Reviews tagging 'Blood'

Nettle & Bone by T. Kingfisher

44 reviews

tinysierra's review

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

4.0

“The trees were full of crows and the woods were full of madmen. The pit was full of bones and her hands were full of wires.” Pg 1

What a fun way to start a book!

The length was perfect in my opinion. A nice stand alone.

Nettle and Bone is very atmospheric. The vibes reminded me of what it felt like watching The Labyrinth movie. It’s tagged as horror, but it’s not scary, just slightly unnerving. There was a little body horror and mentions of drowning. 

The cast of characters is fun. I loved the Bonedog and the demon chicken. 

The book has humor to it!

"You need to train him to sit somewhere else," said the dust-wife disapprovingly. "Otherwise you'll have a rooster who thinks he should dive headfirst into your cleavage when he wants to roost."
"It's been a while since any man wanted to dive into my cleavage," said Agnes. "It might be a nice change."

The romance aspect of the book is very soft, almost minimal. It’s sort of implied more than shown. There’s a  sunshine x grump vibe in there. 

“I hope your dogs are all loyal and goofy and good natured and that your chickens remain free of demons.” 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse and Infertility

Moderate: Body horror and Pregnancy

Minor: Blood, Cannibalism, Miscarriage, Death, and Torture

styxx's review

adventurous dark funny 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Grief, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Blood, Domestic abuse, and Injury/Injury detail

helfire124's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Grief, Infidelity, Animal death, Blood, Infertility, Injury/Injury detail, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Sexual harassment, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, War, Medical content, Misogyny, Murder, Pregnancy, Dementia, Domestic abuse, Gore, Suicidal thoughts, Death of parent, and Vomit

alphabetseeds's review

adventurous dark funny hopeful 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

4.0

A dark fairy tale brimming with mystery, magic, bone dogs, and practicality. Marra knows she's not a hero - she's barely a princess - but she is determined to save her sister from her vicious husband, the prince of a neighboring kingdom. Her and her gathered companions all have secrets, and they each have a role to play. Despite the grim premise, the narrative still felt oddly cozy, like finding an old, well-worn blanket in the bottom of an old chest.

I really would've liked to learn more about the blistered land - where is it? How far did Marra travel before returning to the dust-wife? Should we be concerned about the blistered land?

The slightly muddled opening, which alternates between introducing Marra in the blistered lands and her past as the third daughter in a small kingdom, hardly detracts from an otherwise well-plotted, tight-knit story that kept me turning the page.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood

Minor: Domestic abuse and Violence

xwiththevex's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• 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

Would be great for a Greta Gerwig adaptation featuring Saoirse Ronan and Florence Pugh. Big on yearn-core.

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Content Warnings

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

uranaishi's review

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective fast-paced

• 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? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death, Emotional abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Child abuse, Child death, Murder, Grief, Misogyny, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Sexism, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Abandonment, Animal cruelty, Cannibalism, Abortion, Blood, Slavery, Violence, Confinement, Dementia, Infertility, Miscarriage, Death of parent, Infidelity, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Medical content, Mental illness, Sexual content, Torture, and War

kdez's review

adventurous dark funny medium-paced

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

5.0

Nettle & Bone is a perfect spooky season read! I absolutely loved it. The first chapter made me think it would be very dark and creepy (not my vibe) so I was a bit nervous it wouldn’t be for me, but it was just the right amount of dark, with occasional flashes of (manageable) spooky and a lot of relatable moments and humour.

I really enjoyed Marra, the FMC who is much more comfortable embroidering than questing, but is determined to save her sister. BUT I completely fell in love with the side characters. They were dynamic and funny and worked incredibly well opposite Marra.

Bonedog and the demon chicken have my heart.

Something I liked about this book was there was always the sense that no matter how spookily dark things got, the true-to-life things were painted as worse. The world may be full of scary creatures and phenomena, but the worst monsters are the human beings hiding behind their power. And that if you’re determined to take on the worst of them, you can face the rest.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy, Domestic abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Death, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Child death, Gore, Blood, Miscarriage, and Murder

Minor: Kidnapping, Cannibalism, Animal death, and Dementia

cwerber's review

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious medium-paced

• 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

5.0

I read the first half of the book earlier this year before I had to return it to the library. I hadn’t intended to check it out again but I found myself thinking of the main character and wondering how in the world she would do what she would set out to do. 

I love, Agnes, by the way and would love to read more about her. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

Moderate: Domestic abuse and Blood

Minor: Child death

kds247's review

adventurous dark mysterious 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

4.75

This is a beautifully written book. The imagery was the best part and made it a perfect autumn read. It was spooky but in a fantastical, witchy way that I was not expecting. It did drag at times, but the poetry that is this book made it worth it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Murder, Blood, Violence, Suicidal thoughts, Miscarriage, and Child death

Minor: Torture and Animal death

dalek_caan's review

adventurous lighthearted medium-paced

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

2.25

This book was really hard to read because almost nothing happens until the last 50 or so pages of the book. It was overall an okay read. It did have some cute animal sidekicks, I would say I found that to be the most interesting aspect of the book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Physical abuse, Body horror, Death, Miscarriage, Child death, and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Pregnancy, Abandonment, and Blood