Reviews tagging 'Blood'

Thistlefoot by GennaRose Nethercott

22 reviews

owlieali's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective slow-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? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Violence, Antisemitism, Blood, Gun violence, Racism, and Xenophobia

Minor: Sexual violence

rosyapple's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional informative 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? Yes

5.0

i cried so much 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Antisemitism, Child death, Animal death, and Blood

Moderate: Xenophobia

Minor: War and Self harm

torturedreadersdept's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Alcohol, Death, Grief, Gun violence, Murder, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Antisemitism, Blood, Xenophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Hate crime, Violence, Body horror, and Child death

laurareads87's review against another edition

adventurous emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.5

I liked a lot about this book.  I found the writing beautiful, and I feel like the author has handled serious and difficult themes -- intergenerational trauma especially -- very well.  I liked the last quarter of the book best, and found that while some questions were left unanswered, the ending was absolutely a satisfying conclusion.  I am not the most versed in Jewish myth, but I appreciated how it was interwoven into the story from what I do know; the historically informed chapters of the story are at times difficult reading, but are very, very well done.  What really didn't work for me was one of the two main contemporary characters (several other reviewers have gotten at why); I found Isaac a very frustrating character, and did not like the way the Isaac/Benji storyline in particular was written like it took place in a much earlier time period (Great Depression, perhaps?) than it did.
<i>Content warnings:</i> Antisemitism, genocide, murder, grief, self harm, blood, suicidal thoughts, animal death, animal cruelty, fire/fire injury, xenophobia, death, child death, violence

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Antisemitism, Blood, Child death, Death, Grief, Murder, Animal death, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Animal cruelty and Gore

Minor: Alcohol

alliebliterary's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective sad 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? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Death, Genocide, Antisemitism, Blood, Self harm, and Child death

mossgoblins's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious reflective 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

5.0

This was hands-down the best story I’ve read in years. I might be a bit biased since my family history is not dissimilar to that of the Yaga’s, yet I believe anyone can appreciate the masterwork of GennaRose Nethercott in Thistlefoot. The plot is airtight, the characters complex and endearing, and the setting simply sparkling with life. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Antisemitism

Moderate: Death, Genocide, Grief, Abandonment, Murder, Cursing, Suicidal thoughts, War, Animal death, Fire/Fire injury, Xenophobia, Blood, Self harm, Violence, Hate crime, and Child death

Minor: Alcohol, Kidnapping, and Deportation

laura_berger's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense slow-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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Genocide, and Antisemitism

Moderate: Child death

abominablesnowaro's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful reflective sad 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

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Content Warnings

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

maregred's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• 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

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Content Warnings

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

booksdogsandcoffee's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted mysterious 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? It's complicated

5.0

From the first few paragraphs of Thistlefoot I knew it was going to be one of my favorite reads on 2022. 

The best way to describe this book is a modern day folklore retelling of Baba Yaga’s descendants. It is about how stories are made and told. How stories can never die, how each generation keeps the stories and myths of old alive. It is a hauntingly beautiful story of two estranged siblings who find each other again, find themselves and confront their generational trauma. 

Some of my favorite things about Thistlefoot are 1) the house, Thistlefoot, has its own pov. They are telling you about themself and the many stories and myths of their origin. 2) Isaac Yaga, one of the two Yaga siblings, is Jewish and he has migraines. I rarely see migraine representation in books, especially paired with Jewish representation and to see that part of myself represented brought tears to my eyes. 3) The writing of this book is literal magic. The way Nethercott describes the setting, characters, events that are happening is phenomenal. 

The in-depth look at generational trauma, a love of theater and the importance of family is just perfect. On the whole I couldn’t love this book more and I highly highly recommend this book to anyone and everyone. 

Tropes & themes
Found family
Traveling theater 
Ancestral trauma 

Rep 
Jewish
Sapphic

Cw
Eugenics 
Anti-Semitism 
Death of a Child
Immigration 
Death
Violence
Gore 
Blood

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Death, Antisemitism, Genocide, Blood, Violence, Religious bigotry, Murder, and Grief