Reviews tagging 'Death'

The Wolf and the Woodsman by Ava Reid

110 reviews

aidareads's review against another edition

challenging dark inspiring tense medium-paced

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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Death, Antisemitism, and Gore

laurapalmertm's review against another edition

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Self harm, Death, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Bullying, Vomit, and Torture

jg34's review against another edition

adventurous dark slow-paced

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

4.75

Really enjoyed this one! As always Ava Reid makes her FMC strong and admirable but also she sure makes them suffer which did make this book a bit daunting for me. However it paid off. This is a complex world with lots of lore and legends and magic that was very well spelled out. The relationships are complex and grow beautifully. The characters are multi faceted - while some are so obviously bad or so obviously good there are many that are more morally grey and complicated. And of course I’m a sucker for a good love story so I liked the slow build of Gaspar and Evike’s relationship.

The ending was left a little open with with respect to their relationship going forward which bummed me out a bit, I was really hoping they would be solidly together.

overall fantastic book!

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Death, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Death of parent

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 🤲

---

Content Warnings

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

witcheep's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

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

3.0

This book is a dark adventure of folktale-inspired worldbuilding that relies heavily on body horror laced into the magic system and cruel characters ruling over others. The body horror and brutality made me wince, the extent of them were too much for me. However, the book is also a tale of fragile hope building between Évike and Gáspár, the main characters with two very different world views learning to understand and support each other. Their deepening relationship and shifting worldviews were what kept me reading the book further.

"What would you have me do?" he asks. "You have already ruined me."

The worldbuilding showcases a colonizing worldview where the ruling religious group deems other religions, cultures, and ethnicities inferior and something that should be purged. The oppressor-religious group is content on using the other groups to their own benefit, though. They take the others' magic, lives, and even their folklore, but bend it so that it fits their own religious world view. This changing of stories takes the voice away from the original people, hiding them.

You can't hoard stories the way you hoard gold, despite what Virág would say. There's nothing to stop anyone from taking the bits they like, and changing or erasing the rest, [--]

The ruling people of the world do this even to their own kings: their legacy is carved in stone only after their death, when he kings themself won't be able to have a say in it anymore, so the living may decide what kind of kingdom they have left behind. Words have power, and the rulers are very strict with who gets a say in anything important. Hence, the cruelty of rendering other people voiceless extends to every level of the society, making power a fleeting thing instead of a lasting impression.

Reid brings up the topic of picking parts of someone else's folklore and rebuilding it to fit one's own needs multiple times. She seems to have a message that this kind of cultural appropriation is bad, but cannot be stopped. She flashes different possibilities of the groups either being forcefully assimilated into the ruling religious ways, staying separate and against each other, or finding a way to mix and coexist.

Maybe by doing so Reid wants to justify her own usage of source material and research for this book: Reid herself has clearly used this strategy of reusing stories while writing this book. She has combed through different mythologies, religious and cultural lore and histories, and uses them quite loosely as her material, combining them into her fantasy world and disregarding some parts or facts altogether. Reid uses at least jewish lore, Eastern European mythology, history and names, and Finnish national epic Kalevala. I was first intriqued by this, but the execution left me wanting a retelling more true to the elements of the original tales or an altogether more original lore to this fantasy world.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror

Moderate: Religious bigotry, Death, Cultural appropriation, Torture, Xenophobia, and Bullying

Minor: Fire/Fire injury

yikesav's review against another edition

adventurous emotional informative inspiring reflective fast-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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Genocide, Blood, Violence, Death, Self harm, Colonisation, Religious bigotry, Classism, Racism, Injury/Injury detail, and Body horror

Moderate: Sexual content

aformeracceleratedreader's review against another edition

slow-paced

2.5

I liked the fact this is a sort of reimagining?/interpretation of Jewish myth/folklore, but I didn't love the story overall. There were some good parts to it, but it didn't hold my interest like I was hoping for. 
Not sure if this author just isn't for me as this is my second book from them.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Violence, Death, Grief, Self harm, Sexism, Blood, Hate crime, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Sexual content

kellimalea's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

4.5

I think this is a great fantasy novel for someone who is interested in an adventurous story, but doesn't want to commit to a big series. I definitely think the story could have been fleshed out into multiple books, but it doesn't suffer from lack of content. The development of relationships between people would probably make more sense if it had been stretched out over multiple books, but I think it all still works well. I love that this story draws from Hungarian and Jewish folklore/history, as these aren't common sources for most American literature. I thought the world building was phenomenal. I would recommend this book, with the caveat that it is a dark and heavy read, so may not be everybody's cup of tea.

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood, Torture, Violence, and Gore

Minor: Colonisation, Animal death, Xenophobia, Cultural appropriation, Antisemitism, Genocide, Racism, Classism, Death, and Sexual assault

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

---

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

---

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