Reviews with content warning for Pedophilia - The Year of the Witching

Overall Thoughts:
⁕ If you like your dystopian fantasy novels with a heaping dose of sheer terror, this is the book for you! I can best describe it as The Handmaid’s Tale meets American Horror Story.

⁕ I could not get enough of Immanuel’s parents! The vignettes of their past and the snippets from their letters to one another are gripping. Immanuel and Ezra however…. I found the the development of their relationship unbelievable😅

⁕ I wish the world-building was a bit more explicit. It felt a bit cookie-cutter.

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Content Warnings

lisaeliza's review against another edition

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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

5.0

Content Warnings

sunsetcity's review against another edition

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dark mysterious 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? Yes

3.75

Content Warnings

okays1331's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious 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

4.0

Blood begets blood.

This cult-like town feels terribly real. I could see and feel every detail. The men in power have absolute control over right and wrong, and women have no voice or protection except as an extension of the power of the men. They follow a rigid faith with their Prophet wielding ultimate authority. Sins as determined by the church are immediately met with violence from a slap to exile to burning alive. Everyone is kept in line not just from the fear and devotion to the Prophet and his Apostles but also from fear of the witches and the sin that await them in the woods.

I don't read a lot of horror, but I am fairly certain fans of the genre will get everything they want from this book. The human horrors of poverty, cruelty, and helplessness to the curses of blood, madness, darkness, and slaughter. Emanuel is such a compelling protagonist because in the midst of it all, she is not purely on the side of virtue or sin. She believes in her faith, but she also carries a strong sense of right and wrong and when the church crosses the line, she knows she must act. Her bravery is not automatic and grows naturally instead from her strong convictions.

Lots of TW: abuse, gore, rape, pedophilia, cult, body horror, confinement, indoctrination

Slight spoilers:

The most interesting part about the way this story was written was that the right side was not immediately apparent. Clearly the church abused its power to a huge degree, but the witches in the woods are not on the side of right. We see the author set up a choice between the two evils

seeming to force Emanuel to choose between the two of them only to have her instead choose a third option and fight against both the witches of the wood and the church's systems of oppression.

Content Warnings

powkaye's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-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

4.25

A young woman who is sort of an outcast because of her mother’s past learns she has supernatural powers but she lives in a purist community where women have few rights. This story is about how she comes into her power to disrupt the status quo.

Content Warnings