Reviews tagging 'Domestic abuse'

The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden

23 reviews

rotuna's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death of parent, Domestic abuse, and Misogyny

Minor: Sexual assault

nachtvlucht's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse

Moderate: Death, Death of parent, Sexism, Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, and Domestic abuse

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

saintyeehaw's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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

4.5

I came into this book expecting a first person narrative focused on the female lead (similar to Uprooted) so it took me some time to get adjusted to the ever shifting perspectives. There were many times when I found myself waiting for the story to actually get going, which made chapters like Pyotr and his sons' visit to Moscow especially sluggish for me. Overall though, once the story got going I was all in. I loved Vasya's relationships with the different creatures, the characterization of Morozko, and the sheer evil/selfishness of the antagonists . I am definitely going to continue the series.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Colonisation, Death, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Toxic relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Classism, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Misogyny, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Sexism, Violence, and Vomit

sauvageloup's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.5

a brilliant book that i got through slowly, but through no fault of its own, i think

pros:
- stunning, lyrical, fairytale writing. simple style but really lovely in originality of description and poignant turns of phrase. the story is carried along beautifully, smoothing over time skips.
- the character development was also so good, with Konstantin descending into worse evils, Anna's rise and fall, Vasya growing into her strength while still being fallible, and my favourite, Morozko, of sleep and death. he was cold but fair, human but other, real and not, and i just loved how Arden wrote him.
- i also enjoyed the setting so much, and the historical details too. the afternotes show how much effort Arden put into historical accuracy.

cons:
- maybe a bit slow, which didn't help my lack of reading focus

looking forward to reading book 2, and glad i won't have to leave the characters :)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic friendship, Gore, Death of parent, Death, Sexism, Emotional abuse, Child death, Religious bigotry, and Body horror

Moderate: Forced institutionalization, Eating disorder, Blood, Violence, Murder, Mental illness, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Misogyny, Grief, and Gaslighting

Minor: Sexual assault

warning for eating disorder is really for starvation and struggling to get enough to eat, descriptions of extreme weight loss.

kirschyhershey's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional inspiring relaxing slow-paced

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

5.0

The Bear and the Nightingale is simply magical. Atmospheric with touching scenes centered around family and courage. It also explores questions of religion and what happens when power-seeking individuals use fear to control people.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Animal death and Religious bigotry

Minor: Sexual harassment

thereadingnurse2021's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.75

The first half of the book is definitely slower paced, but once you get past part one things pick up and all the building that took place in that first part starts to makes sense. Then the following parts are deliciously creepy, foreboding, and intense in turns. I loved it!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Religious bigotry, Misogyny, Animal death, Blood, Death, and Death of parent

Moderate: Grief, Domestic abuse, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Sexual assault

reddeddy's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious tense slow-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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Death of parent, Violence, Toxic relationship, Gaslighting, Physical abuse, Classism, Death, Injury/Injury detail, and Misogyny

Moderate: Abandonment, Grief, Mental illness, Sexual content, Child abuse, Gore, Child death, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Blood, and Animal death

Minor: Body horror, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Medical content, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Vomit, Pedophilia, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Body shaming

chattie_the_mad_chatter's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny inspiring mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

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

5.0

This is my 2nd read in less than a year and I loved it even more on a re-read. It is a coming of age story about a girl in Medievil Russia who can see the characters of folklore Cheroti who are household/ nature spirits and pagan deities. Christianity is sweeping through Russia and her village starts to be told they cannot be Christian and leave offerings to the household spirits. Vasya tries to build a bridge between these two worlds whilst trying to save her family from darkness that resides in humans and some folklore characters. But society feels Vasya should take her place in the world as she is no lo get a girl but a woman. Vasya is her own person she makes her own path and her freedom is important not only for herself but for all those who need protecting.

The writing in this is so immersive you are pulled into the world of both a historical Russia and a fantastical world of folklore. The strength of Vasya is astounding. The relationships between her family members are either beautiful, heart breaking or hurtful. I love the characters, human and Cheroti the villainous ones are excellently drawn. It's a slow burn book, but the simmering heats up and the time taken to get their means your understanding and affection for the characters is more heartfelt. Fantastic scene setter for an amazing trilogy. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Misogyny, Sexism, and Violence

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Domestic abuse, and Sexual assault

emmasanderson's review against another edition

adventurous challenging mysterious medium-paced

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

4.25

Really nicely written.  Took a little time to get into due to Russian words and folklore ( didn’t notice glossary until the end as read as ebook….).  Then it really took off and was very fast paced.  Completely outside my usual genre and read on a recommendation but I had forgotten how much I love folklore and fairy tales.  Pure escapism - I really enjoyed it!

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Content Warnings

Minor: Domestic abuse, Blood, Animal death, Child death, Death of parent, Sexism, and Sexual harassment