Reviews

The Witch and the Tsar by Olesya Salnikova Gilmore

midnight_sass's review against another edition

Wanted more to it. Didn’t enjoy the clipped writing style or sudden scene changes. Narrator wasn’t for me. Wanted MC to be more bada**

mychemicalseal's review against another edition

4.5

I got lost in the rich storytelling and I absolutely loved this book. the ending did make me cry but I loved the mix of history and mythology and retelling into a new and exciting story.

mikeebeth's review against another edition

emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

samfang's review against another edition

This isn’t really a story about the Baba Yaga of legend, and having made it about a quarter of the way through, there’s just not any compelling action or likeable characters to make me want to continue. 

annineamundsen's review against another edition

3.0

3.5 ⭐
I love Baba Yaga (which the audiobook taught me I was pronouncing the wrong way before) and I love feminist retellings. This was just occasionally boring and jumping from plot to plot. But it was nice to get some russian/slavic mythology and folktales.

rhibeetle17's review against another edition

hopeful informative mysterious sad slow-paced

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

1.75

Too long for me, was interesting to learn about history and the old Slavic pantheon but couldn’t really engage with the characters and the prose.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Murder, and War

Minor: Sexual violence

powellki's review against another edition

While interesting, the book assumes the reader already has knowledge of Russian history. Maybe I’ll comeback one day. 

chayes77's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious medium-paced

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

3.5

keepreadingkatherine's review against another edition

emotional hopeful slow-paced

• Strong character development? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

mermnelson's review

adventurous emotional medium-paced

5.0