Reviews tagging 'Sexual harassment'

After the Forest by Kell Woods

14 reviews

questsandquietude's review

adventurous dark mysterious medium-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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Rape and Sexual harassment

Minor: War and Miscarriage

chelseazhao's review against another edition

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Death, and Grief

Moderate: Sexual harassment

Minor: Cannibalism and Death of parent

ceruleanheather's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.0

After the Forest is not so much a retelling as it is a sequel. Quite literally, what happens after Hansel (Hans) and Gretel (Greta) escape the witch in the forest. 

Greta makes money to support her and her brother through baking gingerbread (ironic), and Hans gets drunk and gambles as he tries to forget the past. Hans is quite frustrating, but his PTSD is understandable. Greta using the witch's book to help her make the gingerbread is so odd, but I guess it is needed for the story to work.

The book starts out slowly, explaining how Hans and Greta got to this point and their daily troubles. We get introduced to characters that are important, but not always fleshed out. Matthias is interesting and mysterious, but the insta love trope annoys me. The story picks up about a third of the way through. 

I did like the atmosphere of the book. The magic, the setting, the realism of the town and their struggles. I also liked the bear and wolf storylines, and the smattering of other fairy tales that were referenced and reused. The author has a descriptive style that is enjoyable to read.

The story ended up being quite predictable. I figured out the *big reveal* many chapters before Greta made the connection. The characters are also a little flat. They exist for the plot, but don't seem to have much agency. Things that should have been questioned or investigated are just believed and people who are supposed to be smart do not seem to be so. Rob was the best character, and he was a side character!

 *CW* chapter 25 has a fairly graphic scene involving animal cruelty. You can skip the scene honestly, and it does not affect the story. You can glean what happens. 

*TW* chapter 27 has a scene involving relations without consent. It isn't very detailed, but still graphic in content. Again you can glean what happens, just skip page 447.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Abandonment, and Blood

Moderate: Sexual violence, Torture, Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Mental illness, Murder, Sexism, Sexual harassment, and Violence

Minor: Injury/Injury detail, Child death, Pregnancy, and Death

kaatiba's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional slow-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Minor: Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual harassment

bee12345's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Grief, Blood, and Death of parent

Moderate: Physical abuse, War, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, and Violence

Minor: Sexual harassment, Miscarriage, and Sexual assault

smgibson27's review

adventurous dark mysterious medium-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? It's complicated

4.0

A great witchy book, the relationships were well done, and the imagery was vivid. Made me want to find an adventure in the nearest forest. Very fairytale heavy, it wove together bits and pieces of a lot of old tales into someone new.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death of parent, Sexual harassment, Violence, and Abandonment

Minor: Self harm, Torture, and Sexual assault

kaetheluise_nckl's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful sad tense slow-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

november 2023
i’m gonna be honest i was really excited for this book when i first heard about it it but i think that if nothing actually plot-related happens after 151 pages, i’m better off DNFing it.

aside from that, the way the author chose to represent the german language was a mess? you can’t just decide some words are capitalized and others aren’t. either you capitalize all nouns like the germans would or you don’t, so it blends better with the english.

ah well. i’ll keep this book around for another month or two and i might come back to it… or not.

january 2024
I ended up finishing it and I’m so confused at what this book is trying to be???
i didn’t sign up for werewolves, werebears and a fairytale mish-mash when i was promised a hansel and gretel retelling. this book had very little retelling.
i also agree with other friends who said they didn’t hate this book but also didn’t enjoy themselves while reading it because that’s how i feel.
it’s a shame because the IC copy is so beautiful but i have no reason to keep this book in my collection ☹️

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Violence, Self harm, Body shaming, Kidnapping, Drug abuse, Alcohol, Gore, Cursing, Blood, Body horror, Fire/Fire injury, Child abuse, Animal cruelty, and Ableism

Moderate: Death of parent, Sexual violence, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Pregnancy, Torture, and Miscarriage

Trauma, PTSD, arranged betrothal

persephonefoxx's review against another edition

adventurous dark slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Murder, Death of parent, Death, and Blood

Moderate: Torture, Rape, Sexual content, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Child death and Child abuse

hailstorm3812's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.25

I went through on again and off again on enjoying this. I like the concept and the main character, but I don't really care for the love interest and thought the plot got too winding (strayed too far from the path one might say). I also think the villain gets introduced far too late to be effective and her backstory is not handled with the delicacy it deserved.

It was so weird to be like and then I saw a vision of her being violently raped next to her sister's corpse, don't care though into the tree you go. I think that could have been cut and we would not have asked any questions. 

I would have focused on her connection to the town and baking magic like in the beginning for a stronger through line. I did like using the fairy tales in the chapter titles and tying it in. Ultimately it was fine but the vibes were better than anything else.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Abandonment, and Death of parent

Moderate: Sexism, Misogyny, Sexual harassment, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, and Child abuse

Minor: Alcoholism, Pregnancy, and Miscarriage

liesthemoontells's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective medium-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Confinement, Death, Murder, War, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Religious bigotry, Violence, Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Abandonment, Kidnapping, Classism, Death of parent, Misogyny, and Grief

Moderate: Sexual assault, Rape, and Sexual harassment