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moonytoast's review
adventurous
dark
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? Yes
5.0
“If there is anyone I would damn my soul for,” Gáspár says, “it would be you.”
me: [muffled screams into a pillow]
me: [muffled screams into a pillow]
Content Warnings
Graphic: Religious bigotry, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Blood
Moderate: Animal death, Violence, Torture, Kidnapping, and Sexual content
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. 😊
• 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. 😊
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
imds's review
- 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
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Kidnapping, Antisemitism, Murder, Religious bigotry, Self harm, and Death
Moderate: War
Minor: Death of parent
cemeterygay's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
5.0
I am so immensely happy I read this as my first fantasy of the year. If you're looking for a phenomenal fantasy steeped in aspects of Jewish and Hungarian folklore with a heavy dose of gore and beautiful prose, I could not recommend this book enough. This book is just a spectacular debut for Ava Reid.
The beautiful lyrical writing style works so brilliantly with both the quick pacing of the story and the horror elements so beautifully to create an almost gruesome fairytale-esque vibe. While some of the gore and horror elements can be quite intense the writing style almost happens to spin it into a softer vibe along the lines of darker fairytales and folk stories like Cinderella or Beowulf. The choice of POV worked wonderfully in tandem with both the writing style and pacing. As the pacing of the book is just so quick limiting the book to a first-person POV helps immensely as you are often learning aspects of the world as Evike learns them or are having them gradually recounted by her which helps make the quick pacing feasible. It also helps to establish a lot more about Evike as a person and to better illustrate the many internal conflicts she was dealing with which allowed the lyrical writing style to not only just be pleasing to read but to give it purpose by helping the reader to better understand Evike and how she thinks.
That brings me to Evike as a character. She is such a brilliant protagonist who is given both great space to grow and falter and really delve into her internal struggles of cultural identity, grief, and morality while confronting the horrors of religious persecution and colonization that she faces. Evike's deep empathy and sense of internal morality colliding with both external concepts of morality and her own grief and suffering is so interesting to read as it handled with such grace and sensitivity. Watching Evike grapple and find peace with her struggles of religious and ethnic identity is so deeply interesting and satisfying. The ultimate trajectory of her story is intensely satisfying and works so beautifully with the themes of the story.
The relationship between Evike and Gaspar is so well-handled as is Gaspar as a character. I'm not a big enemies to lovers person but this, this is the blueprint for how to effectively write an enemies to lovers story. Watching both Evike and Gaspar consistently challenge each other's views on the world, the future of the country, and religion was so deeply fascinating and greatly helps the exploration of religious persecution, specifically both towards Jewish folk and as a result of Christianity, as well as the many contradictions and complexities of Christian imperialism. I was so deeply invested in watching these characters grow from enemies to reluctant allies into more and to watch them individually grow.
I also need to highlight to how much Evike's relationship with the Yehuli including her father really adds to the story. Watching Evike explore what is essentially her Jewish identity and reconnect with her family is not only incredibly heartwarming but is such a nice aspect of the story that really helps portray an amazing example of resistance against oppression. It's such a nice contrast from earlier parts of the book in both tone and character development. It really helps provide a lot of resolution to prior conflicts and questions raised in the story specifically with Evike and really gives a broader look at discussions of religion and survival in the face of Christian imperialism.
The last relationship I need to highlight is between Evike and her village. This is where a lot of the conversations of trauma and grief really shine. Watching how Evike changes her relationships and views about other people from her village is just very compelling and really goes hand in hand with how her views on her own identity, religion, and the past trauma she's suffered change. Watching her heal from past trauma while also participating in community healing as well is such a nice departure from other books. Also just seeing how much those relationships affect her other relationships with other people, her own religious identity, as well as her own sense morality is such a needed addition to the book.
The exploration of both Nandor and the magic system is just absolutely phenomenal. Nandor as a character is so deeply entwined with the magic system and the exploration of it. The way Nandor represents Christian hypocrisy and imperialism is so interesting to watch play out. He does an amazing job at really becoming an imposing unlikeable character with a very real and consistent, but not true, view on the world and religion. Nandor is so heavily used as an exploration of how different groups gain access to magic and thus gain political power and also just the way people practice religion. Watching Nandor, the Woodsmen, and even Evike sacrifice to gain power so clearly parallels a lot of the conversations in the book about each religious system and the contradictions within each's religious beliefs and practice. In general, seeing this concept used to discuss how Christianity adopted Pagan practices while also decrying them to gain support is fascinating and so well-executed. Even the discussions of how each in-text religious group view each other parallels real life experiences so brilliantly.
I just want to thank my friend Bri for getting me this book, as I think this is a book that will really stick with me for a long time.
The beautiful lyrical writing style works so brilliantly with both the quick pacing of the story and the horror elements so beautifully to create an almost gruesome fairytale-esque vibe. While some of the gore and horror elements can be quite intense the writing style almost happens to spin it into a softer vibe along the lines of darker fairytales and folk stories like Cinderella or Beowulf. The choice of POV worked wonderfully in tandem with both the writing style and pacing. As the pacing of the book is just so quick limiting the book to a first-person POV helps immensely as you are often learning aspects of the world as Evike learns them or are having them gradually recounted by her which helps make the quick pacing feasible. It also helps to establish a lot more about Evike as a person and to better illustrate the many internal conflicts she was dealing with which allowed the lyrical writing style to not only just be pleasing to read but to give it purpose by helping the reader to better understand Evike and how she thinks.
That brings me to Evike as a character. She is such a brilliant protagonist who is given both great space to grow and falter and really delve into her internal struggles of cultural identity, grief, and morality while confronting the horrors of religious persecution and colonization that she faces. Evike's deep empathy and sense of internal morality colliding with both external concepts of morality and her own grief and suffering is so interesting to read as it handled with such grace and sensitivity. Watching Evike grapple and find peace with her struggles of religious and ethnic identity is so deeply interesting and satisfying. The ultimate trajectory of her story is intensely satisfying and works so beautifully with the themes of the story.
The relationship between Evike and Gaspar is so well-handled as is Gaspar as a character.
I also need to highlight to how much Evike's relationship with the Yehuli including her father really adds to the story. Watching Evike explore what is essentially her Jewish identity and reconnect with her family is not only incredibly heartwarming but is such a nice aspect of the story that really helps portray an amazing example of resistance against oppression. It's such a nice contrast from earlier parts of the book in both tone and character development. It really helps provide a lot of resolution to prior conflicts and questions raised in the story specifically with Evike and really gives a broader look at discussions of religion and survival in the face of Christian imperialism.
The last relationship I need to highlight is between Evike and her village. This is where a lot of the conversations of trauma and grief really shine. Watching how Evike changes her relationships and views about other people from her village is just very compelling and really goes hand in hand with how her views on her own identity, religion, and the past trauma she's suffered change. Watching her heal from past trauma while also participating in community healing as well is such a nice departure from other books. Also just seeing how much those relationships affect her other relationships with other people, her own religious identity, as well as her own sense morality is such a needed addition to the book.
The exploration of both Nandor and the magic system is just absolutely phenomenal. Nandor as a character is so deeply entwined with the magic system and the exploration of it. The way Nandor represents Christian hypocrisy and imperialism is so interesting to watch play out. He does an amazing job at really becoming an imposing unlikeable character with a very real and consistent, but not true, view on the world and religion. Nandor is so heavily used as an exploration of how different groups gain access to magic and thus gain political power and also just the way people practice religion. Watching Nandor, the Woodsmen, and even Evike sacrifice to gain power so clearly parallels a lot of the conversations in the book about each religious system and the contradictions within each's religious beliefs and practice. In general, seeing this concept used to discuss how Christianity adopted Pagan practices while also decrying them to gain support is fascinating and so well-executed. Even the discussions of how each in-text religious group view each other parallels real life experiences so brilliantly.
I just want to thank my friend Bri for getting me this book, as I think this is a book that will really stick with me for a long time.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Antisemitism, Blood, Colonisation, Body horror, Animal death, Death, Death of parent, Bullying, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Vomit, Violence, War, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, and Child abuse
Moderate: Grief and Child abuse
Additional CW: Colorism (moderate), hunting, frequent discussions of genocide (not actually acted upon), Neglect (moderate), Disowning (graphic), Imprisonment (fantasy), revolutioninternationalreads'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
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
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
camillou's review
adventurous
dark
reflective
tense
slow-paced
3.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Antisemitism, Blood, Gore, Racism, Violence, and Self harm
Moderate: Kidnapping, Murder, Torture, and Animal death
Minor: Death of parent, Vomit, and War
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!
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!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Antisemitism, Blood, Bullying, Child abuse, Colonisation, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Kidnapping, Racism, Religious bigotry, and Violence
fromjuliereads's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
tense
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
5.0
Wow. I had wondered about the hype of this book but it did not disappoint. The commentary on religion, culture, politics - it was so intriguing. The folklore and all of the stories woven throughout wete so well done. And I loved the characters.
Reid's writing is so descriptive. It's so easy to imagine the scenes from the page. There are definitely some graphic descriptions for the more brutal and violent scenes. But it added a darkness to the overall dark atmosphere of the book.
I will say that trigger warnings should DEFINITELY be checked. And to note that ethnic cleansing/ getting rid of a religious group or group of people is a big plotline in this novel.
Highly recommend though if you enjoy darker fantasy novels!
Reid's writing is so descriptive. It's so easy to imagine the scenes from the page. There are definitely some graphic descriptions for the more brutal and violent scenes. But it added a darkness to the overall dark atmosphere of the book.
I will say that trigger warnings should DEFINITELY be checked. And to note that ethnic cleansing/ getting rid of a religious group or group of people is a big plotline in this novel.
Highly recommend though if you enjoy darker fantasy novels!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Death, Gore, Self harm, and Violence
Moderate: Antisemitism, Blood, Bullying, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, and Torture
Minor: Sexual content
Self mutilationoliverreeds's review against another edition
dark
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? Yes
3.0
this book was fine. i don't understand what all of the hype is about around its release because, while the characters and their relationships are well-written, the magic and world-building seemed a little scant. i have no doubt the author spent a ridiculous amount of time building lore and that is evident, but i didn't understand a lot of the lore. it felt like when a super smart professor is explaining a very detailed and advanced concept and just kind of expects you to know it. the history of the the world just didn't make much sense and wasn't explained as well as i wanted it to be. most of the book is spent looking for this creature called the tulur? and maybe i just didn't read super carefully, but i had no idea what the tulur actually meant to the world until it died. and even then nothing seemed to have changed. there was still magic. the trees seemed to still be alive. so why was there such a thing about killing this bird. i didn't understand it . i also didn't understand the way magic works in this story. the wolf-girls are (mostly) all born with magic- all except evike. great. that makes sense. but then evike wants magic so she cuts of her finger as a sacrifice to one of the gods and he just... gives her magic? i didn't understand this. it didn't make any sense. and then without practicing using her magic, evike fully shatters an axe in the royal court without really knowing what the perameters of her magic or the cost of her magic. the rules seemed flimsy. especially when she saves Gaspar after they're attacked by the witch. how did she save him?? she can't heal people?? . i also thought it was interesting that there are so many religions (only three) but they all have their own magic given from their own god which seems to imply that all of the gods actually exist in this universe. this then begs the question: why is there so much hate? the hate the woodsmen feel towards the pagans never is fully explained. i kind of understand the metaphor the author was working with, but in general, it felt forced sometimes. like... why? the pacing of this book was also pretty slow. in the climax moments, i didn't feel like there was much of a climax. like when evike has just been stabbed. i was like oh sh*t! but then she just like gets up? and walks to gaspars room and then she rests for like ten minutes and then she's just like fine. like she's having a full conversation when she was just on the brink of death. this also happens in the pagan battle at the very end. nandor has just pulled out evike's molars (by all means a traumatic and painful experience) and then after the whole gaspar nandor fight, she's just fine? she kisses gaspar but like she just had like buckets of blood in her mouth??? the severity of wounds was definitely something that didn't make much sense to me because a character would be seriously wounded (often to the brink of death) and then like have full on coherent conversations and then get up and walk around. the first part of this book also read a lot like fanficiton (which i honestly didn't have a problem with. it was my favorite part of the book no cap) because it's all about the slow romance between evike and gaspar so evike will like almost freeze to death or pass out or something and then gaspar (shocker) will save her or help her. like the amount of times evike ~almost~ died on the way up to find the tulur the first time was honestly wild. but overall, the characters were interesting and i liked the in depth analysis of how religious bigotry effects people, romance, and governing states. i thought it was a good first book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Grief, Kidnapping, Murder, Physical abuse, Racism, Religious bigotry, Sexual content, Torture, and Violence