Reviews with content warning for Death - Where Shadows Bloom

Reviews tagging 'Death'

Where Shadows Bloom by Catherine Bakewell

9 reviews

princejello's review against another edition

4.5

adventurous dark emotional tense 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

This book was a pleasant surprise! I'm always on the lookout for more wlw books, and this one didn't disappoint with these girls :) I enjoyed the world and the characters and the heartbreak and the love <3

Content Warnings

rainbowdragonwithcats's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious tense 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

I love this so much I will be drawing fanart (a high compliment from me)

Content Warnings

blewballoon's review against another edition

3.0

emotional reflective slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

What happened here? I loved Flowerheart; it was one of my top books of the year when I read it. This did not match that level of quality at all.

The writing felt incredibly juvenile. I've read middle grade books that were more subtle and nuanced. It was like the author had no faith in the reader's comprehension skills at all, so everything had to be explained thoroughly and repeatedly. This made the pacing feel painfully slow.

None of the characters, not a single one, felt like an actual person. Ofelia's POV was like reading the perspective of a small child for how gullible and surface level her thoughts were. Lope was slightly better because they weren't quite so naive, but still very one-note. The plot was both predictable and nonsensical at times.

There are a lot of poems scattered around. I can't say if they're good or bad, they didn't really contribute to my reading experience negatively or positively.

I really wanted to like this, and I had been so sure that I would. I'm trying to be generous with my rating because I know this is only Catherine Bakewell's second book. I do hope she continues publishing and perhaps her next book will be more to my taste. The nicest thing I can say about this one is that the cover is beautiful.

Content Warnings

ajslifelibrary's review against another edition

3.5

adventurous dark hopeful inspiring medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Content Warnings

abigailreads11's review against another edition

2.0

adventurous emotional lighthearted medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Content Warnings

natashaleighton_'s review against another edition

4.0

adventurous emotional 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

This was a beautifully atmospheric coming of age fantasy, with a tender sapphic romance at its heart that readers are bound to find riveting.

The world-building was really magical and lush (with whimsical, regency-esque, Princess Bride meets Bridgerton vibes), and I adored Catherine Bakewell’s prose which was gorgeously poetic and unputdownable. And if you love the romantic chemistry of a tender, slow-burn relationship; that’s steeped in pining, and a quiet (but steadfast) affection that transcends words—then you’re probably gonna enjoy this.

Particularly as we get such a wonderful cast of characters. My fave being Female Knight, Lope, who struggles with her loyalty to, (and unspoken feelings for) the naive Lady Ofelia, who she’s duty bound to protect; and her need to stop the shadow creatures (that have plagued the kingdom for decades and taken the lives of soo many of her friends.) This duality to her motivations and the struggle she endures, really added a complexity and depth to her that I found soo compelling.

I loved the setting too — which takes the opulence of the royal palace, “Le Château Enchanté” and juxtaposes it against the (fear inducing) shadow monsters that stalk beyond the gates (and cause all manner of destruction and chaos.)

However, it was the mystery surrounding the origin of the shadows (and the King’s strange refusal to allow any mention of them), that really piqued my interest. The plot twists and reveals were all really good too, though I did manage to guess quite a lot of them.

Tonally, this felt very much at the younger end of YA fantasy, so tween/teen readers are almost certainly gonna enjoy this one. If you love more mature/darker themed fantasy, however, then you might not enjoy this nearly as much.

But, it does tackle some pretty interesting themes, such as: self discovery and overcoming fears, love (both romantic and platonic), power and privilege, and the highly relevant reality vs. Illusion; that I feel would be the perfect starting place for further discussions (into some very timely topics.)

Overall, this was a magically satisfying read that fans of lyrical, heartwarming storytelling (or the whimsy of Margaret Rogerson’s An Enchantment of Ravens) should definitely consider checking out.

Also, a huge thank you to Harper360YA for the proof.

Content Warnings

creolelitbelle's review against another edition

4.25

emotional hopeful tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Where Shadows Bloom is a perfectly brilliant blend of light fantasy with a Sapphic love story and darkly enchanting, sinister forces at work. Ofelia, the reader, and Lope, the poet, come from different classes of society and should never fraternize beyond the latter serving the former, but they bond over their shared love of stories and words. In the beginning, Ofelia was hard for me to trust and root for, because she seems so self-centered and oblivious to everything around her. She experiences tremendous character growth through her ordeal, though, and I understand the desire for comfort and safety. Lope works hard to discover who she herself is outside of merely a knight to fight the shadow monsters. The palace promises beauty and solace from the dangerous world, but a life full of parties merely distracts from reality. In the end, Ofelia must learn the meaning of family and what creates the fiber of people. Told in both perspectives, this novel is as much a story about what love embodies as it is about what love never manifests as.

Thank you bounds to Epic Reads & HarperCollins Children's Books for sending me a physical ARC of this book.

Content Warnings

sol_journal's review against another edition

4.0

emotional hopeful lighthearted sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

**Thank you NetGalley and HarperCollins Children’s Books for this ARC! All thoughts and opinions are my own.**

Posted to: NetGalley and The StoryGraph

Posted on: 3 February 2025

4.3 (rounded down to 4) out of 5 stars.

I first read ‘Flowerheart’ by Catherine Bakewell sometime in 2023. I really enjoyed it from the whimsy to the deeper themes embedded inside the story. I loved Bakewell’s work then, but part of me knew that her future works would be better with the prose and the flow. ‘Flowerheart’ was a lovely read, don’t get me wrong, but the writing was mildly lacking. It was simple, if I can say that without sounding rude or offensive. I did enjoy the story, but I knew that Bakewell had more potential to unlock in her writing with more practice.

And ‘Where Shadows Bloom’ is how she delivered it!

I know not where to begin with this review because I literally just recently put it down this morning. I’ve gone to my reader friends’ group chat to rave about this read (I actually took it to them before I’d even finished it, but now that I can fully say that it’s a good read from page one til the end, I returned to them with the update.) I’ve finished my playlist for it and have already pre-ordered it. These are like the key things I do if I really love a book, and I really love ‘Where Shadows Bloom’, but let me get started on the actual review part.

I normally start with things that I didn’t really like in the book/about the book, but everything kind of settled out in the end? Everything made sense, I should say instead. I do think it resolved mildly anti-climatically, if I can be honest. I also think that I say that because I have a bone to pick with HEA books where the ending has potential to be soul-crushingly intense and sad- but I am nothing if not a sad girl at heart. So the thought that books can end on a sad note is just personal preference. The ending here is fine and makes sense, and still managed to make me cry on my commute to work, so it’s still a win all around.

While it’s not something that I hate, so to say, there is something that annoyed me. Do you know when characters do or say something that has you screaming at the book/tv/screen, “No! Why would you do that!?”… There were a few instances here in this book like that. Now, I won’t say that I entirely hate this, however. It was irritating, sure, but it also just fit so well with the characters’ motives that had been written out up to this point. I think staying true to a character’s voice is a very good thing because for one, it means that you have fleshed out a character well enough that they even have a distinct voice to make note of. Secondly, it means that it just added another layer to the story. Where a reader would want something to happen to avoid conflict, the bump in the road just makes arriving at the finish line all the more joyous. So while it was a pretty rough bit to get over, it just made sense (and I fear that I’ve said that enough that the phrase is losing its meaning.)

The book isn’t terribly predictable either?? I also was bouncing in and out of a reading slump though, so take that with a grain of salt. It did have really lovely writing though and that I can vouch for. I’m pretty sure in my review notes, I wrote “Lyrical, lyrical, lyrical, ly-“ quite a few times if that counts for anything. There’s also keyboard smashes, general notes of silent screaming, and the occasional “my hearts!!” If that also can say anything about my general thoughts towards this. It feels like a love letter to the way Studio Ghibli movies make people feel. ‘Where Shadows Bloom’ is a letter to love, to yearning, to whimsy, and to a beautiful ballroom setting (but not enough dancing, I’d say). I genuinely loved it. The pacing felt right with the tale, the prose was absolutely beautiful, the POVs added layers of desire and want that bubbled over to the ending we received. Honestly, there’s not much more to say about this book besides the fact that it was a lush read filled with heart. It feels like Hadestown’s own Orpheus wrote this. I need ten more like- yesterday.

Content Warnings

jamiebeecreations's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious 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

Thank you, Catherine Bakewell, NetGalley, and the publisher for this ARC. I am so excited to be a part of Cat's Street Team! This is my honest review.

A historical fantasy, set in a AU 1600s France. This book was such a mix of spooky, romance, and eloquence. When reading it, I started to see some connections with the political climate today (whomever says that books shouldn't be political doesn't know what they are talking about). The gaslighting of the villian is sometimes very obvious and othertimes makes you really second guess yourself. I found this to be very realistic, wven though the book is set in fantasy.

I really enjoyed all the characters, their development, the imagery, the imaginative situations, and the magic. I dont want to get too specific without spoilers, but I really loved everything about this book.

Content Warnings

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