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ttorisaurus's review against another edition
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.75
Moderate: Death, Violence, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Confinement, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, and Classism
alisonvh's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Confinement, Death, Physical abuse, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Abandonment, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Torture
lovosii'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? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Confinement, Death, Gore, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Animal death, Gun violence, Rape, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Classism
squids_can_read's review against another edition
- 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? It's complicated
3.0
I really enjoyed the first half and last 100 pages of this book. The rest of the book is really taken up by a trope that I really don't like. Yaga seems to not care about anything anymore except for her family while the whole book she had been fighting for Russia. The end of the book made it better but that section really just didn't work for me. The characters were interesting, the magic system was interesting, and the mythology was interesting. I just didn't totally vibe with it. Overall, it was just okay.
Graphic: Pregnancy
eli_like_a_lie'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? No
3.0
Graphic: Animal death and Death of parent
Moderate: Pregnancy, Abandonment, and War
alba_marie's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
I think I would have been more receptive to this book if Russia wasn't currently being a prick and instigating a war in Ukraine, or if the story of the Baba Yaga was set in a different Eastern European location.
It was the tale of the Baba Yaga that drew me to this book. I used to live in Poland and heard tales of the infamous witch, the Baba Yaga. I love retellings and fairytales, and enjoy a good feminist retelling. I was intrigued to read a feminist version of this Slavic witch. However, I'm not sure Gilmore's Baba Yaga really lived up to my expectations...
I expected a good old fashioned redemption story. I am a sucker for both redemption stories and a villain's backstory. In fact, these are among my favourite tropes. Often the bad buy with the secret heart of gold is my favourite character, and tales that surround them fascinate me (think Lucifer, Crowley from Supernatural, Damon, Regina the Evil Queen...). So this one seemed very much my thing.
But then I read it, and Baba Yaga was just... Yaga. There was no redemption, at least not for her. There was no backstory. There was no "and this is all the bad shit that happened to me to get me here" or "this is who I really am but I'm misunderstood because of XYZ." Yaga was just nice. Nothing like the stories that cast her as a dark witch.
God after god was thrown at the reader, as were human characters, real and imagined. Every character had at least two or even three names. So many folkloric places were also included. So complex was it that she had to include a glossary – too bad it was at the end and I didn't realise it was there until I was halfway through. It was hard to keep track of it all. It was like Gilmore didn't know if she wanted to be Neil Gaiman in American Gods or Madeline Miller's Greek retellings, and in trying to do both, she succeeded in neither one.
The slightly whimsical purple prose did not allow me to be immersed as much as I'd want, and felt like the story was constantly keeping me at a distance. Plus, the Russian setting didn't add any favours. Over all, I really wanted to like it, and while I didn't dislike it, it wasn't the Baba Yaga story I was looking for.
Graphic: Death and War
Moderate: Blood, Murder, and Pregnancy
cookiecat73's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Graphic: Confinement, Death, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Religious bigotry, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Misogyny, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Acephobia/Arophobia, Abandonment, and Classism
tamara_joy's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Genocide and War
Moderate: Death, Blood, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Mental illness, Miscarriage, Violence, Grief, Religious bigotry, Murder, and Pregnancy
pvbobrien's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
Graphic: Death, Gore, and Violence
Moderate: Blood, Grief, Religious bigotry, Murder, Pregnancy, and War
Minor: Mental illness, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual violence, Torture, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail
rhi_'s review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Moderate: Death, Violence, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Animal death, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Torture, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Fire/Fire injury