Reviews tagging 'Cancer'

The Witches of Moonshyne Manor by Bianca Marais

5 reviews

art_books_chemistry's review against another edition

funny inspiring mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

4.25

There are a lot of witchy books out there and I've read a fair share myself (some of them over and over and over again (*cough-cough*Harry Potter), but Marais goes in a wonderfully different direction with The Witches of Moonshyne Manor. For one thing, I don't think I've ever read a supernatural/paranormal book with 6 80+ year old women as the main characters! And it was honestly hilarious reading about that carefree dgaf of of the old. 

I do think that after the initial craziness at the beginning of the book, there was a bit of a lull that dragged on until we started getting more of the flashback story. I really enjoyed how Marais wrote her twists where she didn't hide anything from you, except by not including extra details. From the very beginning Ursula is constantly saying how everything was her fault but the more details we're given, you think it's survivors guilt...until you don't anymore. She was also very clear on how diverse her characters were without it being in your face obvious every other page. I also really liked how everyone had powers but in different ways, though they could all do some of the same spells, there were certain things that only each individual could do which made them stronger as a group. 

There were lots of fun, and intense life lessons interspersed with this rollercoaster of a story, which was awesome since it alluded to the long lives the women lived and all the things our elders have to teach us. But it also highlighted the fact that we may know a lot of things when we get old, we don't know everything and we should still listen to those younger than us to continue to learn. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Dementia, and Grief

Moderate: Cancer, Sexism, Transphobia, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, and Alcohol

Minor: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Gun violence, Infertility, Racism, Sexual content, Blood, and Religious bigotry

redheadorganist's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful 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? It's complicated

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Misogyny, Sexual content, Transphobia, Police brutality, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, and Abandonment

Moderate: Torture

Minor: Cancer

silverhill's review against another edition

emotional funny mysterious 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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Content Warnings

Moderate: Confinement, Death, Dementia, Grief, and Dysphoria

Minor: Animal cruelty, Cancer, Mental illness, Misogyny, Racism, Sexual content, Transphobia, Police brutality, and Alcohol

infinite_harness9030's review against another edition

emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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: Death, Misogyny, Police brutality, Dementia, Grief, and Death of parent

Moderate: Cursing, Gun violence, and Dysphoria

Minor: Animal cruelty, Body shaming, Bullying, Cancer, Infertility, Infidelity, Racism, Sexual content, Religious bigotry, and Alcohol

bookcasey's review against another edition

adventurous lighthearted mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

3.0

There are interesting elements to this book, but it’s very slow to get started, and having so many main characters means that they ended up pretty flat. The treatment of gender-fluidity isn’t great — the author’s note at the end about how “people like [character] need our allyship” probably gives you a good idea how. It’s well-intentioned and the premise is fun, but the characters largely come off as caricatures. 

Note: The interjected “recipes” detract from the book and are especially annoying on audiobook. I’d suggest you skip them, and in case anyone needs to hear it: do not use essential oils to make lube!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia

Moderate: Death, Misogyny, Police brutality, and Death of parent

Minor: Cancer, Confinement, Deadnaming, Sexual content, and Outing