Reviews tagging 'Violence'

The Winter of the Witch by Katherine Arden

60 reviews

thewildmageslibrary's review against another edition

4.5

One thing I really love about this series is that there's not really any time gaps between books. Bam, you're right back where you left off. In this case, "in a pickle".
I absolutely adore Vasya's growth, especially in this book. Can't say much without spoilers, so just read these.

CW: same "it's set in the 14th century, so" as the others

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Grief, Sexism, Animal death, Religious bigotry, Violence, Blood, Confinement, Misogyny, Death, and Murder

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Toxic relationship, Sexual assault, and Sexual content

Minor: Child death

elisabeth_g_mark's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional inspiring mysterious sad fast-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 became my favourite trilogy of the last year. Every character is alive, has depth, evolves and has a role to play. The setting is vibrant, you feel the cold, the darkness and the summer heat. 
The love story is a side plot, because for our MC her own growth, searching for her own way, is more important than a man. But it's still important to her, home and in the end, she needs it all - her love, her friends and allies, her enemies and faith in herself. 
I'll miss this world and will reread it next winter. Katherine Arden became quickly a favourite author with this 5-star trilogy. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, Misogyny, Grief, Violence, Religious bigotry, Physical abuse, Animal death, and Animal cruelty

Moderate: Suicide and Torture

Minor: Vomit, Toxic friendship, and Sexual harassment

ae_young's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful mysterious reflective 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Animal death, Murder, Death, Injury/Injury detail, and Violence

saintyeehaw's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful reflective sad 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

3.5

This was probably the last thing I expected from the events of the first book. Truthfully, I had wanted Vasya to run away from it all and travel the world like she planned to. I admit I was disappointed by the second book's decision to turn inward toward her siblings. I think that disappointment probably puts a bias on my mediocre experience with this last installment. This third story is a good one and I did enjoy my time reading it, but it suffers a little from treating Vasya as untouchable and some questionable ethics. 

We are pretty much outright told that no man can resist Vasya's wild/unique charm; while that's something seen in the behavior of other men in the previous books, making it some kind of general rule that gets her out of more than one life threatening situation feels pretty cheap. I also don't feel great, or even good at all, about a 17 year old feeling forced by a dire situation to have sex with an ancient winter god. I was already iffy about their relationship but this book pushed it from questionable to straight up ick for me. Not loving that the only queer relationship in the entire series is between the two villains either. Finally, if we're going to undo some of Vasya's greatest development into adulthood by bringing Solovey back, at least give us more time with him.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Blood, Child death, Confinement, Kidnapping, Pedophilia, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Toxic relationship, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, War, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Grief, Animal death, Death, Emotional abuse, Adult/minor relationship, and Murder

piratenami's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

Graphic: Animal death, Violence, and Death

maeverose's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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

5.0

Honestly, after sitting with it for a while, I wouldn’t be surprised if I bump this up to a five star upon re-read.. (I initially gave it a 3.75) but here’s my review from goodreads (a bit edited):

I feel like this review is going to sound really negative but I did really like it overall (obviously, based on my rating). I was a bit disappointed initially after finishing it. I didn't enjoy reading it quite as much as the other two. To start, this one is very bleak. More-so than the first two, that is. Especially at the beginning and the end. Which obviously is no fault of the book; I think those things made perfect sense for the story, it just wasn't as fun to read. I was also disappointed with how little Morozko was in this one, being as he's one of my favorite characters.

I also wasn’t a huge fan of the team up with medved at the end, personally

In the end I really like how everything wrapped up and I don't have any issues with how the story played out, I think it actually worked out really well. I just didn't have as much fun reading it. I did cry at the end though so that counts for something I guess. Also Ded Grib must be protected at all costs. Smol precious boy.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury and War

Moderate: Murder, Religious bigotry, Violence, Sexual content, Death, Misogyny, Suicide, and Torture

death of a sibling

aelis'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? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, War, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Religious bigotry, Child death, and Violence

stllyltc's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective 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

5.0

Added to my all-time favorite series of books. I could not believe it actually ended. The feeling's still surreal. When I first started reading the novel, I absolutely had no idea what I was getting myself into-Russian folklore, religious affiliation, political warfare, marriages, historical adaption, and such with a heroine that grew up to find herself a future not dictated by others. The characters were all so beautifully created that I am deeply attached to them, especially to Solovey, Vasya's mare. The storytelling wasn't grandiose in a way, but its world building was so captivating that it incessantly creates various images, bountiful at that with its back and forth movement of the plot. It's one I can always get back to when I feel like rereading a book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Murder, Torture, Blood, Death, Gore, Animal death, Violence, and War

windprinzessin_'s review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful mysterious tense 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Violence, and Death

decembermagpie's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad 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? No

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Death, Grief, Murder, Violence, and War

Minor: Self harm, Pregnancy, Vomit, Fire/Fire injury, and Child death