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city_girl_writer's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Gore, Violence, and Religious bigotry
Moderate: Death of parent, Self harm, Animal death, and Antisemitism
Minor: War and Sexual content
lenelchlein's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Self harm and Violence
Moderate: Religious bigotry and Animal death
the__allovee's review against another edition
- 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
4.0
Graphic: Gore, Torture, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Religious bigotry
johnsnowwasright's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
I love Reid's dark, twisted but ethereal settings that read like a Florence and the Machine song.
Evike was such a complicated and flawed character. I would say she's an ugly character at times who is hard to like but we need more characters like her.
Reid managed to explore how trauma can shape who we are and how we treat people in such a poignant way. I liked that we saw Evike grow beyond her trauma responses and realize that she can't treat people however she wants because she is hurting. That it is our choice to break the cycle of trauma and abuse.
I also enjoyed the discussion of religious fundamentalism and the hypocrisy inherent in that fundamentalism. I found it hilarious that the 'Godfather of Life' was every bit as capricious as the pagan gods but the followers completely missed that in their devotion.
I do wish that Reid had given more definition to how these gods interacted with each other and how all their magic could coexist. (Also if there is a godfather of life that's the Christian God then is the Yehuli God the same as Godfather Life but worshiped differently? That's something I wish she had expanded upon.)
But all in all, Reid is such a unique voice and I cannot wait for her next book.
Graphic: Gore, Religious bigotry, and Body horror
aidareads's review against another edition
- 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
4.0
Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Death, Antisemitism, and Gore
ska1224's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Religious bigotry, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Death of parent, Confinement, Xenophobia, Antisemitism, War, Violence, Self harm, Death, and Hate crime
witcheep's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
"What would you have me do?" he asks. "You have already ruined me."
The worldbuilding showcases a colonizing worldview where the ruling religious group deems other religions, cultures, and ethnicities inferior and something that should be purged. The oppressor-religious group is content on using the other groups to their own benefit, though. They take the others' magic, lives, and even their folklore, but bend it so that it fits their own religious world view. This changing of stories takes the voice away from the original people, hiding them.
You can't hoard stories the way you hoard gold, despite what Virág would say. There's nothing to stop anyone from taking the bits they like, and changing or erasing the rest, [--]
The ruling people of the world do this even to their own kings: their legacy is carved in stone only after their death, when he kings themself won't be able to have a say in it anymore, so the living may decide what kind of kingdom they have left behind. Words have power, and the rulers are very strict with who gets a say in anything important. Hence, the cruelty of rendering other people voiceless extends to every level of the society, making power a fleeting thing instead of a lasting impression.
Reid brings up the topic of picking parts of someone else's folklore and rebuilding it to fit one's own needs multiple times. She seems to have a message that this kind of cultural appropriation is bad, but cannot be stopped. She flashes different possibilities of the groups either being forcefully assimilated into the ruling religious ways, staying separate and against each other, or finding a way to mix and coexist.
Maybe by doing so Reid wants to justify her own usage of source material and research for this book: Reid herself has clearly used this strategy of reusing stories while writing this book. She has combed through different mythologies, religious and cultural lore and histories, and uses them quite loosely as her material, combining them into her fantasy world and disregarding some parts or facts altogether. Reid uses at least jewish lore, Eastern European mythology, history and names, and Finnish national epic Kalevala. I was first intriqued by this, but the execution left me wanting a retelling more true to the elements of the original tales or an altogether more original lore to this fantasy world.
Graphic: Body horror
Moderate: Religious bigotry, Death, Cultural appropriation, Torture, Xenophobia, and Bullying
Minor: Fire/Fire injury
kyeruhh's review against another edition
- 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
3.5
- The world building/lord
- Actual enemies to lovers
- The prose
- Very gory imo - my fault for not checking CWs first though
- A lot of info dumping (at least the info was interesting)
- To me, the pacing was odd
Graphic: Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, and Religious bigotry
Moderate: Antisemitism, Hate crime, and Death of parent
evelphysicist's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Self harm, Animal cruelty, Injury/Injury detail, Animal death, Murder, and Violence
Moderate: Physical abuse, Racism, Xenophobia, and Religious bigotry
Minor: War
lovefromhannah's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- 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
despite this being her debut, I actually read juniper and thorn prior to this. perhaps this was a mistake on my behalf as I enjoyed that more. whereas this fantasy is more folklore, oral tradition, holly black-esque conventions, juniper and thorn is more adjacent to the horror of girlhood, body autonomy and complex family relationships. on paper, I was destined to like juniper and thorn more - but I still really enjoyed the wolf and the woodsman and being witness to her growth as a writer.
"One day when I come for our council meetings," I begin carefully, "you will have a new bride. You must."
...
To my suprise, Gaspar only lifts a shoulder. "Perhaps. Perhaps not. If the king has no true-born son, the crown will fall to a brother, a cousin, an uncle. The line of succession is more like a long thread that that spirals across our family tree. I can always name another heir."
It is enough to for me to hold on to, hope as thin as the knife's edge hanging above us. I will grasp it even if it cuts me; I will keep it from falling." (pp. 408-9)
I will continue to devour ava reid's backlog as I wait (im)patiently for lady macbeth to release.
Graphic: Racial slurs, Antisemitism, Violence, Animal death, Religious bigotry, Torture, Hate crime, Trafficking, and Xenophobia
Moderate: Abandonment and Gore
Minor: Self harm