Reviews tagging 'Body horror'

Nettle and Bone by T. Kingfisher

77 reviews

justmys's review

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.25

Rich with loveable characters, great pacing and a gripping story.
A dark and refreshing fairy tale.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Pregnancy, Physical abuse, Death, Animal death, Blood, and Body horror

Moderate: Infertility, Body horror, Child death, Medical content, Abortion, Blood, Domestic abuse, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Slavery, Gore, Grief, Pregnancy, and Miscarriage

katytron's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism and Pregnancy

Moderate: Domestic abuse and Body horror

Minor: Cannibalism

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

sylvestra's review against another edition

adventurous emotional 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? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Animal death

Minor: Body horror and Blood

cakehatwombat's review against another edition

medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes

4.0

I really enjoyed the world building while also appreciating that it didn't go into extreme detail. What needs knowing is explained naturally, and what is unexplained is unexplained in the way that somethings just aren't knowable, as opposed to totally dropped and then never mentioned again. 

There is a dash of a romance, it happens towards the end, but is frankly easy to breeze past if you are uninterested- no kissing, even. 

Also: good dog! And good chickens, for certain definitions of 'good'. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror

Moderate: Domestic abuse

The opening scene is the most graphic it gets in terms of blood and such. None of the named animals die (the unnamed animal deaths are p brief references to animals hunted for food).

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

apoppyinthewind's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny 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

"You came in your cloak of nettles with the dog made of bone at your side"

I can see how that imagery stuck with Kingfisher and inspired Nettle & Bone and I'm glad I got the chance to read this story. It's a fairytale of a sister trying to save her older sister from an evil prince but to do so she complete three seemingly impossible tasks: Build a dog of bones, sew a clock of nettles, and give the dust wife moonlight in a jar.

If you enjoy reading fairytales, I would highly recommend checking out Nettle & Bone. It's got a similar feel of fairytales but a bit more fleshed out and with unique world-building. I especially loved the concept of dust-wives, who are essentially graveyard witches who know much of the magical world and can talk to the dead.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Miscarriage, Domestic abuse, Pregnancy, Grief, Death, Body horror, and Blood

Minor: Torture, Sexual assault, and Animal death

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.

maeverose's review against another edition

Dnfed @ 27%

I just couldn’t get into it. There was nothing I actively disliked, but there was nothing keeping my attention either. It was very slow and I had no motivation to pick it up. This could be because I’ve been in a reading slump for months now, and not the book’s fault.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Pregnancy

Moderate: Miscarriage, Body horror, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Excrement, Cannibalism, and Domestic abuse

Not a spoiler - there’s a point where the main character is acting as a midwife and there are mentions of traumatic and fatal births. Fatal for both the mother and child. I found it a bit disturbing, but it’s not described in especially graphic detail.

theirgracegrace's review against another edition

adventurous funny tense 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

4.25

As a longtime fan of T. Kingfisher's work, Nettle & Bone was a natural choice to read and a very good decision. Kingfisher weaves together fairy tale tropes and folklore to make a world full of fairy godmothers, goblins, and the restless dead. The tale is told with Kingfisher's trademark snark and humour from the perspective of Marra, a young princess whose older sister has become the abused wife of a wicked king. Her task is to kill the king and free her sister, and along the way finds a witch, a dog made of bones, her own fairy godmother, a demonic chicken and a foreign man whose freedom is bought from the Fair Folk with a tooth. The twists and turns of this book are as hard to predict as the mausoleum of the Northern Kingdom, and well worth the ride. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Toxic relationship, Violence, Abandonment, Alcoholism, Blood, Cannibalism, Classism, Misogyny, Alcohol, Pregnancy, Animal cruelty, Physical abuse, Domestic abuse, Murder, Confinement, Death, Sexual violence, Body horror, Slavery, Child death, Animal death, Grief, Infertility, and Miscarriage

Moderate: Torture

Minor: Abortion, Suicidal thoughts, Death of parent, Gore, War, Cursing, and Excrement

There is one particular scene where the main character's teeth are made to dance in her mouth and one of them is removed. It is very reminiscent of the "imagining my teeth falling out" dream but can be quite disturbing. There is also a character in the city which has a "curse-child", which is described like a marionette or puppet that chokes and harms her.