Reviews tagging 'Violence'

The Manningtree Witches by A.K. Blakemore

17 reviews

pkc's review against another edition

dark funny informative mysterious sad tense slow-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? No

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death, Gore, Religious bigotry, Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Torture, Mental illness, and Violence

tsapparelli's review against another edition

dark informative sad medium-paced

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

3.0

A lot of the writing in this was really beautiful. I found it hard to put down. However I didn’t connect with the characters. I felt it was too surface level and didn’t delve into the characters’ thoughts and feelings enough.

I felt moved by the passage where Rebecca described what she imagines her mothers death would have been like, and I wish there was more of that in the rest of the book. I also found the ending where she finds Judith on the boat a bit unbelievable and it took me out of the story a bit.

But overall I thought this was a good book and I would read more by this author.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Forced institutionalization, Murder, Misogyny, Death of parent, Sexism, Death, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Violence

loz1327's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Religious bigotry, Violence, Death, and Misogyny

quiet_reader's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad slow-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Death, Death of parent, Miscarriage, Murder, Blood, Alcohol, Animal death, Sexism, Confinement, Religious bigotry, Violence, and Child death

Moderate: Infidelity, Sexual content, Grief, Slavery, Trafficking, Torture, and War

fictionalatte's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

this book is a must-read, even if it isn’t one you’d normally reach for. 

the author also captured the story on numerous levels, which was evident by her volume of research and knowledge accompanying this novel. 

although the plot is heavy, the ending had positive notes which didn’t reflect the tone shown previously, it showed us a new journey for rebecca, one of which wasn’t darkened by her past life.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Confinement, Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Blood

Moderate: Miscarriage, Gore, Grief, Torture, Medical content, Sexual content, Violence, Cursing, Death, Injury/Injury detail, and Death of parent

Minor: War and Slavery

james1star's review against another edition

slow-paced

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

2.5

DNF’d at 50% (my first DNF) - so maybe my ‘review’ isn’t that worthy but I still had some thoughts. I’d probably give it a 2.5 ⭐️ maybe but I don’t fully know so I’ll go with a 3 to stay more neutral. 

I was just really not jamming well with the writing, characters or plot of this book. It was alrightish and slightly intriguing but I just didn’t like it. We follow Rebecca in the town of Manningtree in Essex during the civil war, things happen and the residents begin a witch-hunt-esque fearmongering campaign against certain women. There was more but Yhh not for me. The narrative changes from first to third but it’s not always clear until a few pages in - I dunno just quite confusing. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Misogyny, and Sexism

Minor: Grief, Sexual content, Death, War, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, and Violence

ashlyntalksbooks's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny informative mysterious reflective sad tense 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Blood, Animal cruelty, Murder, Violence, Religious bigotry, and Animal death

Moderate: Fatphobia, Death, and Child death

streetmuseums's review

dark reflective tense 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? It's complicated

4.25

"I wonder if this is what all women eventually come to know - a choice each comes to make between obscuring her true self in exchange for the false regard of a good man, or allowing herself the freedom to be as she truly is and settling for a brute who couldn't care less if she is as broken, as coarse, as hopeless as he."

Really intriguing book reflecting on the misogyny that fuelled the 1640s "witch craze". 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence and Miscarriage

savvylit's review against another edition

dark informative sad slow-paced

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

3.0

In this novel, Blakemore expertly explores the particular misogynist menace of the witch-hunt. This book is clearly thoroughly researched and based on an abundance of facts. The primary villain, Matthew Hopkins, is a fictionalized version of a real 17th-century witch-hunter with the same name. In the pages of this novel and in real life, many women were accused of witchcraft for purely arbitrary reasons. The only common denominator seems to have been that they were all poor or otherwise living on society's margins. What a dark and awful time in world history.

I readily admit that the subject of Manningtree Witches is fascinating. The execution of the story itself, however, left a bit to be desired. For a book about witches and Puritanical fervor, there is little... excitement. Instead, there is a lot of incredibly period-appropriate sad detail. While reading, I frequently found myself bored. After making it to the end, all I could think was "that's it?!" I wanted more characterization of the accused women beyond Rebecca, the protagonist. I also would have loved a little bit more paranormal activity.

Ultimately, I'm not upset to have read this book - which is very beautifully written. I'm just reminded of how historical fiction is not one of my favorite genres.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Violence, Animal death, and Murder

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Rape, and Classism

amelreads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Terminal illness, Murder, Misogyny, Classism, Confinement, Medical content, Medical trauma, Trafficking, Violence, Torture, Religious bigotry, Racism, Death of parent, and Death

Moderate: War and Child death

Minor: Miscarriage