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cozyscones's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
reflective
tense
fast-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? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Death, Murder, and Violence
Moderate: Excrement and Confinement
Minor: Sexual assault and Miscarriage
smrj's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood
Moderate: Animal death, Body horror, Excrement, and Gore
Minor: Rape
bluejayreads's review against another edition
dark
emotional
sad
tense
4.0
I so badly wanted my Monstress fix that I went and read an entirely unrelated short story collection just because it was written by the same author. So do with that what you will.
This whole collection has a vibe like a dark fairy tale. Even though three of the stories are ones I would not label “fantasy,” they all had the same mood of magic gone dark and twisted and violent even when there was no magic in the story at all. Several of them also contain forests that are magically twisted and/or otherwise dangerous, but I’m not sure what to make of that theme.
The emphasis in these stories is on the darkness in humans. A lot of the worlds are magical and twisted, but it’s the humans who make them violent and dangerous. There are things out there that can hurt you, but the ones who will do the most damage are frightened and angry people, and you won’t see it coming.
Personally, I like stories that aren’t afraid to go dark. Every single story in this collection goes hard on blood and trauma. That makes it a very intense reading experience – not the kind of book it’s easy to read straight through. The breaks between stories provide a nice opportunity to take a break from all the feelings and trauma in the stories.
None of these stories particularly stood out to me, but none of them were bad. Each was unique and compelling and did a great job grabbing my emotions. It’s not really the Monstress fix I wanted when I picked it up, and I think that prevents me from unequivocally saying it’s awesome, but these stories are all very good.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Death, Body horror, Abandonment, Blood, Gore, Fire/Fire injury, and Violence
Moderate: Excrement, Vomit, War, Rape, Child death, Death of parent, and Child abuse
Minor: Death of parent and Suicidal thoughts
The Briar and the Rose: Mind control/someone controlling someone else’s body without consent
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