Reviews tagging 'Cannibalism'

Nettle & Bone by T. Kingfisher

134 reviews

linora's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny lighthearted mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

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

5.0

It gives off feminist lightly spooky princess bride-esqe vibes in the best way. 

My description of it is somewhat spoilery, but it's how I described it when recommending it to my sister. It is below. 

It is about a third born princess who finds out that prince charming has been abusing her sister. So she leaves the nunnery and teams up with a witch, a himbo, and a fairy godmother to go fucking kill him. 

I read the entire thing in less than 24 hours.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Child death, Pregnancy, Slavery, Death, Cannibalism, Physical abuse, Murder, Miscarriage, Misogyny, and Domestic abuse

grayfeathers's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful sad fast-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? Yes

4.25

Short, sweet, playing with fairy tale tropes in a really good way. Really lyrical in some places and themes of justice for women in domestically abusive worlds. Good stuff.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse

Moderate: Blood

Minor: Cannibalism

katebella's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny medium-paced

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

3.5

Took a long time to get into the book (almost halfway!) but really enjoyed once I did

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Pregnancy, Murder, Death, Injury/Injury detail, and Child death

Minor: Cannibalism and Slavery

flaminggecko's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Infidelity, Grief, Emotional abuse, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, War, Violence, Pregnancy, Misogyny, Classism, Physical abuse, Murder, Miscarriage, Abortion, Death, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Colonisation, Child death, Xenophobia, Dementia, Child abuse, and Animal death

Moderate: Cannibalism, Alcohol, Bullying, and Blood

Minor: Excrement

evbyrd's review against another edition

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Animal death, Pregnancy, Domestic abuse, Gore, Grief, Body horror, and Child death

Moderate: Rape, Cannibalism, and Miscarriage

itsnotalakeitsanocean's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful sad tense 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? It's complicated

4.5

After the really average books that put me in a reading slump, this book took me right out of it. Even though I've been contending with a terrible bout of insomnia, I legitimately enjoyed this book enough to want to know where it was going to go next every time I put it down.

Things I liked:

• This book had a really good, consistent dark fairy tale atmosphere without being overly despairing or angsty. My heart did drop a little at
  the thief wheel scene in the tombs
  but in a good way kept me reading to find out if
  this was the end for our protagonists
  .
• Marra was a very believable character and protagonist. It could be argued she didn't really contribute much compared to her companions but considering she was largely sheltered for most of her life, I think it's more forgiveable for her to make stupid decisions or seem immature.
• If you like fairy tale magic systems, this is the book for you. The book never bogs you down with infodumping or exposition on said system, but takes the time to explain things concisely.

Things I didn't like:

• I feel like the demon chicken was very underutilised compared to the rest of Marra's companions, and it was never explained why the dust-wife had a demon possess the chicken to begin with.
• The romance between Marra and Fenris felt a little forced in my opinion. It was sweet enough but I feel like it was there purely to make the booktok/booktube girlies squee. We could have shown Fenris was a decent guy without having to force him and Marra into a romance.
• I feel like there could have been some more minor conflict between the main party, especially when
  Agnes</spoilers> joined them or between them in the boarding house trying not to be suspicious in front of the landlady.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Domestic abuse, and Blood

Moderate: Miscarriage, Child death, and Physical abuse

Minor: Cannibalism and War

skillyillian's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

First things first a very heavy trigger warning for domestic violence. It's not pictured on the page explicitly as it happens, but it's described by the victim as well as the FMC and other characters throughout the book.

That being said:

Honestly this is SO good. The language used is so descriptive and really fits the tone of the story. I loved having an FMC that wasn't barely legal, and her determination to do impossible things was incredible. The dust-wife was awesome but I think Agnes stole the show and I would have loved to have seen and learned more from her. Honestly, I think the story would've benefitted from more character backstory and development? But it's not like they were cardboard cutouts by any means, either.

The timeline, or at least the way it's presented in the story, was a little hard to follow for a minute? But once the past caught up to the story it made sense, so 🤷🏻‍♀️

I think my favorite part was the humor, honestly. It balanced things out and added levity in a way that I think prevented the whole story from being too heavy. It was witty and wry and the kind of jokes that fit perfectly for a group comprised of a dog made of bones, a cursed chick, a demon hen (no relation), and two traumatized young-ish people traveling with two powerful old women who are each other's opposites in every way.

Overall, this is a great story with some really interesting characters I think we could've learned about a bit more. I loved it so much though, and jumped right into another Kingfisher book (What Moves the Dead) which I'm also enjoying so far. I'm excited to keep reading more from this author :)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Grief, Murder, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Moderate: Animal death

Minor: Cannibalism

latida94's review against another edition

challenging funny tense medium-paced

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

5.0

What was most delightful was that everyone was dreadfully human. Even the magic ones. I don't know how to describe it, really. We have this band of heroes on this quest for vengeance. Except not really. They're not really heroes like you think of heroes. Just delightfully human. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Murder, Pregnancy, Child death, and Death

Minor: Cannibalism

fraise's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Grief, Death, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child death, Murder, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Domestic abuse, and Animal death

Minor: Slavery, Torture, Rape, Abortion, Cannibalism, Infertility, and Miscarriage

The slavery in this book is

magical indenture and a supernatural parasite; it's not analogous to any real life slavery at all.

bucketsjen's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful medium-paced

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

5.0

Dark fairytale of rescue and hope. A princess sets off to find a way to kill a prince protected by powerful magic, in an attempt to save her hostage sister. There are impossible tasks, a bone dog, a goblin market, witches, fairy godmothers, a disgraced knight, and a demon chicken. The main character is thirty years old and gets anxious asking for directions. 

Everything about this book was absolutely perfect. I devoured it. 

This book gets recommended as fantasy romance, so here's a slightly spoilery comment on that: 

it's a romance subplot which is really sweet but there's no spice in the book

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Miscarriage, Pregnancy, and Domestic abuse

Minor: Cannibalism and Child death