Reviews tagging 'Animal death'

The Year of the Witching by Alexis Henderson

80 reviews

veeples's review against another edition

dark hopeful mysterious tense slow-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

3.0

I’ve read a couple of books that use a theme of fear of witches and the associated religious persecution, and unfortunately, this one is not one of my favorites.

While Immanuel does well to understand that the religion that Bethel operates her forces its black population to the outskirts, allows men of religious standing to take advantage of young girls, and cultivates a culture of fear and distrust, I kept expecting there to be more empathy for the witches of persecuted past or for Immanuel to come to see magic isn’t just something violent. There was potential for it too since her grandmother is a witch, but her magic is never spoke of, so there’s lost potential in letting Immanuel see the misinformation of the understanding of magic perpetuated by the church. Instead, magic and its witches are… just as bad as Bethel has always taught her. There’s no sympathy for the fact that a young girl and two queer women died, and no chance for Immanuel to even understand them more as people instead of purely monsters.

What I do enjoy about this book is the strong relationship and respect Immanuel and Ezra have together, how even if their ideas of what should be done clashes somewhat, their care for each means they wanna see each other live and thrive. I think Henderson does very well to show how even in someone as well meaning as Ezra, he still has ideas that he needs to rethink and challenge but he never puts Immanuel down for her own ideals.

Some other issues I have is I felt this book was quite a bit slower than I would have liked, and I wish Immanuel had more time to understand other things in the book namely: the outskirts and its culture and the history of magic, but maybe this will be touched upon in the sequel.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Pregnancy, Death of parent, and Confinement

Minor: Police brutality and Animal death

skelleybean's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark sad 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? Yes

3.75

This book was so dark and raw, and I loved it all… until it tripped at the finish line and kind of turned into an after school special.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Death, Death of parent, Physical abuse, Violence, Animal death, Body horror, Murder, Animal cruelty, and Blood

Moderate: Sexual assault, Fire/Fire injury, Domestic abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Grief, Infidelity, Misogyny, Confinement, and Pandemic/Epidemic

michaelttay's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

The pacing in the book was sometimes odd and the battle moments needed more energy but I couldn’t stop reading. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Violence, Sexual assault, Confinement, Gore, and Misogyny

Moderate: Death of parent, Animal death, and Blood

manicpixiedreaming's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes

4.5

didn't like the ending.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Animal death, and Blood

Moderate: Misogyny and Racism

cait_henry56's review against another edition

3.5

Solid book. I agree with some of the other reviews that I prefer my horror to not have romantic subplots, so if you are similar you might not enjoy this book. Otherwise, there was wonderful world building, interesting characters, and a fairly unique plot when it comes to witch hunts. I will say that some of the themes were heavy handed, but overall I recommend the audiobook for a dark night's entertainment

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Pedophilia, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, and Adult/minor relationship

Minor: Colonisation, Animal death, and Death of parent

peachani's review against another edition

challenging dark tense slow-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Misogyny, and Violence

Moderate: Medical trauma, Death, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Religious bigotry, and Animal death

Minor: Racism, Chronic illness, Medical content, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Gore, Torture, Toxic relationship, Classism, Body horror, Bullying, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Pandemic/Epidemic, Pedophilia, and Sexual harassment

laumauflau's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective 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? It's complicated

5.0

I loved the way feminism was woven into the story. Immanuelle is everything, and so brave and caring despite being treated as she is. I also loved how supportive Ezra was. Honestly, he was pretty brave too. The conclusion was great and I so appreciated how it didn’t end in a cliffhanger but still leaves room for more exploration in the future. Highly recommend this dark and gripping book!

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death

readbooksovermygrave's review against another edition

adventurous 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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Blood, Adult/minor relationship, Rape, Fire/Fire injury, Animal death, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Death, and Grief

charliebites's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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? It's complicated

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Rape, Gaslighting, Adult/minor relationship, Sexual assault, Domestic abuse, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexual harassment, Self harm, Misogyny, Blood, Child abuse, Pandemic/Epidemic, Terminal illness, Body horror, and Pregnancy

Minor: Blood, Adult/minor relationship, and Animal death

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