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irinalast's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Minor: Physical abuse, Racism, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Toxic relationship, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, War, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, and Fire/Fire injury
torturedreadersdept's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Graphic: Blood, Classism, Death of parent, Grief, Religious bigotry, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Body horror, Child abuse, Antisemitism, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Confinement, Death, Fire/Fire injury, and Violence
ru_bunny's review against another edition
- 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? It's complicated
4.75
Graphic: Antisemitism, Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, Bullying, Death of parent, and Religious bigotry
Moderate: Death, Toxic relationship, Miscarriage, Child abuse, and Child death
Minor: Fire/Fire injury
elzibub's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Graphic: Toxic relationship, Antisemitism, Misogyny, Kidnapping, Sexism, and Religious bigotry
Moderate: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Violence, and Homophobia
readwithde's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Graphic: Death of parent, Toxic relationship, Injury/Injury detail, Body horror, and Misogyny
Moderate: Miscarriage, Antisemitism, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Torture, Violence, Blood, Classism, Alcohol, Child abuse, Alcoholism, and War
Minor: Gaslighting, Kidnapping, Gore, and Confinement
maeverose's review against another edition
3.0
Gratuitous violence. Mostly from Wendy and Stepon’s povs, where they had to bring up at every opportunity that their father abused them. It felt like the author was just throwing it in there to keep the book feeling dark and gritty but there was no real purpose to it. We already know from the first few chapters that their father is a despicable human being, it didn’t need to be mentioned repeatedly every single time it switched to one of their povs.
The multiple povs. I only cared about Miryem’s and Irina’s a little bit towards the second half of the book. However I wouldn’t say the others were unnecessary (well, Magreta’s maybe) or couldn’t be interesting to other readers. I felt that it was usually pretty clear who’s pov it was right away, but the book does switch povs multiple times in every chapter, so it could get annoying.
Bad autism rep? I wanted to talk about one of the perspectives in particular: Wanda’s younger brother Stepon. His narrative voice is especially different from the others and I can’t tell if it’s just supposed to be that he’s young, abused and had a very isolated upbringing, or if he’s autistic coded. He has sensory issues with noise too, which could be a trauma response from his abuse, I’m not sure, but it felt like an attempt at a very stereotypical representation of autism, and if it was I don’t like that. It’s a very narrow minded interpretation of autism, not to mention it was just so tedious to read.
It’s overwritten. It definitely could’ve (should’ve, imo) been at least 100 pages shorter. Maybe its just because I wasn’t enjoying it that much but it felt like a drag to get through. I was bored for a lot of it.
The writing. Her style just doesn’t work for me. I liked the winter descriptions, and the folktale style of it, but I found certain sentences to be worded awkwardly to where I’d have to read them multiple times to get what she meant. It was the same with Uprooted for me. Like she’s trying to make it sound pretty but it’s just awkward to read. Could just be me. I did find some sentences that were actually grammatically incorrect though…
Homophobic?? This one was easy to miss, but the only - very minor side character - that’s gay has a crush on his own cousin. I feel like I don’t need to explain how that’s problematic.
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Child death, Fire/Fire injury, Violence, Gore, Physical abuse, Vomit, Child abuse, and Misogyny
Moderate: Alcohol, Animal death, Domestic abuse, Antisemitism, Blood, Death of parent, Alcoholism, Body horror, Rape, Sexual assault, Terminal illness, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Classism, Incest, and Miscarriage
Graphic: Eye trauma Moderate: mentioned child rapenaomi_k's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Physical abuse, Violence, Antisemitism, Child abuse, Alcoholism, Religious bigotry, and Domestic abuse
Moderate: Misogyny, Confinement, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Cursing, Classism, Animal death, Death of parent, and Miscarriage
kaziaroo's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Graphic: Alcoholism, Antisemitism, Blood, Child abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Xenophobia
Moderate: Ableism, Child death, Animal death, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, and Sexism
Minor: Sexual assault, Rape, Sexual content, and Sexual harassment
jennifer_bush_73's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
This was a good story, and, overall, I liked it. It was more fairytale than fantasy. But the poor grammar and mechanics were a distraction from story. The story got bogged down in too much detail. A good editor could have made the story more readable by cutting the redundant details and correcting the grammar errors.
Graphic: Antisemitism, Child abuse, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, Stalking, Violence, Toxic relationship, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, and Murder
Moderate: Alcohol, Child abuse, Death of parent, Death, Emotional abuse, Grief, Murder, Physical abuse, and Toxic friendship
Minor: Rape, Domestic abuse, Genocide, and Murder
Fantasyapworden's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Graphic: Antisemitism, Domestic abuse, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, and Toxic relationship