Reviews tagging 'Blood'

A Natural History of Dragons by Marie Brennan

19 reviews

euphemiajo's review against another edition

adventurous funny mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, Gun violence, Murder, Sexism, Animal death, Blood, Colonisation, Death, Grief, Infertility, Medical content, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, and Violence

Minor: Fire/Fire injury and Alcohol

snerp_reads's review against another edition

Stopped reading after some weird choices for the portrayal of Vystrana that left a bad taste in my mouth. None of the other reviews on here mentioned this, but the entire crafting of their fictional religion was pretty obviously antisemitic. It took me a few pages to catch onto it, but it's very obvious that the Vystrana religion was based on Judaism. The religion of Vystrana in the book was portrayed as backwards, savage, and more superstitious and sexist than the main character's religion. 
I made the connection that she had based their religion off of Judaism when I came across two main details in the book; the specific detail that the villagers use graggers to symbolize their disapproval of her arrival, and a ritual the villagers have of fully submerging themselves in "living waters" (it was straight up just a mikvah).

The villagers were then written forcing the main character to take part in the submersion in front of everyone watching, and she even briefly thought they were going to rob or kill her at this point.

 
I wish authors would quit dragging in their own antisemitism into otherwise perfectly fine books.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Animal death, Gore, Kidnapping, and Blood

Moderate: Misogyny, Religious bigotry, Sexism, and Antisemitism

latenightnormie's review against another edition

adventurous funny mysterious reflective 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? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death

Moderate: Violence, Religious bigotry, Miscarriage, and Murder

Minor: Blood, Sexual assault, and Misogyny

In general, I enjoyed the pacing of the book. It read like a autobiography but with Lady Trent's reflective musings throughout the telling of the story. The world building is solid though not terribly in-depth when not in use for the plot. All in all, I'll be reading the next book in the because series.

lunep's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious tense slow-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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Violence, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Blood, Death, Misogyny, and Murder

Moderate: Mental illness, Miscarriage, Animal death, and Classism

Minor: Cannibalism, Body horror, Death of parent, Vomit, Fire/Fire injury, Pregnancy, Violence, Death, Rape, Colonisation, Cursing, and Alcohol

kbz_22's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional tense fast-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? Yes

5.0

I just finished "A Natural History of Dragons" by Marie Brennan, and I couldn't wait to tell you about it. It's seriously a gem.

This book was like a nostalgia trip for me. It reached into my childhood dreams/fantasies and brought them to life. It's magical in that way.

The characters, especially Lady Trent, just got me right in the feels. Through her, I got to live this life of adventure, curiosity, and pure intellectual passion. She's witty, determined, and her thirst for knowledge is something I really admired.

But here's the coolest part - the format of the book. It's like reading a personal journal mixed with a textbook, and it even has these charming illustrations and chapter overviews. You feel like you're right there with Lady Trent on her scientific quests.

Marie Brennan's storytelling is top-notch. I couldn't put it down, seriously. It's not just a book; it's this incredible journey into a world of wonder and discovery. If you ever want to rekindle that sense of awe and adventure, this one's a must-read.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Death, Murder, Animal death, Blood, Classism, Gore, and Miscarriage

readandfindout's review against another edition

adventurous medium-paced

4.0

Style/writing: 4 stars
Themes: 4.5 stars
Characters: 4 stars
Plot: 4 stars
Worldbuilding: 4 stars

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Misogyny, Murder, Violence, Death, Animal death, Blood, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Classism, and Miscarriage

Minor: Pregnancy

ophycore's review

adventurous 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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Murder, Animal cruelty, Death, Blood, Gun violence, Gore, Fire/Fire injury, Animal death, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Classism, Grief, Child abuse, and Adult/minor relationship

Minor: Pregnancy, Miscarriage, and Death of parent

kalira's review against another edition

adventurous emotional tense slow-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Misogyny, Death, Grief, Violence, Colonisation, Classism, Murder, Sexism, Animal death, Blood, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Racism and Religious bigotry

squinnittowinit's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious reflective 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? No

3.5

I love any world that has dragons in it, but I didn't enjoy how Victorian all the main characters were. I know, that's how it was meant to be, but I found all the misogyny and xenophobia left a bad taste in my mouth. 

It's written as a memoir, so the fictional author as the narrator is writing about a time in the far past, and she does say that she finds some of the sexism to be ridiculous now, but she still makes weird "men vs women" statements that just reinforce harmful gender stereotypes. 

She also read as very Victorian British, in that she was a noble from a colonizing nation

on a journey to a colonized nation, full of privilege and perceived superiority. She freely insults the local people and culture and looks down on them for having less than her, and in the end, has barely any more appreciation for them when she leaves.

This book felt written from the perspective of a colonizer with the assumption that colonizer cultures are better than others and everyone should aspire to be like them.

She's also very callous about killing dragons for science, which I didn't appreciate, as someone who respects nature and living things.

Still, I enjoyed the dragons and I enjoyed the mystery plot. I just wish it had more modern values.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny and Sexism

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Racism, Classism, Violence, Mental illness, Blood, Gun violence, Xenophobia, and Death

Minor: Colonisation, Addiction, Animal cruelty, Kidnapping, Body horror, Cannibalism, Confinement, Medical content, Grief, and Murder

bea_reads_books's review against another edition

The main character is xenophobic, sheltered, self important, and whiny. I thought this book would be about dragons but they were barely included. I enjoyed the first 1/3 of the book but it went downhill very quickly after that.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Xenophobia, Blood, Animal death, and Animal cruelty

Moderate: Colonisation, Alcohol, Classism, and Adult/minor relationship

Minor: Child abuse