Reviews tagging 'Pregnancy'

The Year of the Witching by Alexis Henderson

58 reviews

shire_girl99's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.75

I would describe this book as The VVitch meets The Handmaid's Tale. I found how the different antagonists interact with each other and with Immanuelle to be very interesting.

The way that the witches were described was really interesting, I was not expecting them to also be an actual evil force alongside but still opposed to the Prophet.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore and Pregnancy

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

rustbeltcoastie's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

I cannot recommend this book highly enough! It subverted so many of my expectations.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy, Xenophobia, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Death

Moderate: Racial slurs, Racism, and Misogyny

Minor: Death of parent, Rape, and Child abuse

gogotheque's review against another edition

adventurous dark reflective medium-paced

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

3.75

I really enjoyed this book and it had few emotional tearful moments but the ending sort of lacked something. Technically there was a grand finale but it wasn't enough for me. I guess I expected more? It was very proper typical plot..nothing too exciting but still enjoyable.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Physical abuse, Death, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Blood, Adult/minor relationship, Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, and Torture

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

cmbohn's review against another edition

challenging 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

4.25

Really dark and gripping story. Once I got into this, I couldn't wait to see what happened next. I was not prepared! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Pregnancy, Violence, Blood, Death, Fire/Fire injury, and Misogyny

Moderate: Sexual violence, Pandemic/Epidemic, Pedophilia, and Adult/minor relationship

mollyobrien's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful tense fast-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

3.75

Alexis Henderson may be one of my new favorite authors. Her writing is immersive and atmospheric. Her world-building is lovely - it leaves the reader informed but wanting for more details (different book but I would love to know more about the world of House of Hunger). She also deftly handles tough topics like sexism, classism, racism, religious trauma, etc. I can’t wait for whatever she writes next!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Misogyny, Religious bigotry, and Sexism

Moderate: Medical trauma, Pedophilia, and Adult/minor relationship

Minor: Pregnancy

This didn’t really have a tag but there is a relatively graphic scene where a young girl dies in childbirth. The book also starts with a scene where a young girl dies in childbirth but it is not graphic.

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

jht5791's review against another edition

dark sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Violence, Misogyny, Religious bigotry, Sexual violence, Blood, and Gore

Moderate: Child death, Child abuse, and Pregnancy