. Watching both Evike and Gaspar consistently challenge each other's views on the world, the future of the country, and religion was so deeply fascinating and greatly helps the exploration of religious persecution, specifically both towards Jewish folk and as a result of Christianity, as well as the many contradictions and complexities of Christian imperialism. I was so deeply invested in watching these characters grow from enemies to reluctant allies into more and to watch them individually grow.
I also need to highlight to how much Evike's relationship with the Yehuli including her father really adds to the story. Watching Evike explore what is essentially her Jewish identity and reconnect with her family is not only incredibly heartwarming but is such a nice aspect of the story that really helps portray an amazing example of resistance against oppression. It's such a nice contrast from earlier parts of the book in both tone and character development. It really helps provide a lot of resolution to prior conflicts and questions raised in the story specifically with Evike and really gives a broader look at discussions of religion and survival in the face of Christian imperialism.
The last relationship I need to highlight is between Evike and her village. This is where a lot of the conversations of trauma and grief really shine. Watching how Evike changes her relationships and views about other people from her village is just very compelling and really goes hand in hand with how her views on her own identity, religion, and the past trauma she's suffered change. Watching her heal from past trauma while also participating in community healing as well is such a nice departure from other books. Also just seeing how much those relationships affect her other relationships with other people, her own religious identity, as well as her own sense morality is such a needed addition to the book.
The exploration of both Nandor and the magic system is just absolutely phenomenal. Nandor as a character is so deeply entwined with the magic system and the exploration of it. The way Nandor represents Christian hypocrisy and imperialism is so interesting to watch play out. He does an amazing job at really becoming an imposing unlikeable character with a very real and consistent, but not true, view on the world and religion. Nandor is so heavily used as an exploration of how different groups gain access to magic and thus gain political power and also just the way people practice religion. Watching Nandor, the Woodsmen, and even Evike sacrifice to gain power so clearly parallels a lot of the conversations in the book about each religious system and the contradictions within each's religious beliefs and practice. In general, seeing this concept used to discuss how Christianity adopted Pagan practices while also decrying them to gain support is fascinating and so well-executed. Even the discussions of how each in-text religious group view each other parallels real life experiences so brilliantly.
I just want to thank my friend Bri for getting me this book, as I think this is a book that will really stick with me for a long time.
The beautiful lyrical writing style works so brilliantly with both the quick pacing of the story and the horror elements so beautifully to create an almost gruesome fairytale-esque vibe. While some of the gore and horror elements can be quite intense the writing style almost happens to spin it into a softer vibe along the lines of darker fairytales and folk stories like Cinderella or Beowulf. The choice of POV worked wonderfully in tandem with both the writing style and pacing. As the pacing of the book is just so quick limiting the book to a first-person POV helps immensely as you are often learning aspects of the world as Evike learns them or are having them gradually recounted by her which helps make the quick pacing feasible. It also helps to establish a lot more about Evike as a person and to better illustrate the many internal conflicts she was dealing with which allowed the lyrical writing style to not only just be pleasing to read but to give it purpose by helping the reader to better understand Evike and how she thinks.
That brings me to Evike as a character. She is such a brilliant protagonist who is given both great space to grow and falter and really delve into her internal struggles of cultural identity, grief, and morality while confronting the horrors of religious persecution and colonization that she faces. Evike's deep empathy and sense of internal morality colliding with both external concepts of morality and her own grief and suffering is so interesting to read as it handled with such grace and sensitivity. Watching Evike grapple and find peace with her struggles of religious and ethnic identity is so deeply interesting and satisfying. The ultimate trajectory of her story is intensely satisfying and works so beautifully with the themes of the story.
The relationship between Evike and Gaspar is so well-handled as is Gaspar as a character.
I also need to highlight to how much Evike's relationship with the Yehuli including her father really adds to the story. Watching Evike explore what is essentially her Jewish identity and reconnect with her family is not only incredibly heartwarming but is such a nice aspect of the story that really helps portray an amazing example of resistance against oppression. It's such a nice contrast from earlier parts of the book in both tone and character development. It really helps provide a lot of resolution to prior conflicts and questions raised in the story specifically with Evike and really gives a broader look at discussions of religion and survival in the face of Christian imperialism.
The last relationship I need to highlight is between Evike and her village. This is where a lot of the conversations of trauma and grief really shine. Watching how Evike changes her relationships and views about other people from her village is just very compelling and really goes hand in hand with how her views on her own identity, religion, and the past trauma she's suffered change. Watching her heal from past trauma while also participating in community healing as well is such a nice departure from other books. Also just seeing how much those relationships affect her other relationships with other people, her own religious identity, as well as her own sense morality is such a needed addition to the book.
The exploration of both Nandor and the magic system is just absolutely phenomenal. Nandor as a character is so deeply entwined with the magic system and the exploration of it. The way Nandor represents Christian hypocrisy and imperialism is so interesting to watch play out. He does an amazing job at really becoming an imposing unlikeable character with a very real and consistent, but not true, view on the world and religion. Nandor is so heavily used as an exploration of how different groups gain access to magic and thus gain political power and also just the way people practice religion. Watching Nandor, the Woodsmen, and even Evike sacrifice to gain power so clearly parallels a lot of the conversations in the book about each religious system and the contradictions within each's religious beliefs and practice. In general, seeing this concept used to discuss how Christianity adopted Pagan practices while also decrying them to gain support is fascinating and so well-executed. Even the discussions of how each in-text religious group view each other parallels real life experiences so brilliantly.
I just want to thank my friend Bri for getting me this book, as I think this is a book that will really stick with me for a long time.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Self harm, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Antisemitism, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Child abuse and Grief
Additional CW: Colorism (moderate), hunting, frequent discussions of genocide (not actually acted upon), Neglect (moderate), Disowning (graphic), Imprisonment (fantasy), revolutionkaziaroo's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
tense
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? No
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Gore, Physical abuse, Self harm, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Sexual content, Grief, and Death of parent
Minor: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Fire/Fire injury, and War
Multiple descriptions of various limb amputations (both self inflicted and inflicted by others) throughout.smitinghedgehog's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
sad
tense
medium-paced
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Self harm, Violence, Blood, Religious bigotry, and Death of parent
elenamarmiroli's review against another edition
challenging
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.75
Ho trovato lo stile di scrittura troppo lirico per i miei gusti. A causa di ciò ho trovato difficile immergermi nella storia, visto che essa risulta anche leggermente lenta e comprende pochi dialoghi.
Inoltre, in generale, non ho neanche trovato la conclusione del conflitto particolarmente soddisfacente.
Nonostante ciò, credo che questo libro possa piacere a qualcuno che gradisce una scrittura più evocativa, in grado di creare un'atmosfera specifica per l'intera opera.
Inoltre, in generale, non ho neanche trovato la conclusione del conflitto particolarmente soddisfacente.
Nonostante ciò, credo che questo libro possa piacere a qualcuno che gradisce una scrittura più evocativa, in grado di creare un'atmosfera specifica per l'intera opera.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Physical abuse, and Murder