Reviews tagging 'Colonisation'

The Wolf and the Woodsman by Ava Reid

31 reviews

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

bookleafcrow's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful reflective medium-paced

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

4.25

i read this back in september and i really enjoyed it, the ending fell a little flat for me but i loved evike and gaspar individually and together, and the magic system and world-building is stunning

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, Racial slurs, Ableism, Religious bigotry, Murder, Blood, Grief, Colonisation, and Body horror

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

sydapel's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful slow-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? No

4.0

A deeply vivid and striking book about religion, imperialism and mythology that doesn't shy away from the violence that accompanies shifts in power and in belief systems. I love when fantasy books center a person who isn't born with anything distinctly special about her, who has to struggle to overcome her own sense of place in her world, and the author does this so well with Évike. There are really interesting discussions within the story about hate and prejudice that resound today and the world building is done shockingly well for a debut. I don't know if this is a story that will continue, but it's one I would absolutely continue to follow. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, Religious bigotry, and Death

Moderate: Torture, Antisemitism, Murder, Death of parent, and Self harm

Minor: War

maiadunleavy's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious fast-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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Death, Violence, Gore, War, Antisemitism, Religious bigotry, Xenophobia, Blood, and Body horror

Moderate: Self harm, Sexual content, Grief, and Physical abuse

Minor: Deportation, Bullying, Genocide, and Colonisation

bookishfaye's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative reflective sad tense 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? It's complicated

5.0

I found this book so profoundly moving & I can’t comprehend why it doesn’t have a higher rating on here??? This book consumed me & it’s absolutely going to be in my favourites of 2022. The way that it works epic fantasy, historical fantasy, fantasy romance, political/war fantasy, & mythology effortlessly into one stand alone moment has me so mind blown & Ava Reid is an Insta buy author for sure now! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Blood, Religious bigotry, Antisemitism, Racial slurs, Colonisation, and Racism

ridesthesun's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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

3.5

I really love the premise of this one! The variety of culture and mythology was really cool, and I loved seeing the Jewish stories woven in so lovingly. 

I'm not sure why, perhaps it was just bad timing, but the book overall failed to really grab me. I *wanted* to enjoy it, but I found myself checking "how much longer is this audiobook" too many times. Idk if it was the pacing or what, but it felt a lot like nothing was happening while simultaneously lots of things were happening? Not sure how. Like it felt like it was dragging while simultaneously feeling under-developed.

Anyways, I would say definitely give this one a try; the concept was brilliant, the weaving of mythology was really cool, Evike and Gaspar were lovely. Also recommend the audiobook, getting the pronunciations for everything was a huge bonus.

*does deal a *lot* with anti-Semitism, and is strongly reminiscent of pogroms and pre-WWII eastern europe. The Jewish community is written beautifully and with great care, but if that's a sensitive topic for you I would avoid this one.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Confinement, Self harm, Religious bigotry, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, Antisemitism, Violence, Torture, Physical abuse, Murder, Gore, Blood, and Bullying

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Animal cruelty, Physical abuse, Genocide, Antisemitism, Blood, Colonisation, Murder, Body horror, Abandonment, Death, and Death of parent

bandysbooks's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Classism, Colonisation, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Grief, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Bullying, Religious bigotry, Slavery, Torture, Violence, War, and Xenophobia