Reviews tagging 'Gaslighting'

The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden

20 reviews

the_rabble's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious slow-paced

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

4.0

This book is all vibes and worldbuilding. The next books are now on my "to read" list.

Takes until about halfway through to get going, but you've been primed with so much lore you're still having a good time before some of the set up action hits.

When it does hit, it's hard to put down and stays true to the style of the book.

I'm not big on kid protagonists, but this was like if Anne of Green Gables was a horse girl who had a cadre of friends from Russian folklore and maybe

Gilbert's

an ominous, timeless embodiment of winter with questionable motivation.

Narrator: the Kathleen Gati recording is really clean. Voice acting was good- deploys Russian accents in dialogue. The pace could have been faster at times in prose. She's got an excellent fairy tale quality to the read.

Who I Wouldn't Rec This To: Misogyny and casual domestic violence is part of the setting, so if you're not in a headspace to deal with that allll the way through, wait on reading this one. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Child abuse, Physical abuse, and Violence

Moderate: Death, Death of parent, and Gaslighting

mangela_28's review against another edition

medium-paced

4.25

The Bear and the Nightingale is beautifully written and portrays the nuance of family, fear, and faith. Each character is unique and pertinent to the story. I look forward to the next book in the series so I can catch up with some characters who moved away too soon.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent

Moderate: Sexism and Gaslighting

thebankofbooks's review against another edition

adventurous emotional inspiring mysterious sad tense 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Pedophilia, Death of parent, Gaslighting, and Misogyny

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Death, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Fire/Fire injury

bookycnidaria's review against another edition

dark emotional funny inspiring sad 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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Sexual assault, Sexism, Violence, Mental illness, and Rape

chloebaboey's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Animal death, Death, Violence, Religious bigotry, Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Gaslighting, Misogyny, Blood, and Sexism

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Sexual assault, and Rape

Minor: Animal cruelty

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.

prunechips's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious tense 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Religious bigotry, Sexism, Death of parent, Misogyny, Child abuse, Violence, and Grief

Moderate: Body shaming, Death, and Rape

Minor: Gaslighting

scifi_rat's review against another edition

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Misogyny, Violence, Religious bigotry, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexism, Domestic abuse, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Death of parent, Grief, Physical abuse, Death, and Mental illness

Minor: Bullying, Classism, Animal death, Blood, Pregnancy, Cursing, and Adult/minor relationship

graceert's review against another edition

adventurous emotional 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death of parent, Physical abuse, Death, and Sexual assault

Minor: Gaslighting and Religious bigotry

lisa_m's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted mysterious slow-paced

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

4.75

This book was a perfect mix of mythology, fantasy and realism. I didn't know anything about this book before starting to read it and I think that was the best way I could have read it.

I really enjoyed the discussion of religion and missionary work, but what really sold me was all the russian folklore! I love mythology and I want to read more retellings / mythology inspired books about different parts of the world.

I have to say that someone told me that this book is an enemies to lovers story and that is just not true? There is no romance, or at least it's not a main focus at all! I actually really liked that about this book. Also I am a big fan of the 'wild girl' trope :)

The ending was bittersweet but I really liked it. I didn't cry though, which made me realise, that I wasn't truly connecting with the characters. That is normally a big dealbreaker but this time I didn't actually mind that much. I guess the book is a 'vibes before plot' kind of book and it's very slow paced as well (but it's also quite short).

I am so excited for the other two books in the trilogy though I'm surprised it is a trilogy at all. This book could have been a standalone as well. I am interested to return to this world though and there are a lot of things I still want to hear more about.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Classism, Death, Religious bigotry, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Bullying, Violence, Grief, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Murder, Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Pregnancy, and Rape