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moonpotato34'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? No
4.5
Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, and Racism
thepurplepixel's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Graphic: Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Grief, Murder, and Gaslighting
Moderate: Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Medical content, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Racism and Sexual content
matcha_cat's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
Graphic: Grief
Moderate: Child death, Death, Blood, Kidnapping, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexual content, Medical content, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol
skylarkblue1'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? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.25
"Once Upon a River is a glorious tapestry of a book that combines folklore and science, magic and myth." is an insane claim lmao. There's not an ounce of magic in the book and the only folklores and myths are basically just stories told.
While I loved the premise, the actual story fell quite short on expectations. Not only was it not fantasy as described above, the "mystery" had a very predictable path and the ending was just a bit shallow. Family trees, who did what, etc was all "hinted" at earlier in the story with the subtly of a brick through a window. Coincidences don't really exist, so if something lines up that's likely the answer.
The book feels like it's written like a river, a lot of little threads at the start slowly weaving into the larger plot and by the end it's all entwined. I thought it'd be akin to a river with it's pacing as well, start slow and gain speed, but while it did pick up a bit it did stay quite slow throughout.
There are.... a *lot* of characters. I really quite struggled to work out who was who, and especially who's POV each chapter was on (since theres a narrator throughout it gives less of a distinct voice to each chapter) and once people started having more than 1 name it just got even more confusing. Trying to work out who's child was who (there's far too many missing girls the same age in such a small area what the fuck lmao) and all that stuff was far too confusing.
I think, like Babel, I would have liked this a lot better from another author. Or maybe if it wasn't marketed as fantasy/magical realism.
Graphic: Child death, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Kidnapping, and Grief
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Rape, and Stalking
No miscarrages, but a lot of mentions and descriptions of trauma around birth, death of mothers during birth and similar. Additionally there's a lot of racist and ableist slurs used throughout - and even a whole page explaining one particular slur used against people who have Down's Syndrome.gcrkl's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Graphic: Child abuse, Violence, Kidnapping, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Ableism, Bullying, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Gaslighting, and Classism
Minor: Animal death, Homophobia, Pedophilia, Sexual content, Slavery, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol
kato_dg's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Violence, Kidnapping, Grief, Suicide attempt, Murder, Pregnancy, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Animal death, Blood, and Medical content
kcmg710's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
I’ve fallen in love with the characters and can’t imagine continuing life without them. I’m actually grieving finishing this book.
The writing was so beautiful. I loved every minute of this book.
I’ll admit it was abit tricky keeping up with everybody’s different stories because of the multiple POVS? (I think that’s the right term) however these are my favourite type of books, I love piecing it all together. It kinda reminds me of the starless sea (which I also loved) but if you found yourself not enjoying them maybe this book isn’t for you.
Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Toxic relationship, Kidnapping, Murder, and Pregnancy
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Incest, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual content
Minor: Racism and Sexism
emmagreenwood's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Graphic: Ableism, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Racism, Kidnapping, Grief, Alcohol, and Classism
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Suicide, Toxic relationship, and Gaslighting
cookiecat73's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Graphic: Ableism, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Murder, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Chronic illness, Domestic abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Death of parent, Gaslighting, and Sexual harassment
superiour_medium'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
3.75
On a similar note, one of the ancillary antagonists Mrs. Eavis (spelling?) is stated repeatedly to have a very pronounced nose. Eavis is a cruel
Overall a fine venture into magical realism, but with some truncation & slightly greater cultural sensitivity could be a great story.
Graphic: Child death
Moderate: Ableism and Racism