Reviews tagging 'Misogyny'

The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden

96 reviews

anni_swanilda's review against another edition

dark emotional 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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Suicide, Body horror, Gore, Physical abuse, Domestic abuse, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Blood, Death of parent, Sexual harassment, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Self harm, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Animal death, Child death, Death, and Violence

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

hello_lovely13's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious 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? Yes

3.25

The beginning was very slow, and for the first quarter or so of the book, half of it was not that prevalent to the book’s plot, but rather setting up for future books in the series. I was not particularly fond of this choice. The writing was very atmospheric, which I liked, but I didn’t feel the need to keep picking up the book to continue reading, so that’s why I can’t rate it too highly. I found the topics surrounding religious bigotry interesting, what with the prideful, fear-mongering priest and what not, as well as the consequences of actions persuaded by fear and the topic of offerings.

However, I do not wish we got more vengeance bestowed on the priest in the end. The irony of how he acted in the bear’s name, believing it to be God, as well as the fear of death Vasilisa put in him at the end, was quite good, though.

I am not sure whether I will continue the series.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Religious bigotry, Death, and Death of parent

Moderate: Animal death, Child abuse, Misogyny, and Child death

Minor: Sexual assault and Blood

araowl's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious 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? It's complicated

4.25

This book has exactly the kind of writing I look for. Atmospheric and descriptive, the writing style just absolutely immerses you in this world. I found the characters to be multi-faceted and complex. I thought the main character what a bit of a stereotypical chosen one at first, but I think the author did a good job of making her much more layered than that. Overall this was a beautiful book with a very immersive setting, layered characters, and compelling themes. I would only say that the character of stepmother felt a bit flat to me, and it seemed like the beginning was quite slow and the ending sort of rushed. But I'm really excited to read the next in the series!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Death, Child death, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Blood, Misogyny, and Animal death

sustainably_lucia's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

I struggled to get a handle on the story and characters in the beginning but then I settled into it nicely. This is the first book in a trilogy so it makes sense to take time to set things up. The ending was awesome! Vasya is a badass heroine and I love her!

The synopsis makes it seem like Anna is the villain when it is Konstantin who does much of the damage. They are both afraid of what they do not understand and take it out on others. Pyotr is a little misguided but he loves and cares about his children and wants them to be happy, even if he doesn’t understand them.

Themes: People choose to believe what makes them feel safe even if it is harmful. They also push away and villainize what they do not understand.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death of parent, Blood, and Misogyny

Minor: Child abuse

raptorq's review against another edition

adventurous emotional sad medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Blood, Child abuse, and Misogyny

Minor: Forced institutionalization and Child death

sneakystorms's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

4.0

what is UP with the thick accent T0T like bruh imagine if every book where the characters are meant to be speaking a language other than english was given the same treatment...

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Misogyny, Religious bigotry, Blood, Violence, Animal death, Death, and Injury/Injury detail

bridge_to_narnia's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful inspiring mysterious slow-paced

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

5.0

The storytelling was enchanting. The prose was beautifully written and every scene was given the same care. This fairytale is a wonderful story to get lost in on a cold day with a cup of tea. You need barely any imagination for the rich text to come to life in your mind. The story told is also worth while and the protagonist is love-able and even the step-mother antagonist is someone to sympathize with. As always, it seems men create their own problems, but this was a fresh telling of that type of plot.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting

Moderate: Death of parent, Sexual harassment, Animal death, Child abuse, Misogyny, Sexism, and Religious bigotry

Minor: Mental illness

Period typical misogyny/sexism/religious bigotry - these are central plot points to the story, but they aren’t traumatically enforced. The protagonist continuously defies convention the whole story and is never broken down, though there are threats of it.

attackrat's review against another edition

• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

this book was very pleasant in some parts, and annoying in others. i was absolutely obsessed in the first 1/3, the writing is whimsical and reminiscent of folk fantasy stories, and the story at that point was full of magic and crisp winter clarity. it’s described as a folk fantasy and for parts it is. but the entire middle section is like, mixed historical fiction and horror, with needless conflicts that don’t boil down to much in the grand story. and most of what counts as a conflict is just “but you’re a woman!” I just feel like there was so much opportunity to go wider with the side-narratives, the author did a phenomenal job of incorporating real Slavic Pagan figures and practices into it but they fell flat after a while. not only that but so many characters didn’t really have reasonable motivation to act the ways they did, and they often acted against previously established traits. like Vasya’s father was repeatedly called a good man, but he beat his children and repeatedly slept with an unwilling woman. it grew tiresome. I was just disappointed, this story started off so magical and I guess just didn’t know what to do with itself. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Abandonment, Death of parent, Sexual assault, and Misogyny

arcadering's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious 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: Religious bigotry, Death, and Misogyny