Reviews tagging 'Fire/Fire injury'

The Year of the Witching by Alexis Henderson

43 reviews

hq_reads's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny

Moderate: Blood, Fire/Fire injury, and Forced institutionalization

Minor: Animal death, Adult/minor relationship, Confinement, Sexual assault, Torture, and Rape

coleyglasses's review against another edition

dark hopeful tense fast-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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Pedophilia, Pregnancy, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Religious bigotry, Physical abuse, Murder, Misogyny, Mental illness, Lesbophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Infidelity, Homophobia, Gun violence, Fire/Fire injury, Domestic abuse, Death, Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Blood, Child abuse, and Confinement

spacerkip's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

5.0

Loved every second of this. The descriptions were amazing, and I loved the exploration of religious/spiritual trauma as horror. Everything was so tangible and visceral, and it was so easy to visualize as I read. Who would have predicted I could be such a fan of horror, not me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Forced institutionalization, Blood, Gore, Medical trauma, and Misogyny

Moderate: Animal death, Fire/Fire injury, and Body horror

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Torture, Sexual harassment, Pregnancy, Pedophilia, and Homophobia

_fallinglight_'s review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Blood, Child abuse, Death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Religious bigotry, and Torture

Moderate: Self harm

melsmagicalreads's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious 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? Yes

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Sexual assault, Sexism, Misogyny, Gore, Pregnancy, Religious bigotry, Fire/Fire injury, Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Death, and Death of parent

This book contains multiple traumatic childbirth scenes.

horizonous's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Death, and Medical content

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Torture, and Violence

Minor: Domestic abuse, Lesbophobia, Miscarriage, Racism, Sexism, and Sexual violence

◦ Death = incl. child, grandparent, parent and maternal
◦ Medical content = Child birth
◦ Sexual violence = Statutory rape

archaicrobin's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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? Yes

3.0

I was really torn with this book. It was a creepy, dark, feminist, witchy read with monsters both creature and human alike, BUT the writing, characters, and story really just felt like another YA paranormal romance and I was not very satisfied with that. It was disappointing to find these tropes because I feel without them, it could have been such a stronger novel. 

Immanuelle lives in a puritanical, sexist society that fears the Dark wood and the witches within it. Women are abused in all ways in broad daylight and everyone just looks the other way because “The Father” is always right. So you have your dystopian sexist trash society, you have your ostracized young girl, and then of course, you have your handsome son of the prophet that falls in love with said ostracized girl. Together they bumble their way through obstacles in an attempt to save themselves and their home from the evil machinations of the Prophet as well as the witches of the dark wood.  

I was tempted to count exactly how many chapters started with “Immanuelle woke to…..” but it happened so many times I honestly think it would take to long to count them all. This is just an example of the amateur writing that took me out of the story and made this book a struggle for me to get through. Also, it was very hard to care about the characters at all because they honestly didn’t have much depth beyond “I hate my sexist dad, I am an outcast, I abuse women and am the literal worst”. Those are as deep as your main characters go, and you feel that. I was rooting for the witches in the wood to come and slaughter them all by the end.  

While there was a lot I didn’t enjoy about this novel, I did still like the scenes with the witches and honestly that’s probably why I even gave it 3 stars. Without the witches it would be a solid 2.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Fire/Fire injury, and Misogyny

haileybones's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-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

4.25

Year of the Witching is a super fun read that perfectly balances mystery, suspense, and horror. An orphaned teenage girl, raised in a conservative patriarchal society by her maternal grandparents, delves into the history of her rebellious mother and uncovers a dark, magical secret that sends her sleuthing across her world alongside a very cute rich boy. But be warned: this book touches on a lot of sensitive topics in rapid succession, so keep an eye on trigger warnings if necessary.

The themes are in your face: religious fundamentalism, feminism, patriarchy, and duality with a sprinkling of personal and racial identity as a mixed race, adopted individual. There are obvious parallels with the FLDS Mormon cult and the book is littered with Biblical references. Despite all that ground covered, it rarely became too preachy for my taste.

That is a testament to the world building, which felt very organic. Lore can be difficult, especially if your fantasy religion is already centuries old when the story starts. Although it feels expansive, details are given at a manageable pace as Immanuelle and the reader learn together. Details on the very first page pay off in reveals and a second reading would uncover dozens of missed breadcrumbs - it's so well done.

Immanuelle herself is a strong lead, but her character arc isn't one of substantial growth. From the start she's smart, kind, and a good friend (if a bit of an outcast). She has strong moral convictions with the courage to back them up. That never changes and it got a little boring for me towards the end. Ezra, the romantic lead, suffers from similar virtuous characterization that becomes more wooden and boring as the story goes on.

The pacing was overall excellent for building tension, but the last quarter of the book fell flat. I think the author was trying to keep the reader guessing, but the "twists" in this section were mostly tedious double-crosses, discussed at length by the characters beforehand. The climax and final battle were predictable and heavily foreshadowed. Because Immanuelle is characterized as unfailingly good, there isn't much tension because you know she'll discover a solution to protect the most important characters.

This proves true

and leads into a cheesy epilogue I could have done without.

I'd recommend it as a vacation read to someone who likes witchy fantasy, especially in the autumn. Something light you can get through in a weekend, entertaining, but not life changing. I look forward to what Alexis Henderson writes next.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Gore, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Murder, Pregnancy, Religious bigotry, and Violence

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Death, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Lesbophobia

literatigeek's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Death, Death of parent, Gore, Religious bigotry, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Confinement, Grief, Racism, Torture, and Physical abuse

Minor: Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, and Sexual assault

sm_moon's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Pregnancy, Religious bigotry, and Adult/minor relationship

Minor: Lesbophobia, Sexism, Infertility, and Gore