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evbyrd's review against another edition
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Animal death, Pregnancy, Domestic abuse, Gore, Grief, Body horror, and Child death
Moderate: Rape, Cannibalism, and Miscarriage
a_bow's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
This reads like a Grimm's fairy tale and feels more like a summary of an epic story. There is not a lot of world building or any real magic system. It's fast paced, fun, and allegorical. It had me thinking about how the patriarchy really hurts women from all facets of society. There is not a lot of character development and while I appreciated the main character being a 30 year old woman, I felt like she was very naive for a 30 year old. I felt like she did very little in her adventure and relied all on the other characters' skills. I would have loved if she took her feminine rage on a solo mission and just strike fear into people. Like she just snapped and you really see just how fed up she is with men who abuse power, with men who are bystanders to those abusing power and do nothing, and to women who internalize the mysingony and happily perpetuate it, and the women who don't like it but also dont do much to stand up to it until it personally affects them. I want to see her struggle with her faith to a religion that claims all are equal yet creates a caste system where powerful men are in charge and many times exaggerates/misinterprets the text to take even more power. I want to see a 30 year old woman who has seen it all/heard it all, who has had enough of the bullshit explode on everyone and everything. I want her to use her wits to steal, kill, seduce, threaten, barhain anyone to get her way. Overall I found it enjoyable I just would have loved more! It's like if Paris Paloma's.song Labour was turned to a book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Misogyny, and Sexism
Moderate: Death, Toxic relationship, Miscarriage, Child death, Gaslighting, Physical abuse, Infertility, Domestic abuse, and Pregnancy
Minor: Sexual assault, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Miscarriage, Infertility, Abortion, Sexual violence, and Grief
ianreadsbookssometimes's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
fast-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? No
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Miscarriage
Moderate: Domestic abuse and Child death
Minor: Rape
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
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 iskimberlynann's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
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? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Physical abuse, Animal death, Pregnancy, Body horror, Cannibalism, Domestic abuse, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Sexual assault, Violence, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Rape, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Murder, Sexual violence, Cannibalism, Toxic relationship, Dementia, Domestic abuse, and War
perifairy's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Domestic abuse and Child death
Minor: Sexual assault, Physical abuse, Rape, and Miscarriage
Stopping the domestic violence is the driving force of the book, you see evidence of physical violence on page, everything else is off page and happens to a minor character.h_s_bloom's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
mysterious
medium-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
4.5
Personal Rating Scale Metrics
- Characters: ✬✬✬✬✬
- Plot: ✬✬✬✬✬
- Pacing: ✬✬✬✬
- Writing Style: ✬✬✬✬✬
- Diversity: ✬✬✬
This was my first book of 2024 and it was such a great way to kick off the year!
Summary: Marra is the third daughter to a royal family within a comparatively small kingdom which controls a major harbor/trade route. When Marra's eldest sister, Damia, dies shortly after being married off to the prince in a powerful neighboring kingdom, the middle sister, Kania, is sent off to replace her thereby ensuring the safety of the smaller kingdom. Fearing the possibility of Kania failing to produce a male heir, Marra is sent to a nunnery for safe-keeping. Marra is content with life as a nun, busying herself with embroidery and other tasks perhaps not suited to a princess. Upon the birth of Kania's first child, a daughter, Marra learns the truth of Kania's predicament and vows to save her.
Marra is such a lovable and engaging character with such a fun voice and I appreciate that she is a bit older than your typical MC at 30 years old. She really is such a joy to follow along with throughout her adventures giving her honest and bemused commentary along the way. The author does a great job with balancing humor throughout the story despite the serious nature of Marra's quest (Spoiler :
This book is very much what it promises itself to be in that it is ripe with fairy tale vibes but in the brothers grimm kind of way. There are occasions in which the pacing just seems a little off in that some storylines read as side-quests for lack of a better term. There also it a bit of time-jumping in the beginning of the book which I don't really agree needed to be there. I think Kingfisher may have been trying to grab the readers with a dark and spooky intro where Marra is creating Bone Dog, but I honestly think I would have preferred this book be a bit more chronological. That being said, I was never bored! The writing style is incredibly atmospheric and engaging, I wanted to keep reading all the way up until the end!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Miscarriage, Sexism, and Pregnancy
Minor: Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Child death, Domestic abuse, and Emotional abuse
readingrainey's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
reflective
sad
fast-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
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abortion, Gore, Infertility, Domestic abuse, Toxic relationship, and Child death
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts and Body horror
Minor: Violence, Rape, and Cannibalism
alottaricotta's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
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? It's complicated
5.0
A great read. MC is empathetic and practical like a lot of Kingfisher's protagonists, but still hunkers down to get the job done, particularly when the job is unpleasant.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Rape and Domestic abuse
Minor: Child death
aubreymichelle's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
medium-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
4.5
The novel starts with Marra, the main character, wiring dog bones together in order to complete the second task the the dust-wife gave her. Then, for about three chapters, there are splits where it swaps from the past of Marra's sister Damia being wed to Prince Vorling and dying, before her other sister Kania is wed. Eventually, Marra realizes the dark truth and leaves to find the dust-wife.
One thing about this book is that it had parts that went unutilized or parts that felt dry: the blistered land and saints vengeful over broken taboo, the goblin market, the fact that Marra magically made a dog of bones come to life.
The characters felt rather flushed out and Marra slowly learned to find her inner strength and her trust in others. The dust-wife was oddly snarky and often, along with her demon hen, added comedy to the story.Fenris had undying loyalty after Marra saved him from the market. Arles was lovable and the perfect example of someone so good she refused to use her dark magic.
My favorite quote from this book is "I've done many things that were terribly important, lives hanging in the balance and so on and so forth. There is something pleasant about chopping wood. If I miss a stroke, nothing awful happens." I feel like this quote really highlights the stressing standards that some people face, and shows how it is important to sometimes take a step back and relax.
This book had quite a few insightful quotes, but also quite a few funny lines.
The plot was slower than I expected it to bed and there were parts where, as I said earlier, a certain bit could have been utilized.For example, the jar of moonlight which was barely featured in the book despite being the third impossible task. Also, all it did was glow. On the bright side, it showed some of the dust-wife's character.
A list of words I learned from this novel are: Charnel, Dotage, Querulous, Awl, Palanquin, Abacus, Leper, Genuflecting, Aquiline, Lacquer, Banal, and Geas.
Another amazing quote from this book is one that really shows Marra's character growth:"You are not so big. You are only a living king. I saw an old woman defeat a dead one. You can not hurt me any worse than spinning thread of nettle wool, and you cannot confuse me anymore that the palace of dust. Even you cruelty is small compared to the blistered land."
Overall, I would say this is a good book for people who like characters that feel mostly real and a woman slowly discovering her self worth.
4☆: I enjoyed this and would recommend it.
Edit:
My General 4.5 Stars / This book has well-rounded characters that have clear-cut personalities and roles. The worldbuilding was congruent throughout the book. The direction that the plot went and the conclusion was realistic. The book paced well. However, something was missing or did not quite make sense. I loved this book, but it wasn’t quite worth five stars.
One thing about this book is that it had parts that went unutilized or parts that felt dry: the blistered land and saints vengeful over broken taboo, the goblin market, the fact that Marra magically made a dog of bones come to life.
The characters felt rather flushed out and Marra slowly learned to find her inner strength and her trust in others. The dust-wife was oddly snarky and often, along with her demon hen, added comedy to the story.
My favorite quote from this book is "I've done many things that were terribly important, lives hanging in the balance and so on and so forth. There is something pleasant about chopping wood. If I miss a stroke, nothing awful happens." I feel like this quote really highlights the stressing standards that some people face, and shows how it is important to sometimes take a step back and relax.
This book had quite a few insightful quotes, but also quite a few funny lines.
The plot was slower than I expected it to bed and there were parts where, as I said earlier, a certain bit could have been utilized.
A list of words I learned from this novel are: Charnel, Dotage, Querulous, Awl, Palanquin, Abacus, Leper, Genuflecting, Aquiline, Lacquer, Banal, and Geas.
Another amazing quote from this book is one that really shows Marra's character growth:
Overall, I would say this is a good book for people who like characters that feel mostly real and a woman slowly discovering her self worth.
4☆: I enjoyed this and would recommend it.
Edit:
My General 4.5 Stars / This book has well-rounded characters that have clear-cut personalities and roles. The worldbuilding was congruent throughout the book. The direction that the plot went and the conclusion was realistic. The book paced well. However, something was missing or did not quite make sense. I loved this book, but it wasn’t quite worth five stars.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Miscarriage and Pregnancy
Moderate: Child death and Physical abuse
Minor: Rape and Slavery