Reviews tagging 'Alcoholism'

Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik

73 reviews

alexduarte's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Alcoholism, and Domestic abuse

bethann_coleates's review against another edition

adventurous 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Violence, Alcoholism, Racism, War, Physical abuse, Kidnapping, Rape, Blood, Body horror, Child death, Classism, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Murder

randomwright's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Antisemitism

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Domestic abuse, Animal cruelty, and Alcoholism

Minor: Rape

sinceraly's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious tense slow-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

4.5

Ideally, I'll write a longer, more well thought out review at some point, but for now:

Spinning Silver is an excellent adaption/retelling of Rumpelstiltskin that does a great job of setting itself apart from the original. The book is excellently written with some of the best prose I've read all year, and Novik is so incredibly skilled at describing things so well you really can picture them all in your head.

The only thing stopping me from rating the book 5 stars is the amount of perspectives the book gets written through, and the nonsense order of how they happen. At first it's as simple as Miryem/Wanda/Irina, but then you toss in perspectives from the tsar, from Irina's handmaiden, from Wanda's brother, and they all happen randomly, it feels like. Though I loved the switch in perspectives at first, eventually it led to the middle section of the book feeling disjointed and not as cohesive as it could have been. Maybe on a second read, I'd feel like it's worth it, but it was a big enough negative for me to keep the book from 5 stars.

Also wish the book would have given me an epilogue if only because I wanted to see more of the Staryk king post "you fight good" moment. I'm a sucker for proud bitches and a redemption arc.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Physical abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Child abuse, and Blood

Moderate: Abandonment, Animal death, Fire/Fire injury, Antisemitism, Domestic abuse, Alcohol, and Miscarriage

tamara_joy's review against another edition

adventurous emotional tense

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, and Genocide

Moderate: Misogyny, Antisemitism, Death, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Blood, Classism, Alcoholism, Child death, Animal death, and Confinement

matcha_pages's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful mysterious tense slow-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

Great story, I enjoyed seeing the characters evolve and women outsmart their situations. Wanda was my favorite heroine.

My biggest critique is while the women were single they were protrayed as intelligent and determined to survive, yet at the end Irina and Miryem stayed married with their captors. I know this is a fairy tale re-telling and the men changed for the better, but the romance felt so shallow. 

I had a good time listening to the audio book, but it was challenging recognizing when POVs changed. The narrator sublty changes her voice between the female characters so it's really easy to miss if you aren't fully paying attention. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Child abuse, and Antisemitism

Moderate: Alcoholism

Minor: Rape and Death

nofrigatelikeabook's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism and Child abuse

starlit_pathways's review

adventurous hopeful medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Sexism, Domestic abuse, Violence, Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Antisemitism, Death of parent, and Death

Moderate: Alcohol, Alcoholism, and Grief

Minor: Sexual violence and Rape

redpanda_reads's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Child abuse, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Alcoholism and Murder

tibbarasden's review against another edition

adventurous dark medium-paced

4.5

I debated about giving this a five-star, but in the end, even though I thoroughly enjoyed the story/characters I couldn't quite give it that. The atmosphere of this book was spot on. I liked the little connections of the three main characters throughout the storyline. I loved the fire and ice/winter and summer theme throughout. The only thing I didn't like was the number of POVs (6) and the way the author transitioned through the POVs. It wasn't always clear initially whose POV it was, which would take me out of the story a little. Also, I didn't feel the tree's backstory was explained, which left me a little dissatisfied with its whole role. But everything else about the story was wonderful, and I loved how it played out in the end.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Fire/Fire injury, Physical abuse, Alcoholism, and Animal death