Reviews tagging 'Animal death'

The Year of the Witching by Alexis Henderson

82 reviews

mooshake's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Misogyny, Injury/Injury detail, Religious bigotry, Blood, Racism, and Body shaming

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Adult/minor relationship, and Animal death

albon's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Racism, Animal death, Rape, and Animal cruelty

erkietheturkey's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Child abuse, Death, Pedophilia, Violence, Body horror, Child death, Classism, Death of parent, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, Sexism, and Adult/minor relationship

Moderate: Animal death, Gore, Gun violence, Sexual violence, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Homophobia, Pregnancy, Racism, Sexual assault, and Confinement

Minor: Medical content

chronicallyplotting's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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

Imanuelle’s story in “The Year of Witching” is about a girl who has to fight a fate determined for her. The land she is an outcast in is plagued by a curse set by her mother to protect her. 
This book is a mix between a religious cult, meets witch trials, meets what darkness truly is and how people can become all-Consumed into it. 

This book, although being outside my normal reading style, was very well written. I was lured into the magic and mystery of the Darkwood making this the perfect spooky season read. The ending did fall a little flat in an effort to wrap it up and leave room for a potential sequel. But overall this was a good recommendation I found in one of my Facebook book groups. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood, Mental illness, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Infertility, Religious bigotry, Xenophobia, Gun violence, Torture, Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Death, and Sexual assault

moodreadererin's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Blood, Child death, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Grief, Gore, Misogyny, Racism, Pregnancy, Violence, Death of parent, Bullying, Hate crime, Murder, and Pedophilia

Moderate: Rape, Vomit, and Sexual assault

hngisreading's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Blood, Animal death, Pregnancy, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Gore, Racism, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Pedophilia and Sexual assault

the_shelf_elf's review against another edition

medium-paced

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Blood, Misogyny, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Physical abuse, Child abuse, Animal death, Religious bigotry, Child death, and Death

queer_bookwyrm's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious sad tense medium-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

4.0

4 ⭐ CW: descriptions of blood and gore, violence, death/murder, animal sacrifice, animal death, misogyny, scarification, self-harm, menstruation mention, sex, racism, domestic abuse, child abuse, child sexual abuse mention, torture, childbirth/medical trauma 

The Year of the Witching by Alexis Henderson is book 1 in the Bethel series. This is the first book about witches in a puritanical society I've read that features a black MC. This is the witch and Salem witch trial adjacent story I've been looking for! There is way more rep for black people in this book than I've seen for this time period other than slavery. 

We follow Immanuel Moore, a mixed race black girl in land called Bethel, that is puritanical to its core. Women have no rights and they and the younger girls bear the burden of sin due to the belief in witchcraft. Except in Bethel, witches are real, and Immanuel's mother consorted with them. In Bethel, the only way to purge and purify a sinner such as a witch, means burning them on a pyre. 

When Immanuel accidentally sets off plagues in Bethel, she realizes she's the only one that can stop the curse and save Bethel and all the innocent girls in it. Soon Immanuel realizes the threat isn't the witches, it's the system the Church and the Prophet created to harm and exploit women and girls, and the complicity bystanders who do nothing. 

This was a very gruesome read, but fascinating nonetheless. Henderson examines themes around religious and patriarchal oppression as a means to gain power and control, the hypocrisy of the Church, and the endless cycle of violence. She examines how prolonged abuse and oppression can turn someone who used to be gentle into a violent, vengeful thing. She tells us that mercy is the only way to move forward and leave the violence behind. "Blood begets blood." 

There were so many passages I tabbed, because the messages are just so good. It's nice to see a fresh take on puritanical witches and society. I will be reading the next book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Misogyny, Blood, Death, Domestic abuse, and Gore

Moderate: Child abuse

Minor: Sexual content

sadgirlsidney's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious sad tense fast-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

5.0

"To be a woman is to be a sacrifice"

I loved this book. I always judge a book based on how I ravenously I consume it and I consumed this like a woman starved. The characters and story were painted so beautifully. Everytime I put it down I was anxious to pick it up and see what was going to happen next. I cannot wait to see what this author does next!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood

Moderate: Animal death, Gore, and Violence

Minor: Adult/minor relationship

Quite a traumatic birthing scene that ends with the death of the mother that can be triggering. More than one birthing scene that results in the death of the mother actually.

chichio's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

4.75

ARGH! This was so good.

The writing in this book was unbelievable—so atmospheric and full of details without being unnecessarily convoluted. I could quite literally see all of the imagery in my mind’s eye, and there were very clear moments where I was able to watch characters move throughout the space as though I were watching a movie. On the topic of imagery, the horrific elements of this book were so creative and grotesque. I loved every single second of it.

Also, obsessed with our protagonist Immanuelle! Loved her so much. The author did an amazing job writing this character, to the point where even when she made decisions that I didn’t agree with, I still felt as though they were justifiable because of the kind of person she’d been crafted by the author to be.

The only reason why this isn’t getting the whole 5 stars from me is the pacing, namely near the very end of the book.

Understandably, action scenes are meant to be shorter in order to depict tension and high stakes but I couldn’t help but feel that it all felt too rushed. I definitely think it would’ve added to the book if we got to see a little more of the aftermath of the Slaughter on page, rather than just through summary/exposition.

 

Still, this was a fantastic horror read for autumn written by a black author with a black protagonist! I enjoyed it all so much and will definitely checking out more from this author. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Blood, Gore, Death of parent, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, and Sexism

Moderate: Animal death, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, and Emotional abuse