Reviews with content warning for Animal death - A Far Wilder Magic

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A Far Wilder Magic by Allison Saft

120 reviews

modernmatilda's review

adventurous hopeful lighthearted tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Reasons to read this book:

Rapunzel and Flynn Rider romance vibes
Cottagecore vibes for days
Soft fantasy
Audiobook Weston Winters has a Newies-boy accent and my entire heart

An absolutely LOVELY read that I wish I could spent eternity in.

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bujo_bellel's review

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adventurous challenging hopeful inspiring mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I really love this book, even tho it took me ages to complete (probablly because I was in a reading slump) and also the book was due at the library and I needed to re-borrow it. This book is a slow burn romance. I have never read a slow burn romance before but I can say that I quite enjoyed it. This book focuses more on the fantasy side than the romance side which I think was a good direction for this book to go in. I love the world building, and it has quite fall vibes imo. As you read, the author describes the world in such a way that it was as if I was there myself. I really love how the plot progressed, and I really came to love the characters very much. The character dynamic between Wes and Margaret was done really well and I love how their relationship and characters developed. I liked how the various characters impacted the plot and how the story changed each time something happened. It was a wonderful book to read.

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sa_reads's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

I picked A Far Wilder Magic for my first read of the year because I though it would be easy — a cute fantasy romance. But it was so much more.

I don’t know if I can describe how much I adored this story. It was such a cozy and comforting read, even during the tense moments.

Saft has done such an incredible job with both character and world building. Within the first couple of pages, everything she writes comes to life and absorbs you into the story. While I’m neither Jewish or Irish-Catholic, the way she has incorporated religions inspired by them, and how Wes and Margaret deal with being different and ‘other’ in a world that wants to push them out was something I deeply related to as a Muslim.

I also loved the relationship between Maggie and Wes! It was so soft, so intimate. Though it is a slow burn, it was purposeful — not dragging it out for the sake of it but going at the characters’ pace. I also love how she explored different familial relationships, especially between Margaret and her mother. It filled me with rage and sorrow, and you truly feel for Maggie and want all the best for her.

While I do wish there was more focus on the actual hunt rather than just the build up, I am still very happy with this incredible book. I highly recommend it and I am definitely reading more of Allison Saft’s books in the future.

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r1vana's review

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medium-paced

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

1.0

“Besides, dreams don't always have to be practical. That’s why they are dreams. And now ours live and die together.”

Contains spoiler:

-beautiful cover but the sorry meh. Disappointing.

-I should have dnf’ed it but since I don’t like to do that, I finished it.

-the story goes in the end of 1800s and beginning of 1900s (I think)

-I hate the romance in this book. I hate when ML’s flirt with other women/girls and even kiss one of them.

-i don’t care if male leads don’t find the woman lead attractive at first. But this guy straight up said that Margaret was not beautiful. He got me flabbergasted. He not only said it once. But two/three times!

-the romance is all about sexual haze/tension. I really taught we would get to see a romance growth since it’s a fantasy….

-Wes was not charming and delightful character

-I wished Margaret had a backbone. She never stood up for herself whenever bullies torment or insult her.

-the magic world was really lacking. Since the story has too much filler… it got boring at the end.

-waiting for the plot(killing the hala) was practically non existent(like 7% of the story)

Margaret is living in a home where only her and her dog Trouble lives there. Her mother frequently goes on trips for new research discoveries… so one day when she decides to participate in the hunting game of the Hala, Wes appears on her doorstep.

At first, she doesn’t want to do anything with him. But the more he lives in her home, the more she realizes how lonely and live less her life has been. She somewhat convinces Wes into participating with her. {reward money and glory and respect which she will gladly give all to him.} Her only reason to participate in the competition is to bring her mom home so she wouldn’t feel lonely.

Margaret hates alchemist because she has seen how it has changes her mother for the worse.

The more both ML’s gets close the more Margaret pushes him away because she doesn’t want to get hurt when he will leave:

“They've seen each other at their most vulnerable, and now the must hear each other’s burdens.”

Wes is from the city and is born into a poor family(4 sisters and him) where his father is a deathbeat. Which push his mother on becoming the breadwinner.

However, Wes had always had different passion and goals for his future.

Once he heard that once you become an alchemy, you can easily get a place as a politician aka in order to overthrow New Albion's fascist government.

He is shown flitirious guy with a lot of charm aka a virgin womanizer.He knows how to sweet talk his ways through the women.

One day, he decides to seek out Maggie's mother as a last resort. Why? Because he got fired from all of his previous apprenticeships due to his origin and it seems to also be due to his dyslexia.

Wes sole motivation to become an alchemy is his family’s financial. Being the only son, he is stuck in this situation where he doesn’t give a F about his older sister and mother who are the breadwinner of the family and he doesn’t want to be doing any kind of manual labour that doesn’t involve alchemy… (eye rolls… I understood why his sister was so mad at him…) the double standards when this guy always pushes Margaret to not do house works and relax aka do not do stuff for him. But with his sisters??? He doesn’t say anything.

Their romance/chemistry is so stressful but sometimes:

“She hasn't let go of his arm, but he finds he doesn't want here. The pressure of her hand anchors him in the chaos.

Love is not the sharp-edged thing she's always believed it to be. It's not like the sea, liable to sip through her fingers if she holds on too tight. It's not a currency, something to be earned or denied or bartered for. Love canbe steadfast. It can be certain and safe, or as wild as an open flame.

I's a slice of buttered bread at a dinner table. It's a grudge born of worry: It's broken skin pulled over swelling knuckles.

Tw: loss of family member(s); blood; gun violence; bullying ; anti-semantic

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robin_reads's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious 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

This is a pretty unusual type of YA fantasy, though I'd say it's definitely upper YA if not New Adult.
An Irish Catholic boy and a Jewish girl--though the names of the religions are different in this book. A lot of their story is about the hatred directed at them for where they come from/the beliefs associated with that. There is magic and alchemy (which felt a lot like Fullmetal Alchemist btw) and a horrible mother.
It was way more emotional and hit much closer to home than I expected.
All in all, this was very enjoyable! Do check CW/TW

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lanid's review

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adventurous dark reflective

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

4.0

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jamie_reads_stuff's review

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adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious medium-paced

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

5.0

This is much more a story about love than about the hunt itself. The magic system is really well done and I love the dynamics of the characters. Some of the lines in this were so beautiful and it was such a whimsical world to be in. Absolutely loved this

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city_girl_writer's review

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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

4.5

This was a joy to read despite the dark vibes and content. Not an all-time favorite, but I will definitely remember this book as Roy x Riza fanfic. Nonetheless, this book stands on its own. Despite not enjoying romance, I liked seeing the dual POVs so that I can feel them pining for each other. I would like to thank Hannah from A Clockwork Reader for recommending this book in one of her videos.

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chichisode's review

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

didn't expect it to have those types of scenes.

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neni's review

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adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.25

The thing I liked the most about this book was the writing and the imagery. The autumn woods and mysterious sea side town vibes were great, and the writing was quite beautiful and evocative, especially when the author described environments. The character's were okay, I didn't love them, but I didn't hate them, they were a bit cliché in their tropes, but I enjoyed the development of the main character's response to her family trauma, namely in the way she finally recognized her toxic relationship with her mother. Wes was very sweet as a love interest.
I loved Trouble the hound, especially because my own dear dog is of the same breed so I kept picturing her in the book :)
The pacing was a bit all over the place. The first third of the book felt slow and like nothing was happening, the middle was satisfying in that we finally had some progress in both the plot and the relationship between the main character's, but then the ending, while entertaining, was a bit rushed and left quite a few issues that had been brought up either unresolved or fixed so quickly it didn't feel believable.
I must say as well: the fact that the whole character's main thing was being a huntress and loving it, didn't sit quite well with me as I don't agree with hunting for sport. The descriptions of fox killing as a sport (both the magical/mythical type and the plain normal animal) bothered me.
Overall, this was an okay read, especially vibesy for autumn and with some good romance and pining in the middle but not particularly strong either in plot or character complexity.

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