Reviews tagging 'War'

Deathless by Catherynne M. Valente

17 reviews

antonebooks's review against another edition

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adventurous dark reflective sad slow-paced

5.0


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semlan's review against another edition

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challenging dark sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.5

I found the book to be very confusing and had a hard time connecting to the characters. I liked the beginning of the book though, but unfortunately it went downhill from there.

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jo_bee's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25


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beanaroni's review against another edition

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adventurous dark medium-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

5.0


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lanarkunas's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5


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hanz's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective medium-paced

3.0


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wordsbyzahra's review against another edition

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

3.0

This wasn't the book for me. I can appreciate the writing. There are certainly some beautifully crafted passages in this book, but I suppose, it was not what I expected. Contrary to some reviews, particularly included on the blurb of my copy, I did not find this romantic. This is a story about many things: death, love, life, suffering, war, and the ways in which the impacts of war on people tend to manifest. I enjoyed the immersion of Russian fairy tales into 20th Century Russia, but I did not enjoy the exploration of the relationships between Marya and Koschei nor Marya and Ivan. Essentially I did not enjoy the supposed 'romance/love story' which was one of the main reasons  picked it up, in addition to the immersion of Russian Fairytales. I'm disappointed that I did not enjoy the story as much as I anticipated, but I think that is more of a 'me' issue. This just wasn't the book for me.  

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morganpearcy's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective 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? It's complicated

5.0

This book is fantastic. It’s not going to be for everyone. The pace is medium and slows a bit in the middle but it’s worth it to continue reading to the end as it all fits together perfectly. There’s purpose to the changes in pace. 

This book is lyrical prose at its finest. The writing is gorgeous. The characters unique. The retelling of Koschei the Deathless and intermixing the fallout of the Russian Revolution after Stallin. It’s brilliantly woven storytelling is hard to put down. I enjoyed every minute of this book and it’s in my top 25 favorites of all time. I also really liked this version of Baba Yaga. It combined some of her more horrific legends and made her loveable. For me. :)

This book takes a turn at the end that I wasn’t expecting but yet also somehow in the back of my mind was always suspecting. The ending makes you think and there’s a lot to unpack there. Honestly this book would have been perfect to add to the silibus for some of my Fantasy in Philosophy/Folktales in Philosophy in college and at the graduate level. 

I *really* enjoyed how the book explored the relationship between pleasure and pain. I found the spice to be just right because of the different approach. The Kink was fantastic and surprising. None of it was graphic or smutty. I would even say that it was so interwoven in the story that sometimes I didn’t even realize what was happening till a few sentences after it was over. So for it being a big part of the characters’ lives as whole persons but not the focus of the book it was great! 

I also enjoyed the comparison of marriage to battle. 😂 I really appreciated the way it explored non-monogomous sexual and romantic partnerships through a different lens, which I found thought provoking. It led to some interesting discussion with my own partner. 

Additionally, the representation of life under Stalin was very realistic from what I remember studying in college. I’m pretty radicalized (and US politics are not, compared to the rest of the world). It was a good reminder that systems of socialism European humans have adopted before ain’t gonna cut it. We can’t prescribe everything, including fairness. So we need to use some imagination in how we rebuild the world to be human-centered and adopt more Indigenous systems rather than prescriptive systems that erase our humanity.


All in all it was a fantastic read that I found to be really deep on multiple levels, thought provoking, beautifully written and absolutely enjoyable from the first page to the last. 

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cedence's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0


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pythonesque's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad tense slow-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

5.0

I think it is the most Russian book I've ever read.

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