Reviews with content warning for Body horror - Das dunkle Herz des Waldes

Reviews tagging 'Body horror'

Das dunkle Herz des Waldes by Naomi Novik

56 reviews

epsyphus's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes

4.0

I intentionally read this book after her other book Spinning Silver because I thought I would like this one a bit more, but I actually think I like Spinning Silver more. I still loved this book though-- the imagery was great, the characters were interesting, and it had a very fairytale-like feel which I adore.

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rokinjaguar's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Hmm, okay. VERY good book. It's incredibly descriptive and vivid. I could see it all in my mind. I kept reacting externally to things that would happen, shuddering at horrifying moments, jumping when the Dragon would pop up out of nowhere, feeling real dread and fear, heart glowing at sweet moments, saying "get rekt" under my breath when Agnieszka roasts someone, etc. I really burned through this book.
There are a lot of amazing female characters, like Kasia and a powerful and wise witch later in the story. I also really love Agnieszka, she was a lot of fun to read about. Loved how intuitive, emotional, and in tune with nature she was. Like seriously, she really spoke to my heart. I'm sure she won't connect with everyone like she did me, but the starved emotional/creative part of my soul adored her. The male characters were good, too, I really enjoyed the Dragon, but the female characters are where the writing really shines imo. Side note,

Malek and the Falcon can choke and die, and I mean that in a my-compliments-to-the-author way

.
I think the book would have been better if the author had taken out the

attempted-rape scene with the shitty prince and the sex scene

The kissing scene

could stay or go, it adds and subtracts to the story pretty equally. But I feel like the

attempted-rape scene

wasn’t handled quite sensitively enough. Didn’t bother me, but it was borderline, and I have a little thread of upsetness in me that

the Dragon never really comforted or reassured her or was angry for her over that – it's an incredibly traumatizing thing to experience

. The Dragon's character arc was coherent and satisfying, I really liked it, but it was a bit unsatisfying that

he and Agnieszka never really talked about their feelings

. I get what the author was going for, but it just annoyed me that

so many things were left unsaid, like constantly

. But I did really like the part where

Agnieszka recognized he was scared to put down roots and was running away, now that he’d 1) lost his cold stone tower, 2) drank Spindle-water, and 3) held her hand. And I’m glad he came back, that was nice

. That was the part where everything really paid off, to me.
I really loved the Dragon and Agnieszka’s partner dynamic

(separate from their romantic dynamic)

. They’re so different, they’re exactly what the other lacks, and Agnieszka learns to understand and accept him, and the Dragon learns to respect her as an equal and accept her way of looking at things as valid. Their growing relationship and mutual respect was really great, but

the romance just fell flat. It was too little and too much at the same time. It was little enough that it felt irrelevant, but too much that the moments where the romantic element came together felt unearned, emotionless, and poorly-done.

I feel a bit mixed about the ending. It felt a little abstract to me, and the whole book is abstract, and like I don’t think it’s a bad thing, but I feel like my brain didn’t quite wrap around it well enough to feel fully satisfied. Maybe with another read in the future hindsight will help me know which parts are important to pay attention to, to understand the ending.

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flyintothestorm's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful tense medium-paced

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

4.0

I love Agnieszka. I love Sarkan. I hate the way their relationship is handled.

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fatherprozac's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense fast-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

3.75

I kept rooting for this book and it kind of kept letting me down, sadly. I fell in love with the magic system, the visualizations of spell casting, the descriptions of reading the Summoning, and the dark horror of the Wood. Unfortunately, Sarkan's never ending verbal abuse toward Nieshka, her being 17 to his 150, the weird sympathetic framing of a rapist, and the inclusion of only one explicitly black character just to have her be the daughter of a slave really soured me on the whole thing.

I'll just rant here. The fact that Sarkan chooses specifically girls (never explained why boys aren't chosen if everyone with the gift must be trained) and expects them to cook all his meals for him for ten years was already irredeemable in my eyes. His constant berating of Nieshka literally left her EXPECTING abuse multiple times throughout the book which left me feeling sick at its romanticization. Truly, Sarkan's only traits were that he liked cleanliness and that he was mean. Their hideous age gap (of literally a child and a very old man) being framed as his excuse to momentarily hesitate from sex with her? yikes. Why did she need to be 17? I would have much preferred reading about an adult woman and her ages old immortal boyfriend. Lastly, the rape scene was handled unbelievably poorly and just made Sarkan even more monstrous to me.

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thedevouringbookshelf's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious slow-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

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snowkestrel's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Interesting worldbuilding, I like the writing style.
Intriquing magic system rooted in real historical myths and superstition.
If only it wasn't YA.

The main character is an average Young Adult protagonist, in pretty much every way. Clumsy yet likeable, doesn't succeed in things by going the normal way so goes her own way, which just so happens to also be much better...

Protagonist has stockholm syndrome. That doesn't make for a nice romantic plot. Not that I like to read romance at all in the first place (why do books not have warnings on the cover?).

The wood was a really interesting concept, a looming threat which I found really immersive. The conclusion to its story, however, was a bit.. meek? It felt a bit hurried, and like there ought to have been more depth to it than there was (or did I just not see it?). It felt almost like a different book tacked on at the end to offer some sort of conclusion. A conclusion not hinted at in any way for the rest of the book.

Disappointed the dragon wasn't a real dragon. I mean, that was pretty much the reason I picked up the book in the first place. False marketing.

Definitively would have benefited from being a trilogy or something rather than a single book.

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shieldbearer's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious reflective medium-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

4.0

A very strong read, although I preferred Spinning Silver. My primary complaint is the romance between Sarkan and Agneskia - I simply could not see the romantic chemistr. It felt forced to me, and I think the narrative would have been better served without it.

I also can't say I liked the reveal about the origin of the Wood Queen and the reason the wood is attacking. I think the Staryk were handled with more nuance in Spinning Silver.

However, I would still strongly recommend this novel.

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naomi_k's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful 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

4.5

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writer_a_fox's review against another edition

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adventurous dark hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot

4.5

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suneaters's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional 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? No

4.5

I loved this story! Super interesting world, super interesting main character. I love Agnieszka's relationship with her friend Kasia and the wizard.

I was disappointed that Agnieszka and the Dragon (A.K.A. Sarkan) ended up together. He's an abusive prick and by having sex with Agnieszka, I guess we can add pedophile to the list of his character flaws alongside rape apologist, perpetrator of verbal abuse, and physically abusive. I saw this awful romance coming, but I was hoping I was wrong and that there wouldn't be any romance or if there was, it would be between Agnieszka and Kasia. I hope Novik feels bad about writing a 17 year old girl with a 100+ year old man who kidnapped and abused her. The writing and worldbuilding is fantastic, so I couldn't drop the rating too far especially since I was able to just ignore this relationship. Truly felt sad for many of the characters, but was so, so relived when Kasia lived. I felt for the prince, desperate to have his mom back and unable to see the reality that she was gone. Then Kasia raising the royal children...sad, but a hopeful ending.

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