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nrogers_1030's review against another edition
DNF @ 56% due to overly graphic animal abuse & death & an increasingly unlikeable protagonist.
I received this for free from a Goodreads giveaway.
I received this for free from a Goodreads giveaway.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Sexual violence, Torture, Blood, and Murder
Minor: Sexual content
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
instalovewithbooks's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
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? It's complicated
4.25
I really want to hug Evike and Gaspar and just love them like they deserve. My precious cinnamon rolls.
The subplot of romance was really good and it was slow burn, and I loved it, but the fact that they don't actually end up together ruined me, I totally get it but 🥲🥲
The subplot of romance was really good and it was slow burn, and I loved it, but the fact that they don't actually end up together ruined me, I totally get it but 🥲🥲
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Gore, Blood, and Colonisation
Moderate: Abandonment
Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Death of parent
jessisbest's review against another edition
adventurous
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
5.0
I usually say I don't like fantasy, but I've never been so happy to eat my words.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Antisemitism
Moderate: Body horror
morriganslibrary's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
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
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Violence, and Blood
Moderate: Antisemitism and War
sambutwithbooks's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
I enjoyed this book for the most part, I did feel a little like we didn't spend enough time embroiled in the political side of things for the danger to really settle in properly though. I think this would've been a great duology in that aspect.
Also the author seems to have a thing with a lot of repeating descriptions and words that was really noticeable after a while. A lot of things were bruise coloured, hurt like a bruise, were tender like a new bruise. Also a lot of flushing and blushing. I think that's part of this being a debut book though and I'm curious to see how Reid's writing progresses in later books.
Also the author seems to have a thing with a lot of repeating descriptions and words that was really noticeable after a while. A lot of things were bruise coloured, hurt like a bruise, were tender like a new bruise. Also a lot of flushing and blushing. I think that's part of this being a debut book though and I'm curious to see how Reid's writing progresses in later books.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Death, Gore, Religious bigotry, and Injury/Injury detail
lele_funland's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
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
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, and Blood
Moderate: Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Hate crime, Self harm, Violence, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Colonisation, and Classism
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
the_white_bear's review against another edition
dark
emotional
informative
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
To preface, I think I might’ve rated this book a bit higher if I hadn’t listened to it on audiobook. The narrator had a great voice, but was very one-note, and never ramped up the feeling of urgency during tense scenes. It made the entire book feel kinda bland, because the calm, reflective moments were in the same tone as the ones clearly meant to be tense, or even scary.
(Spoilers ahead)
That being said, I thought the general premise was really interesting. The lore and magic systems were very intriguing, and I liked learning about how the world worked. The parallels between this books divided peoples with real world Catholicism and their treatment of the Jews and Pagans in our real world history was something I haven’t seen explored much in fantasy novels, so it was an interesting change of pace to feature that. There were some questions that I came to the end of the book with no answer for, but so much had already been explored so I’m not feeling too much of the lack.
Character-wise, I don’t think I ever came to like Evike as much as I wanted to as the MC. The entire first half of the book didn’t show much more than her vicious, genuinely mean side. As the in-book time went on, I actually got tired of how many times a version of the phrase “I don’t know why, but I said the most cutting thing I could think of, and a part of me regrets it,” was actually exhausting. I had more sympathy towards Gaspar halfway through the book than I did for her. Her character did finally start to grow when they reached the city and she started showing a wider range of emotion and character, so I think I ended the boom feeling rather neutral about her instead of simply disliking her. Kinda wanted more from her though overall.
The relationship between Evike and Gaspar was… lackluster. I am a huge fan of well rounded relationship growth, and this was just not it. It’s like the whole first half the book spent so much time having Evike be mean to him, and him trying so desperately to maintain his piety, that by the time they get separated in the city and then come back together, their feelings for each other felt very shallow and disingenuous. I think if they were given more time, their feelings could have made sense, but as it stands it was just kinda… meh. Especially when he declares that he would leave everything to follow her. It just felt like such a big declaration that didn’t fit where their relationship was at that point.
And then, when it comes to Evike and Kotlin, again I just wish there was more from that relationship development. We spend the entire first half of the book seeing Kotlin from Evike’s POV as the absolute bane of her 25 years of existence. The switch when Kotlin later shows up and they establish themselves as allies makes sense out of convenience and the need for survival, but the subsequent transition then into friendship? If they had spent a bit more time working through things that might’ve worked better. But it’s like a lifetime of torment ceased to matter so fast, and I’m sorry but something like that shouldn’t be so easily forgiven and brushed aside. Again, I accept it for the narrative, but a victim of lifelong abuse shouldn’t have their trauma disregarded like that.
I found Nandor to be an interesting villain indeed. And as someone formerly raised very, very Christian, his whole deal hit rather close to home, making him feel that much more disturbing. While I do feel like he lacked in some areas, character-wise, I still found his demise satisfying. In fact, the entire climax was very cinematic, though perhaps wrapped up too quickly in the end. The jump to our post-epilogue scene was almost jarring in that so much of it felt too neatly wrapped in a bow. I wish we could’ve gotten more from all of the other characters and their dynamics towards the main character. I wanted more about Evike’s homecoming and how re relationship with her village grew, because again the jump from abusive relationship to everything being ok felt a bit unrealisticly simplified.
Overall, while I really liked the premise of the book and the world that it was written into, I felt the story itself just didn’t deliver what it clearly meant to. I ended it still not feeling like I knew the characters very well, nor was I all that invested in them, and I wanted to get more closure on a number of secondary characters. Was it an interesting read? Sure. And I glad I read it? Yes. Will I be picking it up again in the future? Honestly probably not.
(Spoilers ahead)
That being said, I thought the general premise was really interesting. The lore and magic systems were very intriguing, and I liked learning about how the world worked. The parallels between this books divided peoples with real world Catholicism and their treatment of the Jews and Pagans in our real world history was something I haven’t seen explored much in fantasy novels, so it was an interesting change of pace to feature that. There were some questions that I came to the end of the book with no answer for, but so much had already been explored so I’m not feeling too much of the lack.
Character-wise, I don’t think I ever came to like Evike as much as I wanted to as the MC. The entire first half of the book didn’t show much more than her vicious, genuinely mean side. As the in-book time went on, I actually got tired of how many times a version of the phrase “I don’t know why, but I said the most cutting thing I could think of, and a part of me regrets it,” was actually exhausting. I had more sympathy towards Gaspar halfway through the book than I did for her. Her character did finally start to grow when they reached the city and she started showing a wider range of emotion and character, so I think I ended the boom feeling rather neutral about her instead of simply disliking her. Kinda wanted more from her though overall.
The relationship between Evike and Gaspar was… lackluster. I am a huge fan of well rounded relationship growth, and this was just not it. It’s like the whole first half the book spent so much time having Evike be mean to him, and him trying so desperately to maintain his piety, that by the time they get separated in the city and then come back together, their feelings for each other felt very shallow and disingenuous. I think if they were given more time, their feelings could have made sense, but as it stands it was just kinda… meh. Especially when he declares that he would leave everything to follow her. It just felt like such a big declaration that didn’t fit where their relationship was at that point.
And then, when it comes to Evike and Kotlin, again I just wish there was more from that relationship development. We spend the entire first half of the book seeing Kotlin from Evike’s POV as the absolute bane of her 25 years of existence. The switch when Kotlin later shows up and they establish themselves as allies makes sense out of convenience and the need for survival, but the subsequent transition then into friendship? If they had spent a bit more time working through things that might’ve worked better. But it’s like a lifetime of torment ceased to matter so fast, and I’m sorry but something like that shouldn’t be so easily forgiven and brushed aside. Again, I accept it for the narrative, but a victim of lifelong abuse shouldn’t have their trauma disregarded like that.
I found Nandor to be an interesting villain indeed. And as someone formerly raised very, very Christian, his whole deal hit rather close to home, making him feel that much more disturbing. While I do feel like he lacked in some areas, character-wise, I still found his demise satisfying. In fact, the entire climax was very cinematic, though perhaps wrapped up too quickly in the end. The jump to our post-epilogue scene was almost jarring in that so much of it felt too neatly wrapped in a bow. I wish we could’ve gotten more from all of the other characters and their dynamics towards the main character. I wanted more about Evike’s homecoming and how re relationship with her village grew, because again the jump from abusive relationship to everything being ok felt a bit unrealisticly simplified.
Overall, while I really liked the premise of the book and the world that it was written into, I felt the story itself just didn’t deliver what it clearly meant to. I ended it still not feeling like I knew the characters very well, nor was I all that invested in them, and I wanted to get more closure on a number of secondary characters. Was it an interesting read? Sure. And I glad I read it? Yes. Will I be picking it up again in the future? Honestly probably not.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Gore, and Antisemitism
Moderate: Animal death and Xenophobia
Minor: Sexual content
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), revolution