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katievh's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Child death, Antisemitism, and Hate crime
Moderate: Xenophobia, Death, Injury/Injury detail, and Violence
pins's review against another edition
- 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
4.75
A story about the importance of stories, how even if our talents may be unconventional, they're still worth something and about how we can affect those around us- even after were gone.
"Kill the lantern, Raise the Ghost"
P.S.
P.S.S. I did listen to this at 1.75x speed, and I do think this tale works MUCH better in audio format than it would written. Plus January LaVoy does a really great job doing distinctive voices
Graphic: Antisemitism, Death, Religious bigotry, Genocide, and Child death
Moderate: Death, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Violence
Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Xenophobia, and Alcohol
abominablesnowaro's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Antisemitism, Genocide, Gore, Child death, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Xenophobia, Religious bigotry, Violence, and Abandonment
Moderate: Body horror, Self harm, Sexual content, Animal death, Blood, and Suicidal thoughts
Minor: Alcohol and Vomit
kingsteph's review against another edition
4.5
Moderate: Xenophobia, Antisemitism, and Religious bigotry
Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Slavery, Racial slurs, Gore, and Self harm
maregred's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Hate crime, Antisemitism, Death, and Xenophobia
Moderate: Child death, Grief, War, Violence, Alcohol, and Alcoholism
Minor: Animal death, Sexual violence, Slavery, Colonisation, Blood, and Emotional abuse
beccasherman's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Moderate: Xenophobia, Religious bigotry, Genocide, Violence, and Hate crime
Minor: Child death
emilygcotter's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Genocide, Xenophobia, Religious bigotry, Child death, and Antisemitism
nichole_of_numenor's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
A brother and sister with a magical and troubled past inherit a house that travels on chicken legs. Bellatine and Isaac aren't close but this pulls them together for the first time in years. Soon after they revive the show they performed on the road as children, they discover a sinister creature is hunting them. (No spoilers here, just what's on the dust jacket).
I'll start with what I didn't like, since that happened first:
Unfortunately, this was a really hard book for me to get into. As the house was traversing all over America, it didn't really address how it walked everywhere without causing a huge media circus. It tried by regailing tales about magical houses in other major cities, but I just wasn't buying it. Tell me it was invisible to everyone unless it wanted to be seen. Tell me it traveled instictively in places where it knew it wouldn't be detected. Just tell me *something.* I can suspend almost any disbelief but it has to be addressed. Are you telling me that an enormous chicken footprint in a cemetary isn't going to get national media coverage? Right.
Bellatine has a special gift. For most of the book, she spends nearly all of her energy suppressing that gift, à la Elsa from Frozen (and becoming a huge stick-in-the-mud in the process, by the way.) I've been reading lots of books with that particular trope lately, so that irritated me. "Let it go." Be yourself. Love your abilities. I get it.
What I loved:
From the very beginning, I loved the beautiful sentences woven throughout the story. This author is primarily a poet and it shows. But they weren't overly complicated or too frequent; just enough to be a delight when they happened. That's what kept me reading. Here's an example: "Though it was well past noon, his people would be in bed still, sleeping off the sorrows they'd tried to drown the night before."
I also really enjoyed the multiple POV with which this story is told, including a very unique one.
As I hit the halfway point, I was convinced I was going to give this book 2 starts. So just powered through, trying to finish as fast as I could so I could get to something I would (definitely) like better. Then the tide turned and I ended up loving the last half of the book so much my 2 starts turned into 5. All of the magic is finally explained. Everything is tied together beautifully, linking the past and the present, tragedy and healing.
I'm glad I stuck it out.
There are definite trigger warnings in here: violence, anti-Semitism, pogroms, death, self-harm, murder, xenophobia.
Graphic: Body horror, Suicidal thoughts, Xenophobia, Gore, Racism, Genocide, Child death, Death, Murder, Religious bigotry, Violence, and Antisemitism
starrysteph's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Animal death, Child death, Death, Antisemitism, Racism, Violence, Genocide, Gun violence, Xenophobia, Drug abuse, Self harm, Drug use, Adult/minor relationship, and Vomit
zoeelizabethk's review against another edition
- 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
4.0
Most of this book is positives for me. I think the narrative structure of Thistlefoot is brilliant. I can't say too much because of spoilers, but the way different stories are broken up and told opposite and in front and in back of each other is well done. If you have any familiarity with slavic fairytales it will feel familiar but also clever. I also loved the prose and the narrative tone of the book. Nethercott is also a poet, and that definitely comes across in her writing. It's very suited to a liminal fairy tale. I really liked the discussion of the power of story, remembrance, and generational memory. I wrote my college thesis on Russian generational memory surrounding WWII, so it's a topic that I've spent a good amount of time with, and I thought that Thistlefoot was a really good vehicle to explore that topic.
The few negatives for me that I noticed, but didn't necessarily impact my enjoyment of the book. Occasionally the prose got a little unwieldy in my opinion and the book could have been shorter. I thought the minor romance that develops came out of nowhere and did nothing; I'm not sure that it even served as a plot device. I think there's good development for Isaac and Bellantine, but don't expect the side characters to be really well fleshed out. I thought they were sufficient for this story, but this might bother character driven readers. The settings felt often very vague despite seeming vivid to the characters. It was very hard to remind myself that this was taking place in modern day. Finally, I think the ending was probably the right choice thematically, but it was not necessarily satisfying, particularly for our characters.
Overall, I am really glad I read Thistlefoot. I'm looking forward to what Nethercott comes up with next, because I really appreciated what she created here. If you are a fan of slavic folklore/fairy tales, I think that this is definitely worth picking up. The blub likens it to Spinning Silver, and I don't disagree, but I think it is more similar to Deathless by Catherynne Valente. If you enjoyed Deathless, Spinning Silver, or the Winternight Trilogy (which I had serious problems with), give Thistlefoot a try!
Thanks to Netgalley and Anchor Books for an eARC in exchange for my honest review. I also listened to the audiobook narrated by January LaVoy, who overall had a terrific narration.
Graphic: Animal death, Antisemitism, Child death, Gore, Hate crime, Racial slurs, Death, Grief, Religious bigotry, and Xenophobia
Moderate: Homophobia, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Gore, and Blood
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Abandonment, Fire/Fire injury, and Sexual content