Reviews tagging 'Injury/Injury detail'

Weyward by Emilia Hart

131 reviews

its_thekla's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful medium-paced

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

4.0

Surprisingly it was less the subject matter that kept me interested and more the way Emilia Hart wove this story. It's not a beautiful story. It's hard and dark, but so hopeful. A story of women, bound by blood and separated by time, overcoming the world around them. Men are such easy villains to cast, especially men like these. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Blood, Vomit, Religious bigotry, and Gaslighting

nialiversuch's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense 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? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infertility, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Car accident, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

cassie7e's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

4.0

This is the kind of story I hoped for from A Secret History of Witches - a winding tale of connected generations of witches. I think it's the focus on fewer individuals, the persistent nature theme and symbolism, and the nonlinear telling that makes this one work better for me. We get to see each woman all throughout the book instead of just being a string of beads we look at one by one, one after the other. The magic is also more ambiguous (but still there) than SHW, more of a magical realism feel like A Murmuring of Bees (one of my faves) than the historical realism vibe of SHW.

TW for Rape, sexual assault, pregnancy, abortion, domestic abuse

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Death, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Vomit, Car accident, Abortion, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Cancer, Child abuse, Confinement, Infertility, Miscarriage, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, and War

mrsc6713's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious 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? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Incest, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Grief, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Murder, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

megatron1560's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense 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? Yes

4.0

Really enjoyed this but it is painful to read; each of these women went through so much but the ending was very satisfying 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Blood, Car accident, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

snipinfool's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

5.0

Weyward told the stories of three women tied by blood. The oldest was Altha Weyward, whose mother was a healer. Altha helped her mother administer to those who came to her for help and was learning how to be a healer as well. The reader meets Altha in 1619, when she was on trial for being a witch. Next in line, we meet Violet Ayers in 1942. She grew up as the daughter of a Viscount and was expected to act like a proper lady at all times. Violet's mother had died in childbirth when her younger brother was born and Violet was told very little about her. Since that time, she was mostly cared for by the women hired by her father. Violet had an affinity with nature, especially insects. Her father felt it was unladylike to have such an interest and tried to suppress that passion. Violet found the word Weyward scratched into the wall behind her bed when she searched for something that she dropped. She was unfamiliar with the word and asked those who worked at her house about its meaning. Violet noticed the women she asked responded strangely when asked. This was a mystery she wanted to solve. The final woman in the story was Kate Ayres, who lived in 2019. Kate had recently inherited a small cottage from her great-aunt Violet. She was grateful for the inheritance. It gave her a place to escape to when she left her violent boyfriend. Kate hoped her boyfriend would not be able to trace her to the cottage or find out that she was pregnant.

I loved the writing in this story. I could easily picture in my mind the surroundings in their lives. The words Emilia Hart chose drew those pictures for me. Each woman's story was told in depth and explained her motivations and choices. All three women were tied to nature in different ways and they were able to use that tie as one of their greatest gifts. I loved that each of the women found a way to be independent when they were often denied that independence by the men in their lives. This was the last book I read in 2023 and it was a great way to end the year. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Abortion, and Death of parent

Minor: War

atamano's review against another edition

emotional medium-paced

• 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Blood, Grief, and Death of parent

Moderate: Animal death, Body shaming, Confinement, Death, Miscarriage, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Religious bigotry and War

kyrstin_p1989's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-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

5.0

Beautiful & magical. A story about the power of women and the bond between them, even when they’ve been kept away from one another for far too long. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body shaming, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Dementia, Grief, Religious bigotry, Car accident, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

opie_azvuc's review against another edition

dark emotional sad slow-paced

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

0.25

3 Girls 1 Spine

I'm really concerned for the author of this book. I don't know if men did something to her, or she's just chronically online or something, but she HATES men so MUCH. Every single male character in this book is an absolute monster save exactly one who's only kind of okay until the very end where he's a hero. To be fair, two of the three "protagonists" are incredibly bad at it.

Misandry aside, this book is not that well written. Each chapter takes around 5-10 minutes to read and less than that in the first third or so of the book. Each chapter follows around one of three women in three completely different time periods and ends on a cliffhanger. The first few chapters are only around 6 pages each, so it's very jarring and disconnected and feels like the author may have written it while guzzling espresso and shooting cocaine.

The first person we follow is Altha, a woman accused of witchcraft in the 1600's and literally the only protagonist to have any sort of backbone or agency despite the face her situation is the most dire. She avoids prosecution and immolation and goes on to rescue the wife of an abusive husband by causing said abusive husband to be attacked by woodland creatures Loony Tunes style.

The second protagonist, Violet, is a sixteen year old girl with an abusive father and a brother off at boarding school during World War 2. Her cousin, a soldier, comes to stay with the family on leave, date rapes Violet, and the father finds out and sequesters her in this cabin in the woods where it turns out he had her mother interred there where all sorts of horrible things happened to her by men. She learns how to give herself an abortion using noxious weeds and realizes she has the power to chase her father away with woodland creatures Loony Tunes style.

The third protagonist is Kate in 2019 who is running from an abusive boyfriend she has been with for 5 years and has had multiple chances to get away from but chose not to until she decided to flee to the countryside, at no point contacting the police, battered women's shelter, lawyer, or anything that makes sense. She doesn't even bother to get a gun or ask any of her new acquiaintances to look out for her. When the boyfriend tracks her down because of the script, she realizes she also has the power to chase her boyfriend away with woodland creatures Loony Tunes style.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Incest, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Dementia, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Stalking, Car accident, Abortion, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

theunfinishedbookshelf's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious 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? It's complicated

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Miscarriage, Rape, Toxic relationship, Car accident, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail