Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik

82 reviews

letheaster's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

4.25

Really enjoyed this book. The multiple POVs were well done, and each one did a good job of differentiating themselves from each other. Miryem was probably my favorite character :)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Antisemitism, and Child abuse

Moderate: Alcoholism, Fire/Fire injury, Death of parent, and Violence

Minor: Rape and Child death

gopanini's review against another edition

dark hopeful reflective 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Kidnapping, Death of parent, and Confinement

Moderate: Antisemitism

Minor: Miscarriage and Rape

vigil's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

3.5

hmmm. okay. so, subjectively i enjoyed this book, but i love fairytale-esque novels and inhuman boyfriends so in some ways i was very easy to please. objectively, i have several issues.

this book is the definition of "well done, but didn't need to be done at all" let's start with irina

her plotline felt like an entirely different book that was weaved into the base story of miryem's plotline for padding, and while i didn't dislike it, not do i think it was poorly done, it felt highly unneeded. she mostly seemed to exist to introduce the antagonist of the novel chernobog, i don't think that was the required way, nor the best way to introduce him. he felt do distanced from miryem, and her storyline, that when they intersected, i couldn't invest in it too much beacause i felt very little personal stakes on her behalf. it should have been miryem encountering and dealing with chernobog primarily. not to mention i felt like irina's prescence sent the plot of the rails, she's clearly only there for the sake of introducing the villian, who also didn't really need to be here in my opinion. the staryk king was a good enough antagonist. but if we must go with chernobog i would've preferred a different implementation. something more grounded in the already established plot with miryem and wanda (who should have gotten the plot importance that irina had) or in all honesty, introduce the witch character that was spoken of and whose house the characters occupied. that was a massively missed opportunity in my opinion.

and the sheer amount of unneeded povs.

i've already discussed irina, but did we need her husband, nanny, and stepon's povs??? no, we did not. again, not poorly done, naomi novik's pen game will not be denied here, but we simply didn't need to do it. also, the middle dragged quite a bit. i feel like cutting some pov's and centering miryem and wanda's stories would've assisted that.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Death, Antisemitism, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Blood

Minor: Child abuse and Miscarriage

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

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

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

bmbriar's review against another edition

emotional hopeful tense 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

This is an immaculately written book. It feels just like a classic fairytale, in both the narrative prose and the dialogue, yet it is very clearly an adult book. The characters are beautifully drawn, once again feeling like fairytale characters while also having depth and nuance that is often missing from fairytales. 

Romance is not a large component of the book at all, but I was still fearful that it would spoil the reading experience for me, since the trope is far from a favourite of mine, but it was executed so well that I was really rooting for Miriyem and the Staryk King by the end.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent and Violence

Moderate: Antisemitism

diasg's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional slow-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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Antisemitism, and Violence

Moderate: Child death and Death of parent

Minor: Rape and Sexual violence

ink_and_wings's review against another edition

adventurous dark inspiring mysterious slow-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Child abuse, Physical abuse, Sexism, Body horror, and Death of parent

Moderate: Confinement, Antisemitism, Alcoholism, Injury/Injury detail, Miscarriage, Murder, Violence, and War

Minor: Animal cruelty