Reviews tagging 'Sexual content'

The Wolf and the Woodsman by Ava Reid

65 reviews

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

mold_munchr's review against another edition

adventurous 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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Religious bigotry, Antisemitism, and Self harm

Moderate: Sexual content

simone_elizabeth's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

4.0

The thing I enjoyed most about this book was how it challenged our cultures view of historical eastern Europe and put marginalized cultures in the spotlight. I loved reading about Reid’s perspective on fiction as an academic and a Jewish person. The writing had some confusing imagery and the characters often repeated themselves, but those are minor gripes, especially for a debut. Also the gore in this book is hard core! (Which honestly… slay)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Religious bigotry, Animal death, Blood, Xenophobia, Body horror, Death, Gore, Murder, Racism, War, Antisemitism, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child abuse

Minor: Sexual content

brianna_moye'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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Torture, and Animal death

Minor: Sexual content and War

toffishay's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful tense 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? No

3.75

A really intense, sweeping epic of war built on history and distrust and racial/ethnic injustice. I appreciated how the author handled this subject matter and some scenes were too real that I wondered if I would be able to keep reading. I love Evike, but I think that I also maybe would have enjoyed Gaspars point of view in a few chapters. Overall, really awesome read though. The recommendation from Samantha Shannon is very apt; if you like Priory of the Orange Tree, you would enjoy this as well, I think.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Hate crime, Animal death, War, Physical abuse, Grief, Blood, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Xenophobia, Self harm, Misogyny, Vomit, Religious bigotry, and Animal cruelty

Moderate: Murder, Gore, Genocide, Emotional abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Domestic abuse, Antisemitism, Death, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, Body horror, and Torture

Minor: Death of parent, Kidnapping, Medical content, and Child death

niftynaturalist's review against another edition

adventurous emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

This book had me in its grips from start to finish. It is a captivating read, with a rich setting and dynamic characters that each have a lot of depth to them. The story plot is summed up well in the book's description: Évike, a pagan wolf-girl, and Gáspár, the outcast heir to the throne, are forced to work together to try and save the kingdom in which they both live. The whole story is steeped in folklore, magic, spirituality, and religion in ways that both illuminate and underpin the plot. If you are a fan of the Winternight trilogy (by Katherine Arden), you will very likely fall in love with this book. The ending is a bit open for interpretation, but there is a short epilogue that has been made available by the author for those interested in the romance piece.

The main character, Évike, is fiery and spirited and everything I could have hoped for in a wild wolf-girl protagonist. Gáspár, too, has a great deal of depth and character development, and I really enjoyed watching both of their journeys as the story progressed. Each side character you meet has their own tale to tell as well, and I truly felt that there were very few characters in this book that did NOT have an exceptional amount of depth and development. The one exception may be Nándor, the villain, but I think his rather one-track-mindedness plays into his character in a way that is believable and feeds the story.

There is a lot of religious tension in this book, mainly intolerance and violence from the Patritians (who are a parallel for Christians/Catholics I believe) towards the Yehuli (Jewish people) and the pagans of the country, so if you are not interested in reading that you may have a tough time. But the story itself is one of power and its abuse, of love and family and heritage, and of belief, its meaning, and the power it gives. I have added an antisemitism content warning, which I will expand upon here for those who are concerned:

there is a strong antisemitic sentiment among the Patritian zealots, and at one point a Yehuli man is made to stand on a pig's corpse and is handled roughly by his captors.

On a personal note, I am a huge fan of the relationships, particularly the romantic relationship, in this book and how they play out. Minor spoiler here, but if you are a sucker for the

enemies to lovers or the man on his knees before his beloved

trope, you will very much enjoy the romance in this book. The exploration of family and belonging here is excellent, both heartbreaking and hopeful in turn.

Overall, I would strongly recommend this book to anyone who is a fan of folklore and mythology retellings, as well as those who enjoy fantasy or just like to read about semi-feral female protagonists. I loved every minute of it and I hope you do too!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Violence, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Antisemitism, Self harm, and Sexual content

There is a fair bit of religious self-mutilation, but only a few instances where it is described very graphically. There is also a strong antisemitic sentiment among the Patritian zealots, and at one point

a Yehuli man is made to stand on a pig's corpse and is handled roughly by his captors.

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

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

r_a_bell's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious 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

4.5

The perfect example of what a stand-alone should be! You get all of the story of a trilogy in one book. The beginning journey did seem a little pointless in the end, and I kind of wish it had been a bit shorter if it wasn’t really going to go anywhere. However, it was still enjoyable to read and didn’t feel unnecessarily drawn out. I love how realistic it was its depiction of social structures and relationships, especially in regard to religion. I also really liked the end! It didn’t wrap everything up in a neat little bow just because that’s what the author thought readers would want. The ending was realistic and true to the story, yet satisfying, and it left that little kernel of hope that everything would end up as a “happily ever after.”

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Grief, War, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Xenophobia, Blood, Religious bigotry, Violence, Body horror, and Murder

Moderate: Death, Genocide, Sexual content, Hate crime, Misogyny, Torture, Child abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Confinement, Death of parent, Physical abuse, and Antisemitism

bookishchef'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

3.25

There's some really good stuff in here, and some bad. 
There's an obvious macguffin (the Turul barely has a function gtfo) but there's also enjoyable plot twists and turns. 
The love story was predictable but enjoyable. 
The sexual tension and build up is nice and slow but then gets resolved quite suddenly and unrealistically.

Also we didn't even get a real smut scene after all that buildup??? So needless to say I was a little disappointed with that resolution.

 

Mostly I really liked the worldbuilding. Even though I'm still not completely clear on all the countries and their motivations, the world building really shines when it comes to religions and ethnic groups. In this story alone there are 3 fleshed out religions. They're all original in their own way even if some of their inspirations are quite obvious (The Yehuli faith seems like a mix of Judaism and Islam to me, and the Patritian faith has elements of Catholicism). 

However the character work is a bit so-so. It took me a while to warm up to Évike because she is a bit of a cliche when it comes to fantasy protagonists. Same goes for Gaspar. Almost all the other characters in this story are irrelevant. None of them get really outspoken personalities. Tuula and Szabin are interesting in theory, but only get about an alinea each dedicated to their personalities and general characteristics. Katalin doesn't get any personality traits beyond 'bitch' until the last 10% of the book. It's a bit of a shame. 

There's also some plot contrivances that kind of annoyed me. For example:

About 50ish percent into the book Évike and Gaspar get attacked by some kind of sex demon which makes them very horny. The only function of this scene is to speed up their relationship by them admitting they're sexually attracted to each other. The demon is never relevant again, and it is quite obvious that the author just couldn't think of another way to make the stubborn Évike and the stoic Gaspar admit anything to each other.

The characters also seem to fast travel in the later chapters. In the early chapters of the book it is emphasized again and again that the environment is rough and locations are far away. This seems realistic and the traveling by itself takes weeks. Later in the book the characters seem to travel between those same locations in a matter of days or even hours because the pacing demands it. Like, I understand why the author wrote it this way, but it did pull me out of the story a bit. 

Over all, it's a very flawed book but I did enjoy it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Self harm, Blood, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Genocide, Murder, Sexual content, and Torture

Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Vomit, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, War, and Child abuse