Reviews tagging 'Hate crime'

The Wolf and the Woodsman by Ava Reid

29 reviews

baroo92's review

dark informative mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.5

This story was a really cool idea, and there's a lot of very excellent pieces included in it! I'm definitely here for diversifying slavic-inspired fantasy, and the depiction of multiple different ethnic sub-groups within the main country's setting was awesome to learn about. I will say though that it is pretty noticeable that this is a debut novel. There are some distinct pacing issues- in several moments, I found myself having to go back and re-read through a previous page to be sure I didn't miss a mention of a particular character moving or doing a particular action in the scene. There were spots where I was deeply invested in an intense scene, and then a character would say a dramatic line, and then BOOM- end of chapter, moving on to the next chapter with a completely unrelated scene and barely any dialogue explaining the aftermath of said dramatic line. I really wanted to be attached to the characters, but with the scenes jumping around so much the characters' motivations also jumped around, which made it hard for me to root for them in their Big Goals. There was just a lot of spots of Big Scary Thing Happens, I'm Ruined Forever and then another side character appears and Nevermind, My Problem Is Fixed With A Wave Of A Hand And We're Moving To The Next Problem Without Blinking Twice About Previous Issue. 
I will probably still look out for Ava Reid's future work, because I think she definitely has a lot of potential in storytelling! I just wish she could flesh out her scenes in a little better to keep our eyes on the prize.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Racism, Death of parent, Genocide, Gore, and Murder

Moderate: Violence, Sexual content, Torture, and Domestic abuse

msradiosilence's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny tense medium-paced

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

3.75

Tldr; I was expecting a lot more, and I feel like the story would’ve benefitted from a slower pace and maybe another book for the second half. There was just a lot all the time, and it smothered what was good. 

Read my full review here: https://www.rainyreader.com/single-post/the-wolf-and-the-woodsman.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Bullying, Death, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Physical abuse, War, Hate crime, Classism, Death of parent, Religious bigotry, Violence, Animal cruelty, Antisemitism, Racism, Self harm, Sexual content, and Torture

gem114's review

adventurous slow-paced

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

3.0

Glows:
• The folklore/myths sprinkled throughout to explain the magic
• Cool supporting cast (I want a book about the Juvvi)
• That the characters (and the readers) are pushed to grapple with questions of faith, morality, justice, etc.
• The gore - It was honestly a lot more violent and gory than I expected, but in a good way (but def read content warnings)
• That it's a standalone (sometimes I want fantasy without committing to a series!)

Grows:
• The main characters seemed younger than their stated ages. 
• Some of the pacing dragged.

Something to consider:
Even though the chapters aren't that long, the book is detail-heavy and (to me) better suited for longer blocks of reading rather than short bursts.

Overall, I'd recommend giving it a shot if you're in the mood for a standalone fantasy! I will say some parts definitely reminded me of aspects of Shadow and Bone/Six of Crows, so that might help you decide if this is for you. 😊

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Death

Moderate: Kidnapping, Violence, Child abuse, Gore, Blood, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Religious bigotry, Self harm, and War

lele_funland's review

adventurous dark medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, and Body horror

Moderate: Bullying, Child abuse, Classism, Colonisation, Death, Death of parent, Hate crime, Religious bigotry, Self harm, and Violence

internationalreads's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious fast-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Antisemitism, Blood, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Colonisation, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Gore, Grief, Hate crime, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Murder, Physical abuse, Racism, Self harm, Sexual content, Violence, and War

gcjay1994's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Antisemitism, Blood, Colonisation, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Grief, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Murder, Religious bigotry, and Violence

Moderate: Sexual content

amber_vw's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful sad 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Gore, Grief, Hate crime, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Slavery, Torture, Vomit, Violence, and War

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Suicidal thoughts

forthesanityof1's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective tense medium-paced

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

2.5

I don't know what it is about this book, but I was not able to get into it at all. I was so excited to read it and hears a lot of praising words about it (nothing in detail) for a debut so I picked it up ASAP and started it.
I honestly think it might be me with this one, but I could not bond with the characters at all. That's not usually an issue, but I was so apathetic and downright irritated at some points that it took me well over a month to finish this. The MC was...complicated, the pacing was strange to me, the love interest was not interesting outside of the religious/moral division (which was one part of the book extremely well-done), the plot was not what I expected and at times did not make any sense, and the antagonist needed some developing to really fulfill how terrifying he could have been. There were some plot points that went over my head and sometimes the MC brought up issues at very odd times, especially with Katalin (spelling??). I would like to think this was all intentional, but some of it I think was more a by-product of poor writing and editing. I'll be checking out her other works, but I would not recommend this unless religious divide being central to the story is your thing.
One major positive: the author has a beautiful way with prose! A little too much sometimes (trying to draw a scene into a specific emotion when the actual content doesn't reflect it) but nice nonetheless!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Antisemitism, Blood, Bullying, Child abuse, Colonisation, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Kidnapping, Racism, Religious bigotry, and Violence

delz's review

adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.0

The Wolf and the Woodman is a fairytale revolving around Pagans, Patricians and Yehuli. Evike is a Wolf Girl with no powers, so she is chosen as her villiage’s sacrifice when the Woodsman comes. The Woodsmen are tasked with taking one of these girls to the king. The village doesn’t know what happens to the girls, only that the king needs their powers and that they never return. When Evike was a little girl her mother was taken and now it’s her turn. One of the Woodsmen, a one eyed Woodsmen, Gáspár is the prince and the weak link for Evike to manipulate. They travel through different lands meet many different people, until they return to the king. Where Gáspár’s illegitimate brother schemes to take the throne.  There’s adventure and action and even a little romance. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Antisemitism, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Hate crime, Kidnapping, Murder, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Torture, and Violence