Reviews tagging 'Grief'

The Once and Future Witches by Alix E. Harrow

63 reviews

cldurand's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Grief, Abortion, and Abandonment

Minor: Torture

bpol's review against another edition

adventurous dark inspiring reflective fast-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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Torture, Violence, Police brutality, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Physical abuse, Racism, Forced institutionalization, Grief, and Murder

Minor: Homophobia, Sexual assault, and Transphobia

spineofthesaurus's review against another edition

adventurous emotional inspiring 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Self harm, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Stalking, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Outing, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Ableism, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Genocide, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infidelity, Racism, Sexual assault, Excrement, Police brutality, Medical content, Kidnapping, Abortion, Death of parent, Murder, Lesbophobia, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Deadnaming, Slavery, Xenophobia, Alcohol, Colonisation, and Classism

l_e_lavalle's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicide, Blood, Medical content, Abortion, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Body horror, Grief, Death of parent, Outing, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Child death and Kidnapping

haunted_jackalope's review against another edition

adventurous emotional tense slow-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

4.5

Slow books aren't my favorite, but the story was worth it

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Sexism, Violence, Blood, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Racism, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Torture, Abortion, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

therainbowshelf's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense slow-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

5.0

I wasn't sure if this would be a good book for me. I anticipated it might be a little dull or a little too intense, but I wound up loving it! I especially liked the adaptation of fairy tales and other well-known works as the hidden words of spells. This was just the book I needed this month.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Confinement, Death, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Police brutality, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, and Classism

Moderate: Miscarriage, Transphobia, and Abortion

Government sanctioned removal of children from target group of people

schnaucl's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring sad 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? No

5.0

I really like this book.  It's very smartly written with interesting characters and clever tweaks to history and historical figures.  

It's a book that's full of women's rage and the subtle ways they have to hide their power to pass things down through the generations and the never ending cycle of women gaining a measure of power only to have it nearly all taken from them.  But still they endure. 

I appreciated the effort to bring in words and ways from other cultures, both contemporary and historical, and the focus on the fact that progress will eventually cause a reactionary backlash which will fall hardest on the most marginalized.

While I really liked the book, the ending didn't quite work for me.  Well, it works on a thematic level, just not a practical level. I can't think of any reason Gideon would choose to take over the body of a female child.   He is keenly aware of how easy to is to accuse a woman of witchcraft and see her burn, whether she's a witch or not.  I can't see himself putting himself in that position, even temporarily.   Surely he's found some method over the long years of gaining procuring what he needs from the next man (or potential men) whose body he intends to occupy.   I think Eve had to be in some kind of proximity and I'd think it a big gamble that once she was rescued she'd be brought to her mother's burning rather than safely whisked out of the city.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Violence, Police brutality, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, and Abandonment

Minor: Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Torture, Blood, Grief, Abortion, and Injury/Injury detail

sneakysnam's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Police brutality, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Child abuse, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Torture, Transphobia, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Kidnapping, Grief, Abortion, Lesbophobia, and Colonisation

Minor: Animal cruelty, Confinement, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, and Sexual harassment

immovabletype's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional inspiring mysterious sad tense fast-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Hate crime, Racism, Sexism, Torture, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Police brutality, Abortion, and Murder

Minor: Transphobia

lilithreads's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Racism, Abortion, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal death, Confinement, Torture, Violence, and Blood

Minor: Sexism, Transphobia, Kidnapping, Grief, and Sexual harassment