Reviews tagging 'War'

The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden

9 reviews

velvetsilk42's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful inspiring mysterious 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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Grief, Death of parent, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: War and Misogyny

claudiashelf's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark 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

❝ Wild birds die in cages. ❞

I love this one! I genuinely do. This novel is a dark fairy tale steeped in Russian mythology, complete with magic demons, blended fantastical elements, Catholic Orthodox and familial turmoil. I adore everything about this book. Following Russian folklore was difficult for me at first, but I believe that was a challenge I appreciated. Sadly, there was still dumb Patriarchy in this book, which is awful, but the world-building is so excellently described that it has effectively created a grand atmosphere where I felt like in a mediaeval Russian winter heeded by incredible manoeuvring.

I just feel unfortunate for going over this incredible Winter storybook in such hot conditions in a tropical country, cries.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Slavery, and Death

sunniva174's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Religious bigotry, and Adult/minor relationship

Moderate: Pregnancy, Sexism, and Death

Minor: War

jelliestars's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Animal death

Moderate: Death of parent

Minor: Physical abuse, Infidelity, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexism, Xenophobia, Adult/minor relationship, Misogyny, Sexual harassment, Alcohol, Child death, Colonisation, Medical content, War, Child abuse, and Sexual assault

kappafrog's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Misogyny, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Violence, Death, Blood, Mental illness, Self harm, Sexual harassment, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Child abuse, Body horror, Domestic abuse, and Gore

Moderate: Rape, Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, War, Forced institutionalization, Ableism, Child death, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, and Sexual violence

Minor: Vomit, Alcohol, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual content, and Animal cruelty

bushra19's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious sad slow-paced

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

4.5

The plot was very slow paced in the beginning but it slowly became very exciting.
I liked the main character she was brave, stubborn and strong willed.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood

Minor: War, Misogyny, Gore, and Emotional abuse

msjessi95's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Violence, and Misogyny

Moderate: War and Physical abuse

stllyltc's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark funny hopeful informative inspiring mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.5

I didn't know what I was getting through but it gave that serial kind of narrative which reminds me of Game of Thrones and The Witcher due to diverse characters pulling through in scenes that evolve throughout. I got confused for the most part of the terminology and world-building as it's Russian folklore and the fictional characters are unfamiliar to imagine, yet you can get used to it. Death was the common denominator here. Way too many deaths occurred as the flow of the novel isn't at the precipice yet. It seems there's more to see of the heroine as half of the book introduced the genealogy of her family and other characters involved. For some reason, I am looking forward to the next installment. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, War, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Murder, Abandonment, Blood, and Child death

peachani's review against another edition

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? It's complicated

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Bullying, Death, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, Violence, and War

Moderate: Body horror, Misogyny, and Murder

Minor: Child death, Grief, Pregnancy, and Self harm