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namestaken's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
relaxing
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual violence, Bullying, War, Suicide, Death, Rape, Pedophilia, Suicide attempt, Genocide, Kidnapping, Murder, Terminal illness, and Child death
ehmannky's review
dark
emotional
sad
fast-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
A dark fairy tale-esque novella following a woman being ordered by a tyrant to retrieve his children from a magical and horrific forest, with the penalty of her failure being he'll massacre her entire village. It took me a second to get into it, but by the end I was tearing through the pages to get to the end. I think Mohamed touches on a few really interesting themes (what responsibility for future horrors come from protecting the children of your oppressors and the harm of repressing our trauma and ignoring it does to our selves and others). The ending is a massive bummer, with only the slightest glimmer of hope and felt a little abrupt to me. I honestly felt this could work as a prologue to a much longer and involved story, because I'd love to see the story and the themes expounded on in future works.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, Blood, Gore, Grief, and Kidnapping
Moderate: Death, Child death, and Death of parent
Minor: Rape, War, Pedophilia, Sexual violence, and Torture
metaphorsandmisc's review against another edition
dark
emotional
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? It's complicated
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Child death, War, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Animal death, Body horror, and Violence
Minor: Pedophilia and Torture
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