Reviews tagging 'Confinement'

The Wolf and the Woodsman by Ava Reid

17 reviews

ska1224's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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? Yes

5.0

them 🤲

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Religious bigotry, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Death of parent, Confinement, Xenophobia, Antisemitism, War, Violence, Self harm, Death, and Hate crime

moonchild_cos's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious 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? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Animal death, Death, Gore, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Murder, Religious bigotry, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Vomit, Antisemitism, Grief, Animal cruelty, Death of parent, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Bullying, War, and Abandonment

Minor: Torture, Child abuse, Confinement, and Fire/Fire injury

c_dmckinney's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring sad tense medium-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? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Animal death, Bullying, Colonisation, Death of parent, Confinement, Grief, Hate crime, Misogyny, Murder, Antisemitism, Child abuse, Classism, Death, Violence, Genocide, Gore, Religious bigotry, Torture, Blood, Racism, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Sexual content, Infertility, and Sexual assault

immovabletype's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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? Yes

3.25

man, i thought this was going to be a solid 4 stars for a good chunk of the novel, while we're following the two main characters on a quest of sorts. this is hate-to-love, and throughout their journey they're grappling with preconceptions about each other based on centuries of hatred and oppression between their people (the fantasy is very cleverly based on pagan, christian, and jewish mythology, with all the attendant real world conflicts--the author "has a degree in political science . . . focusing on religion and ethnonationalism" and her expertise shows). grappling while wanting to grapple each other, if you know what i mean. it makes for a very intimate narrative, slow-paced but propulsive . . . but then the journey ends, the world opens up, and our two lovers are separated. what was compelling me to keep reading just kind of dropped out of sight for a while and i found it harder to pick up as much as i had been, and even after they were reunited it never quite got that spark back for me. and then i loathed the epilogue.

idk. there were things that happened in the latter part of the book that i liked and i think were necessary to forward the narrative and themes. however. it just could've been done better. i will also say, this is sold as adult fantasy. i would argue it feels a lot more ya. the heroine is almost a classic ya heroine, the tropes are very ya tropes. these aren't necessarily bad things, but that's not gonna work for everyone, so i wanted to make a note of it.

i did enjoy this for the most part, i'm glad i read it because now i know that ava reid is gonna knock it out of the park for me someday (this was a debut). i'm quite looking forward to reading more from her.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Antisemitism, Blood, Bullying, Confinement, Gore, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Racial slurs, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Death, Religious bigotry, Violence, Murder, Racism, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Genocide, Sexual content, and Death of parent

Minor: War

Genocide is

a constant threat, but no genocide actually occurs.

cepbreed's review against another edition

adventurous dark slow-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

3.75

“We belong to each other. ”

So atmospheric and each description is as fantastical as the last. I was particularly impressed by the witch in the sod house. The sudden switch to the grotesque and horrifying caught me off guard and was truly immersive. The world building is like no other but at the same time it is convoluted and hard to keep track of. I won’t pretend that I could name a single place or character besides the main two despite dedicating days to reading this book. 

The one thing occupying my mind during the duration of my read was the fact that Gáspár is basically Zuko from Avatar: The Last Airbender. The evil royal father casts him aside, abuses both him and his mother, and most strikingly delivers a prominent eye injury. Just like Zuko Gáspár has to become a warrior and complete an unsavory mission. He’s forced to work alongside Évike, an enemy of his determined by the wars of men that came before them, aka she represents Katara/the entire Gaang. Similarly to Zuko losing his firebending Gáspár becomes incompetent in the art of battle when he’s forced to use an axe as a woodsman rather than the sword he was used to as a prince. In both scenarios, the change in power is due to casting aside their family.

Even the final battle is similar. Gáspár/Zuko face their overly powerful dark sibling Nándor/Azula with the help of their former enemy-turned ally Évike/Katara.

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE LEFT ME WITH SO MANY THOUGHTS. As much as the act of Gáspár kneeling in front of her was sexual it brought me so much relief. Nándor constantly made lewd jokes about Évike on her knees which were meant to demean her. In the one scene where someone is on their knees in that context, it is not Évike. Even more importantly it is an expression of love, a plea for forgiveness, and a promise from Gáspár to her. So wonderful.

I can’t help myself. Whenever I read something with any remotely religious undertones I have to put on Ethel Cain. This is no exception, hence the songs I feel represent the novel.

Songs:  

• Strangers - Ethel Cain
• Compass - The Neighbourhood
• Take Me to Church - Hozier 
• Not Strong Enough - boygenius
• Dear Arkansas Daughter - Lady Lamb
• mad woman - Taylor Swift 
• The Exit - Conan Gray (“the shape of our wounds is the same” - Évike)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Animal death, Classism, Death, War, and Sexual content

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Bullying, Death of parent, Grief, and Murder

Minor: Confinement

chrisljm's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

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

1.25

Meh. Not a fan of the narration, which read like poetry but in the way where I just don't know wtf they're talking about sometimes. The folklore is written well but it became repetitive and too drawn out, making the story drag. 

Also for all the people who recommended this book because of the romance, you had to be making shit up because the romance sucked. Not to say the romance came out of nowhere, because I knew it was going to happen, but there was absolutely no build up at all. I didn't care for any of the characters, which is besides the point because they also had no chemistry at all. I truly don't understand what Gáspár liked about Évike because she was honestly dumb as fuck. She had no common sense and no sense of self preservation. She absolutely refused to think before any of her actions, even when Gáspár explicitly explains how she'd make the situation worse. She also spends majority of the book belittling Gáspár, and constantly attacking him on how she thinks he's ashamed they've laid and slept together, even though they have so many other things to worry about. He literally tries to get her to think before doing something rash and getting them both killed and she accuses him of fearing people will found out he's no longer pure. Like be fucking fr. 

The book also touches on religious/ethical/moral themes but honestly with the messy plot and execution, flat characters, and confusing narration, I honestly don't know what the take away was supposed to be. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Colonisation, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Self harm, Animal cruelty, Antisemitism, Blood, Religious bigotry, Racism, and Violence

Moderate: Confinement, Abandonment, Bullying, Genocide, War, and Death of parent

Minor: Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Fatphobia, and Vomit

adonis_march's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring tense medium-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? It's complicated

3.75

The Wolf and the Woodsman is a debut novel. It’s got the clunk of one. But by god, is it a good debut novel. For all my issues with some of the tropes in this book, and it’s pacing, and occasionally meandering plot, the latter half of this novel had my heart pounding, my stomach doing turns.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Religious bigotry, Violence, Death, Xenophobia, Antisemitism, Blood, Murder, Gore, and Hate crime

Moderate: Classism, Torture, Emotional abuse, Colonisation, Bullying, Self harm, Body horror, War, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Animal death, Xenophobia, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Body shaming, Fatphobia, Animal cruelty, Confinement, and Kidnapping

This is a book very much about the horrific history and acts of Christian zealotry that caused both pagan and Jewish communities to be wiped out, and echoes the centuries of fear and grief that the Jewish community has had to endure since.

dainybernstein's review against another edition

adventurous dark medium-paced

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

2.5

The premise of the book is good, but the execution is lacking. When I looked up the author and saw she studied ethnonationalism and religion, it all made sense. This is an intellectually sound story-experiment, but the characters' changes in emotion are abrupt and don't fully make sense.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Classism, Colonisation, Genocide, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Confinement, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Death, Gore, Animal death, Antisemitism, Blood, and Violence

Minor: War

tahsintries's review against another edition

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Xenophobia, Antisemitism, Religious bigotry, and Bullying

Moderate: Confinement, Death of parent, Racism, Blood, Grief, Child abuse, Colonisation, Hate crime, and Genocide

saurahsaurus's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful 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? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Self harm, Confinement, Death, Gore, Racism, Violence, Animal death, Colonisation, Antisemitism, Blood, Emotional abuse, Religious bigotry, Bullying, Child abuse, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Abandonment, Physical abuse, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Murder, Body horror, Grief, and Sexual content

Minor: Infidelity and War