Reviews tagging 'Torture'

The Wolf and the Woodsman by Ava Reid

66 reviews

chrispybacon's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious tense slow-paced

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

2.5

The book had a strong premise but poor execution. I was excited to have a heroine in her mid-twenties but Evike is so dumb I could not relate to her at all. None of her relationships are healthy - the Yehuli want her to convert (they also help her but they are very interested in her joining them), her love interest is a coward and also her jailer, her whole village physically and verbally abused her. Her life was shit and I would have left all of them in the dirt. It makes zero sense to return to her abusers. 
The plot is a lot of walking, being horny, being angry, being horny, plans backfiring, suffering deadly injuries but surviving them, more being horny and more walking. Somewhere in there were aspects of accepting yourself, growing into your powers (and loosing them), and conflicts about religions and cultures clashing which suffered greatly under all the rest. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body shaming, Colonisation, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Bullying, Child abuse, Classism, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Animal cruelty, Cursing, Death of parent, Abandonment, Antisemitism, Death, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Physical abuse, Blood, Gore, Grief, Toxic relationship, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Sexism, Sexual content, and Torture

marleywrites's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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

4.25

Gáspár was my favorite character in this story, I was very pleased with how much we got to dig into his narrative and character arc. He and Évike are a really dynamic couple, this was enemies to lovers done right!!

Évike’s character has been through so much trauma, that when she finally grasped the truth of her magic, I was cheering for her. When she finally was able to wade through her trauma and get a handle on it later in the novel, I was so happy for her. The journey was rough, but we really see a lot of growth in Évike in this story. She experiences countless betrayals and is bullied relentlessly by not only her wolf-girl family, but also by the king and Nándor. 

I really appreciated the comparison to Christianity, from a Jewish perspective. Reading this story made me want to dig into the stories and learn more about this religion. 

Another aspect I really enjoyed was the travel involved. The journey itself was very engaging due to the beautiful depictions of nature, but I I loved meeting all the different creatures in the story. It was fascinating to see these mythological creatures come to life on the page. 

Ava Reid’s writing really impresses me- it’s lyrical and lush and I can really feel every emotion and see everything just as the character sees it. I read their book <i>Juniper and Thorn</i> before this book, so I wasn’t sure if I’d find it as good. But honestly I loved both novels a lot and look forward to reading more books by Reid. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Body horror, Blood, and Animal death

Moderate: Torture, Religious bigotry, Murder, Bullying, Death of parent, Death, and Genocide

Minor: Sexual harassment, Body shaming, and War

I’m not sure if racism was the best word to use but they were discriminating against the Yehuli people based on their religion and blood. Wasn’t sure what to call that other than religious bigotry and racism/ethnicity based discrimination.

alliecat1915's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious reflective tense

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, War, Violence, Hate crime, Colonisation, Death, Classism, Torture, Animal death, Religious bigotry, Grief, Gore, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Death of parent

Minor: Slavery, Sexual content, and Deportation

tiakiwi's review against another edition

adventurous dark medium-paced

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

5.0

The story is wound in Magic and the author cleverly adds in Jewish history and stories as one if the people's in the book. The love between the two characters is definitely a slow burn but you are rooting for them the whole time. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood, Violence, War, and Torture

ericageorge91's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective 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

If you told me that this book came from lost pages of Grimm’s Fairy Tales, I would believe you. From beginning to end, The Wolf and the Woodsman felt like a dark fairy tale told around a campfire. 

Ava Reid wove a brilliant story full of Hungarian history and Jewish mythology. The writing is stunning. The story was magical and atmospheric. As for the characters, you can’t help but root for Évike and Gáspár’s heroes’ journey as well as their love story. The last time I read an enemies-to-lovers handled this well was in Leigh Bardugo’s Grishaverse. Let me tell you, there were parts of this book that had me giggling and SCREAMING!  I won’t spoil those parts because I need readers to discover them organically 😌

Keep in mind that this isn’t romantasy. The quest is very much the forefront of this story and the romance is slowly roasting in the background, which is, personally, how I prefer my romance. I highly recommend this book. Shoutout to the audiobook narrator Saskia Maarleveld. Her talent really enhanced the storybook feel 🤗

TW:
(Graphic) Blood, body horror, death, gore, injury/injury detail, murder, religious bigotry, self-harm, violence

(Moderate) Animal death, antisemitism, bullying, grief, physical abuse, sexual content, trafficking, xenophobia 

(Minor) Animal cruelty, child abuse, death of a parent, torture, vomit 

Rep: Hungarian history, Jewish side characters, sapphic side characters

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Death, Blood, Body horror, Murder, Religious bigotry, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, and Gore

Moderate: Animal death, Bullying, Grief, Physical abuse, Trafficking, Sexual content, Antisemitism, and Xenophobia

Minor: Death of parent, Child abuse, Animal cruelty, Torture, and Vomit

maresuju'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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Religious bigotry, Death, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Animal death, Antisemitism, Colonisation, Death, Genocide, Gore, Self harm, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Torture, Violence, and Murder

Minor: Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and War

excritos's review against another edition

adventurous dark inspiring 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Death, Self harm, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, and Antisemitism

Moderate: Vomit and Torture

Minor: Sexual content

katievallin's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Xenophobia, War, Vomit, Blood, Child abuse, Genocide, Death, Racism, Religious bigotry, Torture, Grief, Kidnapping, Toxic friendship, Gore, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Murder, Violence, Animal death, Antisemitism, and Bullying

Moderate: Death of parent, Child death, Domestic abuse, and Sexual content

Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Body shaming, and Alcohol

lindseyhall44's review against another edition

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

3.5

Review is withheld in solidarity of Harper Collins’s workers/union on strike.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Bullying, Child abuse, Gore, Religious bigotry, Animal cruelty, Death of parent, Death, Grief, Self harm, Violence, Torture, and War

franceselsie's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.25

This book wasn’t what I expected. I have to admit I don’t know a lot about Jewish folklore but I’d anticipated this being lighter in themes and tone than it was – don’t let the cover fool you!

I found Evike (the protagonist) quite frustrating as she seems to be riddled with angst; I found myself often forgetting that she’s supposed to be 25 rather than 15. 

The second half of the novel was much easier for me to read than the first half because I think it took me a while to get used to the rhythm of the writing and how dark the content was, so feel like it flowed better as it went on. The list of translated words at the back of the book was also really helpful.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Antisemitism, Torture, Violence, and Death