Reviews tagging 'Sexual violence'

The Year of the Witching by Alexis Henderson

28 reviews

powkaye's review against another edition

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.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Body horror, Death, Domestic abuse, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Torture, and Violence

carlyjmadden's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Loveable characters? Yes

4.5

incredibly dark and engaging...also loved the message we’re left with at the ending. i’m glad i picked this up! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Religious bigotry, and Violence

Moderate: Torture

Minor: Misogyny, Pedophilia, and Sexual violence

lesbe_reader's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Religious bigotry, Violence, Self harm, Misogyny, Gore, Death, Body horror, Blood, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Sexual violence, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Pedophilia, Rape, and Adult/minor relationship

nerdybirdy101's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious medium-paced

3.5

 I had high expectations for this book on the hype that it received during its release and the number of posts that were dedicated to it by book influencers. I think my high expectations did impact my reading of the book because I wanted more to happen and I thought some scenes were understated to my expectations. I did enjoy it and like the book, but I wanted more.

 Basically, this book features a society that is basically a religious cult where they have the leader the Prophet who basically governs and dictates life. The Prophet is always a man, he apparently has visions, and he can have multiple wives. This cult has whites men in power and that women are treated as tools and objects. The Prophet can have multiple wives who he frequently abuses. Wives are branded with a symbol in the middle of their forehead to showcase they belong to their husbands. The cult is supposed to follow their Bible that has a bunch of religious practices and beliefs where they should not sin. There were witches in the cult’s past where these witches who were women had drama with the town, which has long-lasting impacts. Now anyone who is considered or found guilty of witchcraft is burned. The witches are rumored to still reside in the dark woods and people, especially women, are warned to stay out. Our main character, Immanuelle’s, mother was found guilty of witchcraft and was burned. In this story, we follow Immanuelle in her struggle to understand her mother and her mother’s action, where Immanuelle is going to try to reverse a big evil plaguing the cult’s town. There is an attempt at romance in this book, which I am intrigued if it is going to continue in the sequel.

 I gave this book a 3.5 out of 5 stars because I definitely think that it is better than average (3 stars) but it does not exceed the ideal of being a great read (4 stars). I liked the plot and many of the twists the author made, but I think they could have been executed a little bit better. I do wonder if this book could be good to be adapted as a TV series because there are cases where I wished there were more details in a scene that could be filled if adapted. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Sexism, Sexual violence, Violence, Religious bigotry, Misogyny, and Death

Minor: Adult/minor relationship

typedtruths's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Child death, Violence, Sexual violence, and Self harm

Moderate: Confinement, Racism, Sexual assault, and Pedophilia

emberysing's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Religious bigotry, Blood, Violence, Xenophobia, Sexism, Racism, Misogyny, Miscarriage, Death, and Animal death

Moderate: Gore, Pedophilia, Adult/minor relationship, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

lisacanteven's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This book is quite frankly literary magic. I see the allegory wrapped up in such an intriguing story. There are some really tough topics, the story is so worth a read if you can read through the triggers listed at the end of this review.

The first half of the book is some serious setup and world building. I never found myself bored during this, but I was ready for some action. The setup was very necessary to the plot, so don't stop reading. The first half of the book is much more character driven than plot driven. Once you reach that halfway mark, the story really (and I mean REALLY) picks up. I read almost the entire second half of the book in one day, whereas it took me five days to read the first half. There is just a lot to digest and retain during the first 160ish pages.

Immanuelle is one badass heroine. I loved her from the very beginning. Being by her side as she cleverly finds her way was the best adventure I could go on. She grows a lot in what can only be months' time, and I cannot wait to see who she becomes in the sequel. Yes, there is going to be a sequel. I saw it on the author's Instagram. She is working on it now, and I'm so thankful because I need more of these characters and this world in my life.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Sexism, Religious bigotry, Misogyny, Gore, and Death

Moderate: Child death, Pedophilia, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

aliciafroy's review against another edition

adventurous tense fast-paced

• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood and Sexism

Moderate: Body horror, Sexual violence, Racism, Physical abuse, and Misogyny

Minor: Adult/minor relationship