Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

Las brujas del ayer y del mañana by Alix E. Harrow

70 reviews

justmys's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad 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

4.75

A powerful book that explores the varying pains that women face in their lives. Although it is set in the late 1800s, the plight of the women between the pages is universal and never ending and you'll find yourself empathising with the characters almost from the very beginning.
The book touches upon a myriad of different cultures and lives, exploring their differences and similarities and finding what joins us together in the face of a fight that needs to be won.
You can feel the fire in these pages, it's so beautifully written and feels rooted in history, despite the fiction and magic. It weaves between the marginalised and the long suffering, bringing in LGBTQ+ topics, race inequality, social standing and sex, and it does so with such genuine care and love it's beautiful to read. 


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schnaucl's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring sad 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? No

5.0

I really like this book.  It's very smartly written with interesting characters and clever tweaks to history and historical figures.  

It's a book that's full of women's rage and the subtle ways they have to hide their power to pass things down through the generations and the never ending cycle of women gaining a measure of power only to have it nearly all taken from them.  But still they endure. 

I appreciated the effort to bring in words and ways from other cultures, both contemporary and historical, and the focus on the fact that progress will eventually cause a reactionary backlash which will fall hardest on the most marginalized.

While I really liked the book, the ending didn't quite work for me.  Well, it works on a thematic level, just not a practical level. I can't think of any reason Gideon would choose to take over the body of a female child.   He is keenly aware of how easy to is to accuse a woman of witchcraft and see her burn, whether she's a witch or not.  I can't see himself putting himself in that position, even temporarily.   Surely he's found some method over the long years of gaining procuring what he needs from the next man (or potential men) whose body he intends to occupy.   I think Eve had to be in some kind of proximity and I'd think it a big gamble that once she was rescued she'd be brought to her mother's burning rather than safely whisked out of the city.

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sneakysnam's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious sad tense 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? It's complicated

4.5


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del_phinium's review against another edition

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adventurous inspiring mysterious medium-paced

4.5


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julianimal's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced
  • 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

4.0


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_teoeo's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring sad 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

5.0

This was a fantastic book!! I enjoyed it soooo much. Don't know how I feel about retelling fairy tales but in this book it is well done. Couldn't decide if I should rate it 4,75 or 5 stars but I loved it so much it just HAS to be 5 stars.
Please look at the trigger and content  warnings before reading it, because it really was a lot sometimes.

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bookishaddictions's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense 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? It's complicated

5.0

One word for this book: wow. I snagged this novel on Kindle because of the beautiful cover, and I have zero regrets. This is probably one of my favorite books so far this year (and I’ve read quite a few). Harrow provides strong and authentic characters, a solid plot, and interesting perspectives as she shows old ideas in a new light. Follow along with the Eastwood sisters as they work to rediscover the magic that is believed to be lost in this historical fantasy. This is a story of sisterhood, resiliency, love, and survival; it is the reminder that if a woman has the will, she must only find a way. The Eastwood sisters give us everything a reader could want, and I definitely found myself considering what Hogwarts house they would each theoretically belong to. Juniper gives us the tough and fierce witch we always are tempted to be (she’d def be a Slytherin). Agnes shows us the strength of a mother’s love (and is argubly a Griffyndor). Beatrice is our soft-spoken witch that reminds us we that we are all important (and she’s our Ravenclaw). Overall, I 100% support you checking this book out! 

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breadwitchery's review against another edition

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adventurous 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


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njlbo1's review against another edition

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  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0


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gmalmquist's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious 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


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