Reviews tagging 'Panic attacks/disorders'

L'Hiver de la sorcière by Katherine Arden

6 reviews

mvergari_13's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, Violence, Grief, and War

sn8man's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful inspiring sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual content, Violence, Grief, Religious bigotry, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Torture, Kidnapping, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Child death, Miscarriage, Toxic relationship, Vomit, and Pregnancy

basil_touche's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

This book certainly fulfilled the expectations I had from the previous book. Arden's writing style flows best in this final installment of the Winternight Triology, where chyerti and man alike join forces to protect their home. Chyerti appear much more in the plot here than last time, with the introduction of Midnight being a fascinating way of introducing more of Russian folklore (I was particually fond of Deb Grib, love that he was insistent that he was Vasya's first ally) and a new means of transportation for the protagonist, though not an easy one at first.

I have to admit though, I didn't really care for the romance between Vasya and Morozko. Their relationship felt underdeveloped for most of the novel but as characters I felt that they were still great. It just felt to me that there wasn't much build up to it. 

I was surprised when they defeated Medved and the narrative still went on, however I quite like that Vasya freed Medved to assist her in fighting the war. He casually tries to make her lose her mind but they do have a somewhat begruding comradeship by the end (Medved's sly comments at everybody that made me smirk a fair bit).

There were some things that I felt were too quickly explained and others where I wished there were more details about but overall this is a fine conclusion to the triology.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Religious bigotry, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and War

Moderate: Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Xenophobia, and Pregnancy

elisabeth_g_mark's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional inspiring mysterious sad fast-paced

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

5.0

This became my favourite trilogy of the last year. Every character is alive, has depth, evolves and has a role to play. The setting is vibrant, you feel the cold, the darkness and the summer heat. 
The love story is a side plot, because for our MC her own growth, searching for her own way, is more important than a man. But it's still important to her, home and in the end, she needs it all - her love, her friends and allies, her enemies and faith in herself. 
I'll miss this world and will reread it next winter. Katherine Arden became quickly a favourite author with this 5-star trilogy. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Violence, Grief, Religious bigotry, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Suicide and Torture

Minor: Vomit, Toxic friendship, and Sexual harassment

avisreadsandreads's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Death, Physical abuse, Violence, Blood, Religious bigotry, Fire/Fire injury, and War

Moderate: Gore, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, and Torture

Minor: Vomit

ehmannky's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.5

A wonderful end to the series. Winter of the Witch delves straight into the action, without any of the slow build up to Vasya's main plot that the previous two books did. And it starts out intense, with Vasya nearly killed by a mob spurred on by the corrupted priest Konstantin. I did kind of miss the meticulous world-building, but this is probably the most focused of the series in terms of plot. But I forgive much because I loved the relationship between Morozko and Vasya getting the room to really grow. Also, Vasya's PTSD from the beginning of the book was rendered so vividly and painfully, and I liked seeing a protagonist struggle with doing what she had to do with that disorder. It just makes her feel all the more real and brave. 

The only thing I didn't particularly love was that it felt that there were essentially two parts that felt like an ending-one part in the middle and the other was the actual end of the book. I don't want to spoil it, but I felt that after one of the major forces of antagonism in Vasya's life are defeated, there was a 50 ish page gap where the book felt like it sort of stalled. Overall, I didn't hate it and I get thematically why this split exists and the meaning behind showing that "defeating evil" is not enough for a victory in a complex world, but it felt odd in a book that's so action-focused to have this weird lull roughly 2/3rds of the way through.

Overall, extremely satisfied with this series and its ending, and good god

was it satisfying to see Konstantin die. Still not sure how I feel about Solovey being resurrected in the last 10 pages of the book, but it is a very fairy tale twist so I did appreciate it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Death, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, Violence, Blood, and Grief

Moderate: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, and Kidnapping

Minor: Vomit