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kingcrookback's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Antisemitism, Gore, Religious bigotry, and Violence
Moderate: Animal death, Sexual content, Bullying, Death of parent, and Child abuse
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
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.
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.
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 istriley'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
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Religious bigotry, Blood, Death, Gore, Self harm, and Violence
Moderate: Racism, Animal death, Antisemitism, Child death, Animal cruelty, Death of parent, and Kidnapping
Minor: Physical abuse, Grief, and Vomit
srze's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Religious bigotry and Gore
archiveofrasa's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
The main aspects that stood out to me were the world-building and religious themes, plus the fairytale/folklore sort of writing style I know Reid has. I don't think I've ever really read something that wasn't purely historical that puts an emphasis on religious themes of a fantasy world, so I think the author did a good job on that.
But I'm not sure why I didn't enjoy this book as much. It did take me quite a while to finish it and I grew pretty exhausted, which might be the reason why my enjoyment dwindled over time. I'm not sure if that is the book's fault or mine. The ending was really nice, linking all the stories Évike told to her being able to write them down. Very sweet.
This is also a pretty gruesome book. It doesn't really hold back, so check the content warnings.
But I'm not sure why I didn't enjoy this book as much. It did take me quite a while to finish it and I grew pretty exhausted, which might be the reason why my enjoyment dwindled over time. I'm not sure if that is the book's fault or mine. The ending was really nice, linking all the stories Évike told to her being able to write them down. Very sweet.
This is also a pretty gruesome book. It doesn't really hold back, so check the content warnings.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Violence, Gore, and Religious bigotry
Moderate: Antisemitism and Death of parent
bookmarkmyword's review against another edition
i did enjoy what i've seen of the lore/world building so far, the stories about deities thar the main character tells were interesting. and i liked the allegory on religion as a supremacist tool of oppression. but other than those, i haven't found anything else riveting enough to make me keep going. and the further i went into it, the more i lose interest so eventually i decided to just stop.
one of the major points of the story is to show that despite the main character's glaring differences with the love interest, they do have similarities and that they're significant enough for them to somehow be able to build understanding and even trust off of. but try as i might, i'm just not convinced.
my main issue with this is that gáspár and his people's views and treatment of évike's community is decidedly *not* on equal playing field as her people's contempt (and fear!) of the woodsmen, yet the narrative treats these two things as though they are. the woodsmen by order of the king literally aims to commit (if not already are committing) genocide on evike's people when all they want is to be left alone to live freely just like everybody else. her resentment and fear of him come from a real and valid place while his views and contempt of her come from lies propagated by power-hungry and bigoted people like the king and his brother who's seeking the throne. there is power at play in this world at large that is in favor of gáspár. no matter how badly he is being treated by his own blood and people, he will *never* experience the same cruelty that his king of a father and he himself as a woodsman bestow upon évike's community, at least not for the same reason. that's privilege and yet he never even deigns to acknowledge it.
also the "difference" they have? i wouldn't call it that, as they're not matters of personal taste on some frivolous thing. évike *belongs* to an oppressed group (shunned though she was within it) while gáspár is an *active agent* of oppression against said group. that this keeps being *glossed over* every time the "similarities" of their personal situations are brought up doesn't sit right with me. maybe it will be addressed later on but at this point, i don't want to wait and see if it will be different farther down the line anymore.
which brings me to my next point: those things considered, i don't get how évike was already entertaining thoughts about how attractive gáspár is so soon into the story. his behavior and views of her community are not something one simply gets past behind, no matter how aesthetically that person might be. i can kind of get the idea of forced proximity playing a part on their "mutual attraction" but i just can't wrap my head around how soon she was entertaining thoughts of how handsome he is, considering he hasn't even yet shown that he's trustworthy or at the very least open-minded enough to be willing to listen and learn from her experience of his people. yet somehow she already looks at him somewhat favorably,
anyways, comparing this book to naomi novik's spinning silver and katherine arden's the bear and the nightingale—both my all-time favorites!—is certainly... a choice. all i'm saying is whoever came up with that idea doesn't know what they're talking about. this is as similar to those two books as flipflops are similar to dress shoes.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Religious bigotry and Xenophobia
Moderate: Gore and Domestic abuse
squids_can_read's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
This book follows a young woman as she works to save the people that she loves in a world that is different than anything that she ever believed.
I thought that this book was pretty good. The world-building was amazing and the magic system was interesting. I would have liked a greater description of how people got their magic but that's okay. The main thing that I didn't like was that the main character was hypocritical because she believes that gods of other religions can exist just not the gods of the Woodsman. It just doesn't make a lot of sense.
Overall, I thought that this book was well written and I'm excited to read more by this author.
I thought that this book was pretty good. The world-building was amazing and the magic system was interesting. I would have liked a greater description of how people got their magic but that's okay. The main thing that I didn't like was that the main character was hypocritical because she believes that gods of other religions can exist just not the gods of the Woodsman. It just doesn't make a lot of sense.
Overall, I thought that this book was well written and I'm excited to read more by this author.
Content Warnings
Graphic: War, Self harm, Gore, and Death
Moderate: Religious bigotry, Domestic abuse, and Sexual content
averi's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
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
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Sexual content, Violence, Vomit, Death, Murder, Self harm, War, Antisemitism, Body horror, Blood, Gore, Physical abuse, and Religious bigotry
Moderate: Ableism