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fraise's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Grief, Death, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Child death, Murder, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Domestic abuse, and Animal death
Minor: Slavery, Torture, Rape, Abortion, Cannibalism, Infertility, and Miscarriage
The slavery in this book iskimberlynann's review against another edition
- 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
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
perifairy's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Moderate: Domestic abuse and Child death
Minor: Sexual assault, Physical abuse, Rape, and Miscarriage
Stopping the domestic violence is the driving force of the book, you see evidence of physical violence on page, everything else is off page and happens to a minor character.h_s_bloom's review
- 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
- Characters: ✬✬✬✬✬
- Plot: ✬✬✬✬✬
- Pacing: ✬✬✬✬
- Writing Style: ✬✬✬✬✬
- Diversity: ✬✬✬
This was my first book of 2024 and it was such a great way to kick off the year!
Summary: Marra is the third daughter to a royal family within a comparatively small kingdom which controls a major harbor/trade route. When Marra's eldest sister, Damia, dies shortly after being married off to the prince in a powerful neighboring kingdom, the middle sister, Kania, is sent off to replace her thereby ensuring the safety of the smaller kingdom. Fearing the possibility of Kania failing to produce a male heir, Marra is sent to a nunnery for safe-keeping. Marra is content with life as a nun, busying herself with embroidery and other tasks perhaps not suited to a princess. Upon the birth of Kania's first child, a daughter, Marra learns the truth of Kania's predicament and vows to save her.
Marra is such a lovable and engaging character with such a fun voice and I appreciate that she is a bit older than your typical MC at 30 years old. She really is such a joy to follow along with throughout her adventures giving her honest and bemused commentary along the way. The author does a great job with balancing humor throughout the story despite the serious nature of Marra's quest (Spoiler :
This book is very much what it promises itself to be in that it is ripe with fairy tale vibes but in the brothers grimm kind of way. There are occasions in which the pacing just seems a little off in that some storylines read as side-quests for lack of a better term. There also it a bit of time-jumping in the beginning of the book which I don't really agree needed to be there. I think Kingfisher may have been trying to grab the readers with a dark and spooky intro where Marra is creating Bone Dog, but I honestly think I would have preferred this book be a bit more chronological. That being said, I was never bored! The writing style is incredibly atmospheric and engaging, I wanted to keep reading all the way up until the end!
Graphic: Miscarriage, Sexism, and Pregnancy
Minor: Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Child death, Domestic abuse, and Emotional abuse
readingrainey's review
- 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? No
5.0
Graphic: Abortion, Gore, Infertility, Domestic abuse, Toxic relationship, and Child death
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts and Body horror
Minor: Violence, Rape, and Cannibalism
alottaricotta's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Moderate: Rape and Domestic abuse
Minor: Child death
aubreymichelle's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
One thing about this book is that it had parts that went unutilized or parts that felt dry: the blistered land and saints vengeful over broken taboo, the goblin market, the fact that Marra magically made a dog of bones come to life.
The characters felt rather flushed out and Marra slowly learned to find her inner strength and her trust in others. The dust-wife was oddly snarky and often, along with her demon hen, added comedy to the story.
My favorite quote from this book is "I've done many things that were terribly important, lives hanging in the balance and so on and so forth. There is something pleasant about chopping wood. If I miss a stroke, nothing awful happens." I feel like this quote really highlights the stressing standards that some people face, and shows how it is important to sometimes take a step back and relax.
This book had quite a few insightful quotes, but also quite a few funny lines.
The plot was slower than I expected it to bed and there were parts where, as I said earlier, a certain bit could have been utilized.
A list of words I learned from this novel are: Charnel, Dotage, Querulous, Awl, Palanquin, Abacus, Leper, Genuflecting, Aquiline, Lacquer, Banal, and Geas.
Another amazing quote from this book is one that really shows Marra's character growth:
Overall, I would say this is a good book for people who like characters that feel mostly real and a woman slowly discovering her self worth.
4☆: I enjoyed this and would recommend it.
Edit:
My General 4.5 Stars / This book has well-rounded characters that have clear-cut personalities and roles. The worldbuilding was congruent throughout the book. The direction that the plot went and the conclusion was realistic. The book paced well. However, something was missing or did not quite make sense. I loved this book, but it wasn’t quite worth five stars.
Graphic: Miscarriage and Pregnancy
Moderate: Child death and Physical abuse
Minor: Rape and Slavery
xwiththevex's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Blood, Pregnancy, Body horror, Death, Grief, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexism, Gore, and Violence
Moderate: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Death, Emotional abuse, Murder, Slavery, Blood, Classism, Confinement, Gaslighting, Toxic relationship, Child death, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Body horror, Suicidal thoughts, and Violence
Minor: Cannibalism, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Child death, Emotional abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, and Torture
mishshell'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? No
3.75
Graphic: Child death, Miscarriage, Rape, Sexual violence, and Sexual assault
Minor: Cannibalism
bhgold1711's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
4.25
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Rape, and Sexual assault