Reviews with content warning for Violence - El Niño Brujo

I'm reading everything by Molly Knox Ostertag now, no questions. This was a really good book and graphic novels have become my weakeness, especially when they have magic.

Content Warnings

foreverinastory's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional 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

4.0

This was so good! Very wholesome.

The Witch Boy follows Aster, a young boy from a family of magical people. The men are all shapeshifters while the women are all witches. Aster has never felt attached to being a shapeshifter and he'd much rather learn witchery. When his boy cousins start disappearing, Aster might be the only one capable of saving them.

I really enjoyed Aster's character. He must be protected at all costs. His story really shows gender exclusive activities are really harmful. I'm so glad he found a friend in Charlie! She was the best and always so supportive of him.

I enjoyed this world and I'm really curious to see how things will change for Aster in the sequel. I hope we also get to see more of the world. I wonder if there will be any trans or nonbinary characters. That was really the only thing this was missing.

Rep: biracial male MC, Black female side character with a broken leg and two dads, side characters with two moms, multiple BIPOC characters (specific ethnicity was not indicated), fat white female side characters.

CWs: Bullying, body horror, sexism. Moderate: violence, blood, animal death, injury/injury detail. Minor: gaslighting.

Content Warnings

itsmeyseniab's review against another edition

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lighthearted fast-paced

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

2.0

Alright, clearly I'm in the minority here and nobody is more shocked than I am at how much I did not enjoy this! What in the WORLD.

I did not connect with this story on any level. I thought the dialogue/storytelling was lackluster... I understood the message that Molly Ostertag was trying to convey in terms of combatting toxic masculinity and gender stereotypes, but the actual story itself made 0 sense to me. Nothing was fleshed out in my opinion. It almost felt like an argument many kids have with their parent/authority figure that ends in the adult saying "because I said so." I don't like being told things in a story (ESPECIALLY graphic novels) - show me! I will say that I found the art style to be kind of creepy (specifically in terms of the characters' eyes). I loved the color palette though!

That being said, I did love the message of being true to yourself, not conforming to what society expects of you in terms of gender, sexuality and all other stereotypes. I thought the exploration of these topics were great, especially for young readers!

Sadly I don't plan on continuing on with this series :(

Content Warnings

bodiesinbooks's review against another edition

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adventurous lighthearted fast-paced

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

4.0

Content Warnings

candycain's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging mysterious 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

4.25

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