Reviews tagging 'Self harm'

El oso y el ruiseñor by Katherine Arden

21 reviews

kiwij96's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense 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

4.25

Bit of a jumpy start with the multiple POVs and time jumps for the first couple of chapters but I'm so glad I stuck with it. Also, the names were confusing at times because everyone had a name, a nickname, and then an affectionate name given to them, and it took me maybe half the book to remember who was who.

The story was enchanting and magical with a big focus traditional gender norms and values in medieval Russia, as well as religious bigotry in traditionally pagan areas. However, these topics were handled really well and were written to evoke emotion in the reader.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Religious bigotry, Body shaming, Child abuse, Death of parent, Physical abuse, Misogyny, and Sexism

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Pregnancy, Child death, Animal death, Injury/Injury detail, and Mental illness

Minor: Self harm

margaret_k30's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Blood, Animal death, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, and Death of parent

Moderate: Self harm and Toxic relationship

Minor: Pregnancy, Animal cruelty, Adult/minor relationship, and Violence

geminisoul's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

This book was just so immersive. I couldn't help but fall in love with Vasya and enjoyed watching her grow into herself.  I can't wait to read the next book!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Violence, Pregnancy, Mental illness, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, Grief, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Death, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

cnjg88's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark hopeful inspiring mysterious tense fast-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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood and Self harm

kseniap's review against another edition

adventurous medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Self harm

anni_swanilda's review against another edition

dark emotional 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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Suicide, Body horror, Gore, Physical abuse, Domestic abuse, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Blood, Death of parent, Sexual harassment, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Self harm, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Animal death, Child death, Death, and Violence

whooliio's review against another edition

dark inspiring mysterious sad 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death and Death

Moderate: Religious bigotry, Sexual harassment, Physical abuse, Pedophilia, and Sexism

Minor: Self harm, Animal cruelty, and Rape

codexmendoza's review against another edition

2.0

Look maybe it’s my own fault for reading a YA novel, but this book has such a cringey self insert energy. Everyone loves the heroine or secretly is jealous of her so they hurt her. She’s described as a “witchy fey little thing” ad nauseam and given knowledge that outstrips all the blind people around her in addition to being the most special girl in the world due to her mysterious bloodline. Also she can talk to horses. Every supporting character is made more cartoonish and unreasonable in order to burnish her light and it destroys any tension in the story.

Plus points for the unique setting inspired by Russian folktales, but it also means that everything good in this book is built on something created by someone else and underneath the gilt paint, the prose and plotting aren’t terribly interesting. Ultimately, I would rate this higher for the setting, but this book also has this undercurrent of eating disorder romanticism — the heroine starves herself secretly to “save everyone” by feeding the house spirits, self harms for the same reason, and vomits quite a bit. All ostensibly for plot reasons, but it’s as transparent as a tumblr aesthetic blog. 

Just because it’s better than the median YA novel doesn’t make it good.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Eating disorder and Self harm

kaiyakaiyo's review against another edition

adventurous emotional inspiring mysterious sad medium-paced

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

4.0

This was a quick yet lush read. I love folklore so this universe was very much my cup of tea. The men in this book are disgusting and annoying in turns, which checks out for that time period and in general. 

My only complaint was that it felt like Anna’s “power” wasn’t explored much, but then I saw the dreaded word on the digital cover: trilogy. Guess I’m strapped in for more, though I think I would’ve really liked this as a stand-alone 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Misogyny, and Death of parent

Minor: Self harm

lydia_books's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual harassment, Animal death, and Death

Moderate: Self harm and Death of parent