Reviews tagging 'Sexism'

Juniper & Thorn by Ava Reid

44 reviews

hprimo12's review against another edition

medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

This book was supposed to be a gritty retelling of a fairytale, but the topics that made it "gritty" were not handled well and left me hating the main character. I did not find any part of the story compelling, and it pained me to finish it. I stongly do not recommend.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Body shaming, Cultural appropriation, Death, Domestic abuse, Antisemitism, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexism, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Homophobia, Incest, Racism, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, Violence, and Xenophobia

The "love" story part of this book was only really based on trauma bonding, as the characters frankly do not really spend much time together before being madly in love. Additionally, the story is seemingly centered on how much the main character is suffering at the hands of her sisters despite the fact that they are also being abused by her father. Granted they suffer a different kind of abuse, but the author and the main character make no mention of this at all. To the point where the main character kills one of her sister and shows no remorse. The last thing that I will say is that I found any LGBT+ representation to be layered in negative stereotypes or villainized. There are many other things that I could point out about the world or the overtly sexualized situations, but I don't want to give this book much more thought.

tashasbooks's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

This book has been described as a horror and gothic twist on the fairytale, the Juniper Tree. Going into this, I wasn't familiar with the story, so it mostly was a gothic fantasy to me.

It was very gory and gruesome, with deeply unsettling writing. There is a lot of sexualization in this book, so please check the trigger warnings for this and the violence. The prose however, is beautiful and I found it very engrossing to where I read this book in one sitting. It's interesting how the author can describe settings in a whimsical manner, whereas the subject matter of the book is very dark.

We follow Marlinchen, the youngest sister of a trio of witches who live with their father, the only wizard in Oblya left. Oblya is a city rapidly growing and the setting insinuates that it is going through its own Industrial Revolution, with many businesses and commercial industries moving into the city. According to Marlinchen, she is not the prettiest or smartest out of her sisters, and we learn as the story goes on that she is deeply insecure. All of the sisters live with their father, who is tyrannical and is under a horrible curse, which in turn leads him to treat them horribly and lock them within the house.

"You should know, of course, there are only two kinds of mothers in stories, and if you are a mother, you are either wicked or dead."

Marlinchen's sisters are not kind, and because of this she faces her own insecurities when comparing herself to them. She meets and becomes enamored with Sevas, the Principal ballet dancer when sneaking away into the city at night. It is a bit lust at first sight, but I do believe their interactions allowed Marlinchen to gain confidence in her own body and her decisions. 

I really enjoyed all of the characters and learning how Marlinchen sees them, as I do feel like there is a bit of an unreliable narrator aspect to this. One character I felt that wasn't fleshed out was Undine, but we don't spend as much time with her as her other sister Rose. There is a big plot twist towards the end, which if paying attention throughout the book, there were signs that made it all make sense at the end. I did enjoy the final ending and I do feel like this book just explores Marlinchen's development and growth so well. 

It is an uncomfortable read, especially with all of the hard topics it covers, with a main point being the abuse Marlinchen suffers, but the writing is beautiful and I very much enjoyed the plot and the ending. Definitely recommend, but make sure this book is the one for you and the headspace you are in.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Body shaming, Sexism, Violence, Gore, Pedophilia, Child abuse, Sexual assault, Eating disorder, Misogyny, Vomit, and Xenophobia

smolone13's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad 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

Marlinchen is the youngest of three witch daughters who perform duties for their father to collect money from the town. But after going to the ballet theater, Marlinchen falls in love with the main dancer of the theater.

This book took me on a twisting roller coaster I was not expecting! It was a beautifully written dark fantasy with the smallest hint of romance and an interesting ending. I wished the ending was a little bit longer but I loved it. Would highly recommend.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Grief, Gaslighting, Cannibalism, Sexual assault, Violence, Eating disorder, Domestic abuse, and Death

Moderate: Misogyny, Medical trauma, Alcohol, Panic attacks/disorders, Murder, and Sexism

Minor: Body horror

If you’ve read The Juniper Tree you would know exactly what this plot is going to be. If not, I will tell you. The Juniper Tree starts with a woman who is in a loving relationship with her significant other but is having infertility issues. She goes to the juniper tree and asks the juniper tree to help her. She wants a child that has rosy blood cheeks and pale snowy skin. The juniper tree whispers to her that she can acquire these things if she gives food. She slices her hand and lets it drip near the juniper tree. After nine months she gives birth to a beautiful boy with rosy blood cheeks and pale snowy skin, and dies happily. The woman gets buried under the juniper tree. Her son grows up and witnesses his father marry a horrible woman who also has a daughter. He enjoys his time with his new sister but is constantly getting punished for something by his step-mother. One day the step-mother gets so furious that she has him lean into a chest and slams the chest down, severing the boy's head. She panics and wraps his head back onto his neck with a ribbon and goes to her daughter. The girl goes to her brother after being told to and nudges him which knocks his head off. The stepmother then cooks the boy into a stew and has the dad eat the entire stew. Afterwards, the girl buries her brother's bones under the juniper tree and he is reincarnated as a white bird. He goes through the town singing his song and collects a gold chain, ruby slippers, and a millstone. He returns to his house and starts to sing his song. He gives the father the gold chain, the ruby red slippers to his sister and then he drops the millstone right on top of the step-mother. Now, you know a bit about how Juniper & Thorn is going to go. Marlinchen is the youngest sibling out of three and is the one who gets mistreated the most. Her older sister, Undine, is the meanest. She mistreats Marlinchen the most by smacking her around and demanding her to do things for her. Rose is nicer to Marlinchen and treats her with respect while still telling her off. Marlinchen is described as the least pretty of the sisters. She doesn’t get much attention and the ones who come to her for help are usually disgusting asking her for sexual demands. The one who is nice to her that she has regularly is a normal factory worker who doesn’t believe in going to the doctor’s and goes to Marlinchen instead. Marlinchen finally discovers something she enjoys that is more to her than her family and the monsters she lives with. She goes to the ballet theater with her sister’s and discovers that she enjoys the ballet theater, not only for the show but she falls in love with the dancer who plays Ivan. Savas is a mistreated ballet dancer who wants to escape and hates playing Ivan every weekend. When Marlinchen helps Sevas, who she believed was just a sick drunk in the alleyway, they quickly discover an infatuation with each other. It isn’t long until they are trying to see each other again. Sevas ends up at her estate because his instructor and abuser is trying to figure out what is wrong with Sevas with him constantly being sick. Marlinchen lies for him so he doesn’t get in trouble, which Sevas appreciates. However, Marlinchen’s father is distinctly pissed off with how the ballet theater was waltzing into their estate. He decided to put a curse onto the entire estate. The sister’s cannot leave without acquiring a cup of black sand and anyone from the ballet theater cannot enter without being turned into a pile of snakes, in which he will end up eating them. Marlinchen becomes distraught and decides to take a shower which she ends up finding black sand at the bottom of her bathtub. She collects the black sand and gathers it in her mother’s clamshell. After gathering up the sand she ends up going to her sister Rose who tells her she can only leave for one night and can’t bring anything back with her and she must be back before their father wakes up. Marlinchen feels blessed by Rose and decides to head out to find Sevas to warn him about the curse that was placed over her house. She finds Sevas and asks him about the recent murders because they were happening quite close to where he was. She then tells him about the curse that was placed and Sevas felt happy that she was warning him about the curse. He decides that he wants to take her out on the town before she has to go back home. He takes her to the beach and to different places that she enjoyed heavily before she was almost late going back home. Once back home she realized that she was a few minutes late and also found that there was no food which made Marlinchen’s father unbelievably pissed off but he admits he’s the reason there is no food in the pantry or fridge. After he ate everything he then blames that it is his daughter’s fault because they have been stealing the money for themselves. Rose decides that they should sell some of their items so that they are able to acquire enough money to buy more food. After the auction, the sister’s ended up distraught because they had to sell some of their mother’s items. Afterwards Marlinchen was given a weird sludge of juice after being told that he would go get more food for the household. However, Marlinchen doesn’t remember making any juice and thinks that he had a secret stash of juice. Marlinchen kept going on with life until her father discovered that she had managed to escape the household. The only reason he figured this out was because Marlinchen and him had to go to a customer’s house and Sevas was there. In turn, the abusive man that controls Sevas had told Marlinchen she shouldn’t come around anymore. Once he found out he decided to marry off all of his daughter’s. He got rid of all the magical wards and produced fliers to get attention from the townsfolk. Not long there were a number of men attending and paying to be there which was earning their father a large profit. However, a terrifying thing came to Marlinchen’s life. The doctor liked to touch Marlinchen the most. He was mostly obsessed with her nipples and was constantly studying them. After telling her father countless times and him ignoring her, she finally asked if he killed those people that were nearby. However, he told her that he could tell her a story instead. She snapped, grabbing the clamshell lock and leaving the house to go to Sevas which she shared a passionate night with him before returning home to be in her father’s good graces. Marlinchen slowly starts discovering the secrets of their family. Undine was sleeping with one of the monster’s and Rose had been sleeping with a number of the female villagers. She also discovered that she had been drinking potions by her father’s hand. The next day, Undine was dead. She was granted access to the attic where she faced the mirror of truth with Sevas and found that while he was broken, she was the monster that was killing the men in the town. Marlinchen gave the doctor and her father the concoction while calling the police to their estate. The doctor had been killed but her father was just severely injured and ended up in prison. Marlinchen and Sevas decided to live together while Rose continued to be a practitioner in the town where she was able to make a bit more money without her father’s supervision. I would recommend this book completely. It is a beautifully written standalone of a perfectly depicted dark fantasy. A lot of the scenes were disturbing and made me sit at the edge of my seat. The only thing that made me disappointed with this book is that it wasn’t longer! I loved Reid’s writing and would have loved to see Sevas and Marlinchen’s relationship in a few chapters after living those nightmares.

jessmarticorena's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-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? Yes

4.0

This is a heavy, dark read. The characters are complicated and not altogether lovable, but individuals that you root for nonetheless. I admire the complexity of Marlinchen and the harshness and honesty of the narrative. This entire book is a twisted fairytale. There are frequent mentions of abuse and being in the mind of Marlinchen may be triggering for some people. I enjoyed the book, but it was just too heavy of a read for me at the time I read this. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Alcoholism, Xenophobia, Violence, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Sexism, Self harm, Death of parent, Panic attacks/disorders, Eating disorder, Gaslighting, and Blood

mswarning's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, and Murder

Moderate: Violence, Sexism, Vomit, Cannibalism, Misogyny, and Sexual content

Minor: Sexual assault

iseefirede's review against another edition

dark emotional medium-paced

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Cannibalism, Body horror, Pedophilia, Gore, Death of parent, Child abuse, Death, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Sexism, Animal cruelty, Grief, Murder, Eating disorder, and Gaslighting

bookmark3brodi's review against another edition

challenging mysterious fast-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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Grief, Rape, Body horror, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Dysphoria, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Eating disorder, Self harm, Cannibalism, Child death, Physical abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Drug use, Body shaming, Bullying, Pedophilia, Abandonment, Alcohol, Blood, Child abuse, Confinement, Medical content, Misogyny, Murder, and Sexism

ginnymay's review against another edition

dark fast-paced

2.0

Major CW missing from this one, please check the warnings before reading this review. 

I love new and original fairy tale retellings, dark fantasy, and gothic horror. By that metric, this should have been my new favorite book. It is decidedly not. 

When we had a monster murderer introduced I was hoping for something like Carnival Row, but this story seems to have lacked an outline or plan of any sort as it forgets about the mysterious murders for large swathes of time to the point where, when a victim is discovered at the theater, I genuinely had the thought “Oh yeah that’s a thing” because I had genuinely forgotten about the MURDER MONSTER.

The bulk of the meandering narration for 75% of the novel can be summarized as: Marlinchen’s sisters are pretty and she’s ugly, her dad is abusive and they hate him, her mother is dead, she makes food, she thinks the dancer is sexy, she is called stupid and mindless, she is depressed and fantasizes about cutting off her nipples. It makes Marlinchen one of the most tedious narrators, as the first new information unveiled in her POV isn’t until after several hundred pages of this when it’s suddenly revealed that she was repeatedly SA’d as a minor by a medical professional while her father watched and was paid for it.

Then Reid tried to tie it all together with an insta-love trauma-bond romance and then reveals an answer to the murders that required some rewriting of history to make it work. 

And all this just left me with more questions than answers. How did Marlinchen never notice that her Father’s powers had waned? How did she not notice for SEVEN years that her sisters were being trafficked? How, if she and her magically imbued sisters all had power and violently hated their father, did they never find a way to overthrow him or at least rebel against him? How did Marlinchen not put together that she was missing huge chunks of time when murders were taking place? How did she not question where the hearts and livers she served to her father came from? How did they have sex on the floor covered in broken glass and not need insane amounts of medical attention? 

All in all, a bewildering, poorly written, deeply upsetting, and just bad book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Sexism, Body horror, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Cursing, Death, Self harm, Sexual violence, Animal death, Body shaming, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Death of parent, Vomit, Misogyny, Trafficking, Bullying, Incest, Mental illness, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Pedophilia, Rape, Gaslighting, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, and Xenophobia

wizardowl's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Animal death, Blood, Gaslighting, Body horror, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Sexual violence, Violence, Vomit, Eating disorder, Body shaming, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Self harm, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Antisemitism, Xenophobia, Pedophilia, Classism, Adult/minor relationship, and Sexism

rageofcaliban's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Murder, Sexism, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, and Blood