Reviews tagging 'Death'

The Witches of Vardø by Anya Bergman

23 reviews

kiwialexa's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• 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

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Miscarriage, Grief, Infertility, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Child death, Misogyny, Rape, Death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, and Torture

hannahrhian's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Vomit, Religious bigotry, Medical content, Kidnapping, Infidelity, Child death, Rape, Torture, Suicide, Sexual harassment, Physical abuse, Murder, Miscarriage, Gore, Forced institutionalization, Fire/Fire injury, Death of parent, Death, Cursing, Confinement, and Blood

amber_lfor's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Miscarriage, Hate crime, Sexual violence, Racism, Death, Domestic abuse, Death of parent, Suicide, Child abuse, Rape, Infertility, Sexual assault, Animal death, Self harm, Religious bigotry, Child death, and Torture

Stunning book, and what an ending!

scrumblebooks's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

• 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

This is a brutal, dark, emotional read based, in part, on real people and events. A harrowing tale of life for women in 17th century Norway and how any misdeed or slip of the tongue could land you in serious peril. Difficult to read at times, though definitely worthwhile and the addition of occasional small folk tales and myths as well as hints of magical realism were welcome. I would certainly recommend this insightful book, although I would line up something decidedly lighter and altogether fluffier to read next.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Sexual violence, Rape, Suicide, and Death

Moderate: Racism, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Torture, Miscarriage, Sexism, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, Child death, Confinement, Domestic abuse, and Death of parent

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Infertility, Animal death, Blood, and Pregnancy

madamelacy's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

A powerful, exhilarating read. I felt so angry at the way men treated women who weren’t submissive enough, as they were so afraid of the women’s power. However, the female characters all find a way of being, beyond the control of men.

This book was beautifully written and I could absolutely imagine the landscape, freezing weather, dirt and foul smells! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape

Moderate: Murder, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, Sexual violence, Grief, Blood, Child abuse, Death, Pregnancy, Sexism, Child death, Death of parent, Pedophilia, and Rape

staceyinthesticks's review

emotional informative sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• 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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Content Warnings

Moderate: Rape, Death, and Murder

Minor: Confinement and Pregnancy

ninamanon's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.25

A harrowing feminist tale about sisterhood, power, and justice. I loved Ingeborg and Maren instantly; they drew me into the story. I had a more difficult time getting through Fru Anna’s chapters, as she reads as haughty and annoyingly delusional, a sort of pick me girl. She irritated me greatly in the beginning, but the strength of the book was that the further you got into her story, the more you understood how she became the way she was, and in the end I couldn’t fault her and merely felt sorry for her, as I did for every other woman in the book. As for the ending,

I loved it: I loved how the conflict was resolved, how it ended with a shimmer of hope, how every single girl and woman was liberated in one way or another. I especially loved Maren and Elisa’s future: it is so beautiful to find a queer historical story that doesn’t end in misery. I will think of them often.

The prose was beautiful; I did have to get used to the first person narrative, and I struggled a bit at around the 30% mark, as Anna was boring me a bit with her tedious stories of her past lover, but as I said, I now understand their purpose. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Miscarriage, Sexism, Vomit, Blood, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Pregnancy, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Excrement, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Child death, Emotional abuse, Torture, Violence, Death of parent, Gun violence, Xenophobia, Pandemic/Epidemic, Infertility, Religious bigotry, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual violence, and Suicide

Minor: Adult/minor relationship

vbzshenanigans's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture

Moderate: Physical abuse, Sexism, Murder, Animal cruelty, Death, Infertility, Classism, Blood, Death of parent, Rape, Sexual violence, Confinement, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Religious bigotry, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Sexual assault, and Violence

bookwyrmdancer's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Confinement, Child death, Suicide, Pregnancy, Murder, Rape, Violence, Blood, Death, Torture, Sexual violence, and Sexual assault

anapthine's review

dark emotional inspiring reflective medium-paced

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

4.5

 

Thank you NetGalley and Bonnier UK Audio for giving me an ARC in exchange for an honest review. 

Oh my word, this was amazing. It was gripping from start to finish. The stories of the women were full of emotion, vulnerability and strength - the characters were so well written. The narrator really added to this already great novel.

 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Miscarriage, Child death, Infertility, Sexual assault, Death, Rape, Suicide, and Violence

Moderate: Death of parent

Minor: Infidelity