Reviews tagging 'Vomit'

Thistlefoot by GennaRose Nethercott

12 reviews

clairelisebella's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious slow-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? Yes

4.0

Very slow start for me, but the last 80 pages or so had me entranced. There were at least two chapters that are among the best chapters I ever read. I wish all of them were that strong! 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Death, Genocide, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, War, Violence, Child death, Stalking, and Antisemitism

Moderate: Body horror

Minor: Vomit

tiernanhunter's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful informative reflective 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

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Alcohol, Antisemitism, Death, Deportation, Genocide, Xenophobia, Blood, Child death, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Racial slurs, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Vomit, and War

thehobbitbarbie's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense fast-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

5.0

If you'd told me a week before I read Thistlefoot that an Americana horror novel was going to be my new favorite book, I'd have thought you were out of your mind. But here we are, almost 450 pages later, and this book is all I've thought about since I first opened it. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Antisemitism, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, Murder, War, Blood, Genocide, Vomit, Suicidal thoughts, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Hate crime, Death, Car accident, Xenophobia, Child death, Violence, and Racial slurs

Minor: Medical content, Abandonment, Suicide attempt, Alcohol, and Sexual content

sneaky_snake22's review

adventurous dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective 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

This is a beautiful tale. It weaves together the past, present, magic and reality in a way that draws the reader in further and further. You learn and grow with the characters and understand how a past that seems so far removed from ourselves is connected and ingrained. It's a story that inspires you to connect and remember those that are struggling today. The main takeaway is that storytelling ensures those that are physically lost to us are never forgotten, that no matter the atrocities that occur, by remembering and telling the stories of those that lived, we can beat the hatred and darkness. And that by remembering the past, we can heal ourselves. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Antisemitism, Death, Self harm, Child death, Genocide, and Murder

Moderate: Vomit and War

Minor: Death of parent

blewballoon's review

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? Yes

3.5

This was a very creative blend of folk tales, the modern world, an exploration of generational trauma, and a story of family and magic. In some ways it reminded me of The City We Became, but with more subtlety with its messaging (despite still not being very subtle). The characters were flawed and interesting, they felt like people with layers, and it left me wanting to know more. This book is more grim than I originally anticipated, but it felt earned, and there was always an element of hope. Not sure how I feel about

Bellatine's romance with a gravestone statue she brought to life by accident.

I listened to this on audiobook and the narration was very good, I was impressed by how distinct some of the voices were. I do not think I would have liked the book as much without the audio, I think I would have gotten more frustrated with the characters and found them more flat.

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Antisemitism, Vomit, Death, Racism, Body horror, Gore, Xenophobia, and Violence

bellesunbridled's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful mysterious 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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Religious bigotry, Animal death, Antisemitism, Child death, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Vomit, Violence, Religious bigotry, Death, Child death, Genocide, Body horror, Fire/Fire injury, Antisemitism, and Self harm

Minor: War, Sexual assault, Murder, and Violence

18soft_green's review

adventurous dark emotional hopeful sad tense 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

4.0

4/5

This is a good book, unfortunately.

I say it this way because a lot of the time it felt like the author was being pretentious in her flowery style and drama. The POV switches were painful and Isaac is my least favorite type of character and Bellatine is so fucking annoying! And her statue love interest is worse! Baba Yaga herself was very interesting but her great, great, great, great grandkids are the worst! In fact, it's as if Nethercotte took my least favorite types of characters, added some quirks, and dumped them into a story.

But the story is good! The grief is real, the magic is weird, the contradictions are mysterious, the walking house is fantastic! The angst, my friends! It's such good angst! Not the relationship angst, that shit was boring as hell and annoying, but the life angst, the way the characters felt about themselves, that was the true sauce.

It also felt so fucking weird that Nethercotte constantly acknowledged the atrocities of the land. Maybe that's just my privilege talking but it felt so out of place and character for the Yaga siblings. Like, this book isn't addressing those topics so why is it bringing them up. I care very much about those issues but it felt like the story was only bringing them up out of obligation and personal responsibility rather than because it was important to the story. It was awkward for me.

4/5 I would not recommend unless the situation truly called on THIS particular book

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Grief, Hate crime, Mental illness, and Police brutality

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Child abuse, Cultural appropriation, Panic attacks/disorders, Vomit, and War

Minor: Animal death, Ableism, Animal cruelty, Antisemitism, Child death, Child abuse, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Homophobia, and Self harm

deetabz's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, War, Animal death, Body horror, Grief, Hate crime, Murder, Blood, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Genocide, Antisemitism, Child death, Fire/Fire injury, and Violence

Moderate: Alcohol and Vomit

displacedcactus's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad 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? Yes

I wanted to love this book. I loved the concept, and the opening pages really pulled me in with Nethercott's almost lyrical writing. But y'all, this book is miserable. Sparks of joy are few and far between, quickly moved past so we can focus more on Isaac and Bellatine's intense self-loathing.

I didn't like Isaac at all as a character. I have no time or patience for smarmy men or people who steal from small businesses and others who can ill afford the loss.

Bellatine was a character I could have liked, but she was so closed off that I felt like she was even closed off to me as the reader, and it was hard to connect to her.

A story about hosting a traveling puppet show in Baba Yaga's chicken-legged hut should feel fun and adventurous, even if a dangerous enemy is chasing you. But no fun was to be had.

There is a final, beautiful, hopeful message at the end, but I had a miserable time getting there. I understand why others enjoyed this book, but I was the wrong reader at admittedly the wrong time in my life for something this heavy.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Animal death, Death, Gore, Gun violence, and Antisemitism

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Xenophobia, Violence, and Self harm

Minor: Cannibalism and Vomit

There's a brief off-handed mention of necrophilia, somehow SG doesn't have a CW tag for that one. There are specific scenes of a pogrom and they're pretty disturbing.

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

---

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