Reviews with content warning for Injury/Injury detail - Weyward

Representation: N/A
Score: Five points out of ten.

So this one won the Debut Novel and Historical Fiction Awards. Why? I found Weyward at my library alongside other books, and I noticed it won some titles as mentioned above, so I headed in with high expectations when I picked it up and read it. When I finished it, I only felt depressed. If Maame or Chain-Gang All Stars won Best Debut, a Black author would've won. Same with The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store or The House of Eve for the Historical section.

Weyward starts with the first three characters I see, Kate, Violet and Altha, all Weyward family members, each facing their predicaments. Kate had to run away to Weyward Cottage to escape her abusive partner, while Violet defies society's expectations placed on women in the 1940s. She would rather climb trees and study insects (future entomologist?) than be a 'proper' woman, until some events force her to escape to Weyward Cottage. Altha lived in the 17th century when she is accused of witchcraft due to her connections with the earth and murdering another person. Weyward was a heavy read, in fact, the heaviest read of 2024. I hoped it would get better, but it didn't, so I had to wait until the concluding pages for the mood to change from miserable to hopeful. I'm glad all the women could find all their happy endings, but Weyward felt like exaggerated and glorified trauma to me. I also didn't like how the male characters were all evil. I'm sure not everyone is like that. The fantasy aspects are barely there, so maybe that's why some consider Weyward to be more of a historical fiction or a piece of magical realism than a speculative composition.

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em_n_ay's review against another edition

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4.0

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fruitwash's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

After reading all the wonderful reviews, this book let me down a bit. Maybe I went in with incorrect assumptions, but I wanted MUCH MORE witchy magic. It was a lot of sexual abuse & violence against women to get through for a pretty lackluster ending and NOT MUCH MAGIC. Since there is a main character who is literally going through a witch trial, I thought it was safe to assume there would be some witchcraft? But there was only one spell alluded to in the entire book. No potions, no rituals, no sigils. 80% of the book was just relatively dull, slow-paced, magic-free descriptions of how men are abusing the three main characters.

Content Warnings