Reviews tagging 'Confinement'

Nettle & Bone by T. Kingfisher

60 reviews

alexiconic's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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

5.0

adventurous, fairytale-esque, mysterious, and decidedly dark and mysterious. its everything a fairy tale would be: magical, with odd creatures that go on a quest, in a kingdom far away. but it’s also an adult upgrade, with mature heroes who have their own worries and fears and who have to deal with them to reach their goals, with a dark start to the story and enough cruelty to make a realistic setting. 

reading this book was like escaping into a fairytale all over again. i deeply loved it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Grief, Blood, Confinement, Death, Miscarriage, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Abortion, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Animal death, Child abuse, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, and Violence

justgothenough's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful lighthearted reflective relaxing medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

I pulled half a star off the rating simply because I wish there was more of this book. 😆

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Pregnancy, Confinement, Death, Physical abuse, Domestic abuse, Animal death, Miscarriage, and Child death

theirgracegrace's review

adventurous funny tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

As a longtime fan of T. Kingfisher's work, Nettle & Bone was a natural choice to read and a very good decision. Kingfisher weaves together fairy tale tropes and folklore to make a world full of fairy godmothers, goblins, and the restless dead. The tale is told with Kingfisher's trademark snark and humour from the perspective of Marra, a young princess whose older sister has become the abused wife of a wicked king. Her task is to kill the king and free her sister, and along the way finds a witch, a dog made of bones, her own fairy godmother, a demonic chicken and a foreign man whose freedom is bought from the Fair Folk with a tooth. The twists and turns of this book are as hard to predict as the mausoleum of the Northern Kingdom, and well worth the ride. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Toxic relationship, Violence, Abandonment, Alcoholism, Blood, Cannibalism, Classism, Misogyny, Alcohol, Pregnancy, Animal cruelty, Physical abuse, Domestic abuse, Murder, Confinement, Death, Sexual violence, Body horror, Slavery, Child death, Animal death, Grief, Infertility, and Miscarriage

Moderate: Torture

Minor: Abortion, Suicidal thoughts, Death of parent, Gore, War, Cursing, and Excrement

There is one particular scene where the main character's teeth are made to dance in her mouth and one of them is removed. It is very reminiscent of the "imagining my teeth falling out" dream but can be quite disturbing. There is also a character in the city which has a "curse-child", which is described like a marionette or puppet that chokes and harms her.

marayzex's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious 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? No

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Child death, Death, Pregnancy, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Confinement and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Animal death

kimberlynann's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Physical abuse, Animal death, Pregnancy, Body horror, Cannibalism, Domestic abuse, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Sexual assault, Violence, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Rape, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Murder, Sexual violence, Cannibalism, Toxic relationship, Dementia, Domestic abuse, and War

zrals's review

adventurous emotional hopeful fast-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

3.0

This is a quick and charming fantasy story that plays with old fairy tale tropes. The characters are memorable and, with the exception of Marra, fun to spend some time with. It's very quickly paced and likely won't take long to finish. The prose is good - it never gets in the way but strikes a good balance between description and movement.

Thematically, it feels like it never really gets going. It's never a full subversion or re-investment in the fairy tale patterns it uses. It's setting is sometimes quite detailed, sometimes quite hand-waved, and it's never clear when or why those things are what they are. Fortunately, it's quick enough that you don't have time to notice much of that, as I found it fell apart a bit if I looked too closely. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Confinement, Body horror, Classism, and Physical abuse

laynerinke's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Murder, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Miscarriage, Child death, Grief, Cannibalism, and Death

Minor: Child death, Torture, Confinement, Slavery, Animal death, and Injury/Injury detail

rhia_reads's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This book is amazing. More people need to be talking about this book! A great little standalone and quick read.
Had me giggling quite a few times! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Violence, Miscarriage, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Physical abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, and Miscarriage

Minor: Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Vomit, and Sexual violence

searobin's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny 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

4.5

The first thought I had after finishing this was "that was fun!" which is a bit unexpected for a book like this. It was dark and broached some ser ous topics, and definitely had some horror elements but was still cute and humourous as well. I found it very well mixed.
I am a bit confused with some things like the Blighted lands. They kinda appeared and disappeared from the story so quickly, and the limited lore we did get about them did not explain enough at all. That is a bit frustrating.

I saw another review where someone said the MC didn't seem 30, but more like 19. I think YA fantasy books have primed us to think that teens are way more capable than they are on average - and of course they aren't average most of the time, they have powers or there's a prophecy and magic involved some how... I can absolutely see how growing up in the protection of first the youngest princess in a castle and then a sort of nun, in combination with a shy and introverted personality leads to a naive and timid adult. I am 31 years old, and absolutely wouldn't be able to do much of what a lot of MCs do in books. It's nice to have something that feels more realistic!

(I do want to take this moment to also acknowledge that there are so many incredible youth who do do absolutely amazing things. The young activist fighting for climate change measures, Indigenous rights and Land Back, BLM, Palestine, etc... are so great. I can see how the heros of YA fantasy could do it, we do have real world examples, it's just also nice to see a random 30 year old with limited life experience manage to do something as well!)

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Slavery, Physical abuse, Miscarriage, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Confinement, Child death, Torture, Suicide, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Body horror, Death, Animal death, and Abortion

mishmoshroom's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark funny hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Physical abuse, and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Confinement, Violence, Child death, Torture, Animal death, Toxic relationship, and Pregnancy

Minor: Infertility, Murder, and Grief