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aseel_reads's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
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
huge fan, this book was made for me, just all my favourite things and my only problem is IS THERE A SEQUEL?!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Biphobia, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Confinement, Mental illness, Blood, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Death, and Domestic abuse
beesknees's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
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? Yes
3.5
Witches of Ash and Ruin called to me the moment I read the summary on the back of the book. A main character who is a bisexual anxiety-ridden witch with mom issues really resonated with me, so I picked it up. The writing style is really enjoyable in this book, and the characters are all interesting. The book's biggest flaw is that it bites off more than it can chew. Juggling multiple perspectives, some of which drop off and are never given closure, and trying to tackle many themes end up making things feel a little half-baked. Going in, I will say I was immediately looking for how OCD was handled by the author, and what I ended up seeing was how anxiety creeps into everyday life. Describing panic attacks accurately is neat to see, but for a book that advertises the MC as having OCD instead of casually including it in the contents, I was expecting more. Of course, I also have to say the romance was pretty cute too! I feel like the ending of this story could make for an interesting sequel!
Content Warnings
Minor: Death, Murder, Biphobia, and Child abuse
wardenred's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
The last thing Meiner King wanted was to return to Carman, to this goddamn backwoods village in the middle of nowhere. So, of course, that was exactly what her coven asked her to do.
You know those artsy European movies? The really atmospheric ones, usually set in small towns and involving either a murder or some psychological mess or both, filled with the general sense of foreboding. They usually provide you with a really great picture, in really cold colors more often than not, created with a lot of attention to details. Sometimes, the camera work can be deliberately shaky. There's usually an amazing soundtrack, too, increasing that sense of foreboding, not memorable enough to stand on its own in many cases, but fitting the picture perfectly. The lightning is normally such that every actor looks way to pale to be healthy, and every line is delivered either in a deliberately casual way or in a manner that seems specifically designed to pull at heartstrings.
Some people really love those movies, swear by them, say that those movies really pull them in, make them feel like they were there in the middle of the tense, slow action. I'm not one of those people. I like to see movies like that now and then, for purely the aesthetic pleasure. I like watching gloomy, beautiful pictures accompanied by gloomy, beautiful music. I usually do something else while those movies play in the background, though, because the plot and the characters pretty much never engross me.
You may be wondering why I'm talking so much about movies in a book review. Well, that's because this book left me with the same feeling as those movies. I kind of liked it for how big parts of it were crafted. I acknowledge that it's pretty atmospheric. But it left me feeling detached. I never connected with a single character, and while there was a lot of tension to the plot, as befits a supernatural murder mystery, I never felt pulled in the middle of it. I just kinda... watched from the sidelines.
It's not a bad book by any means. It has plenty of things I normally love in books: lots of very well-researched witchiness, Celtic gods, a conservative small town, queer characters, complicated people having complicated relationships, neurodiversity rep. But while all the elements were there, they kind of never came together for me. Perhaps it was the writing style, or maybe it was the sheer number of POV characters combined with short chapters that never let me stay with one character long enough to really get them. I suspect it was the latter.
Read for the following October 2020 readathons:
- Spooks and Tea: Featuring Witches
- Gothic Readathon: General Sense of Foreboding
- Gothtober2020: Red Cover
- Sbooktober: Book with Magic
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse and Domestic abuse
alainaev's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
mysterious
fast-paced
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child abuse, Physical abuse, and Emotional abuse
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