Reviews tagging 'Death'

The Year of the Witching by Alexis Henderson

100 reviews

sweetxsage's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

This was my first audio book in a really long time, and i ended up finishing the story in the span of two or three days.

Emmanuel is a strong, intelligent girl who lives in a deeply flawed society. It felt so disheartening to listen while so many terrible things happen to her and her loved ones.

I loved the ending,

way more realistic than just saying “everything is fine now!”

.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood and Death

Moderate: Xenophobia

Minor: Adult/minor relationship

If you have distaste for religious organizations and the power structure within them, this might be triggering to you.

r_o_s_e's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Classism, Religious bigotry, Misogyny, Emotional abuse, Death, and Violence

Moderate: Physical abuse, Animal death, Gun violence, Torture, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, Sexism, and Confinement

Minor: Miscarriage, Chronic illness, Medical content, Racism, Pedophilia, Pregnancy, Bullying, and Adult/minor relationship

bookishcori's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Misogyny, and Racism

Moderate: Violence

Minor: Sexual assault

steph_thelibrarian's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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? No

3.75

I loved this book! Honestly could not put it down! It is like The VVitch meets The Village. I love books with this type of puritanical setting, weird church, magic, corruption... it's good stuff. I thought the author did a great job describing some horrific and brutal scenes, and developing the characters. I really like Immanuelle as a lead character - very strong, smart, and honorable. 

<spolier>My main beef with this story comes at the point when Immanuelle has to defeat the witches. It felt unrealistic (LOL) to me that she just had to reach into the depths of her person and believe that she could take back the curses in order to save Bethel. I think I would have liked a little more development of her coming to terms, truly, with her magic/witchcraft past, and reclaiming it, remaking into her own. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Vomit, Blood, Body horror, and Death

This is a horror novel. Blood is in every chapter.

Death comes at the end.

jillaay_h's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Physical abuse, Classism, Blood, Death, Misogyny, and Adult/minor relationship

agnela's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

4.0

Loved this! I'm so too old for most YA these days, but this was fine, maybe except the romantic undertones. It had creepy forest, witches, old diaries, spells, biracial and queer characters, social and feminist problems. 
This was the first book ever made me sick to my stomach. 
But the ending was meh, so meh that it lost a star for me. Kind of lazy all is well let's leave it to maybe having a sequel ending. I was rooting for revenge and blood and.... I did not get it. Idk if it was rushed or did the author felt bored by her story at this point but meh. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Grief, Misogyny, Murder, Racism, Classism, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Sexism, Torture, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, and Physical abuse

blueyogi's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Death, Sexism, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Blood, Colonisation, Racism, Fire/Fire injury, and Death of parent

Minor: Rape, Pedophilia, Blood, and Gun violence

book_voyager's review against another edition

dark fast-paced

3.5

It’s been a while since I was this into reading (and finishing) a book. This one clearly called me home.

In general, the plot itself is not super original but the story is quite well written. The setting is interesting, and the world-building has been successful.

Although I do wish witches and witchcraft weren’t always the evil side. Even if the church in this book was depicted as faulty (and somewhat evil), witches still got the worst rep.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Confinement, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Pregnancy, and Physical abuse

Moderate: War and Torture

aico's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.25

I enjoyed the atmosphere of this book. The plot is also very easy to get sucked into, although it is very predictable. The moral ambiguity of almost everyone in this story was well done.

My main gripe this this book is the lack of depth with every character, especially Immanuelle. The author does not do enough character work for me to believe most of the relationships in this story, especially between Immanuelle and her grandmother. The emotional beats are mostly lackluster. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death

aseel_reads's review against another edition

challenging dark 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? It's complicated

3.0

I think this had potential but I didn't realise it wasn't a standalone and now I can barely remember what happened, which shows how forgetable it is 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death, Blood, Bullying, Child death, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Domestic abuse, Murder, Pregnancy, Religious bigotry, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Misogyny, Sexual violence, Violence, Physical abuse, and Rape