Reviews with content warning for Animal death - The Beast Player

Reviews tagging 'Animal death'

The Beast Player by Nahoko Uehashi

3 reviews

talasterism's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective slow-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

oh yes i would like to add something. i am so happy this cover was so pretty that it made me not only add the book on scribd but also actually start it and fall in love with it. first of all. the cover is just the best cover out there. im so insanely obsessed with the colours and the lines and ugh ugh ugh.

second, the book itself. first obviously the biggest plus is the kid and their magic beast bond trope which i MISSED so much in my life. however, it is not even a magic bond that binds them, but hard work, love, & hours of gentle care that were put into the bond that make it ever so magical in a different way. she is the beast player BECAUSE SHE PLAYS MUSIC FOR THEM trying to imitate their language!!! lon lon lon..... i found the worldbuilding sexy in a way that is simple and understandable on a surface level yet has a lot of nuance. the politics were great, and time after time after time i was baffled to see the themes in the childrens book/very pos. the disgust she has for people who take animals and use them as tools in the war and be kept in captivity?? gahhhh. #justveganthings /hj. NO BUT HOW SHE HATES THE SILTEN WHISTLE. how if she COULD she would desotry it, at the very core. how strongly she feels about it, how right she is.
her relatiosnhips with other people & the side characters themselves always felt so real. but elin and leelan... the real gems of the book. the whole spiel of what every creature knows is not love but fear... wait lemme see if i can find it

Spoiler
"Where would her love for Leelan, the tentative, step-by-step efforts she had made to get closer to her, lead her now? Had it all been for nothing, just self- gratification? Perhaps. Esalu had probably been right—the one emotion all living creatures shared was not love, but fear. This, most likely, was the hard truth. Men, beasts, all sentient beings that inhabited the planet, were incapable of trust. Somewhere in their hearts, they would always harbor the fear of others. To ensure their own survival, they would continue to devise ways to dominate and control. Only by binding each other with force, with laws, with religious precepts… and with the Silent Whistle, do we finally feel safe… No matter how hard I study the nature of living things, in the end, that’s all I will find—just this empty futility." (but ALSO how when Esalu told her shes naive to not think that and she might as well write her will and ELIN GAVE HER HER WILL THE NEXT DAY?? fucking icon)

Spoiler
"Royal Beasts were beasts. They did not think like people. With a word, she had made Leelan fly and kill the Toda, and Leelan had done exactly as she had been told. Like a sword that fit perfectly in the hand, once tamed, Royal Beasts could become convenient tools to be wielded as their master pleased. And by using Leelan as a weapon, Elin had just demonstrated that fact to the world."

this made me tear up so much:

Spoiler
"Watching the sky darken to twilight, Elin thought of the summer days she had spent with Joeun. And it gradually dawned on her how incredibly lucky she had been. If no one had found her on the bank where the Toda had left her, she would probably have died. If the person who had found her had been cruel, who knew what kind of misery she might now be living in? She saw Joeun’s smiling face in her mind’s eye. Yes, she had been happy. Those days with him were like priceless gems. When I grow up, I’ll go back to the meadow on Kasho Mountain where Joeun had his summer hut. She would lie in that meadow full of flowers he had loved so much, look up at the sky, and speak with him. She would tell him how grateful she was for all he had done, how much she had longed to see him, how she had spent her days and how she had grown up… She would live in such a way that Joeun would declare, “Well done, Elin, well done. You’ve lived your life well.” "

the book is such a gem such a masterpiece and i have underlined maybe a third of it. i will share one last thing, the poetry of the beast player on the last pages that made me weep and love it more.

Spoiler
"A hot lump rose from the pit of her chest into her throat. Why?… Why would she do this for me? When I’m not her child, or her parent, or her mate. When I used the Silent Whistle like a whip to make her obey me. Why? Her feelings for Leelan, which she had locked away deep inside for fear of that sweet delusion, burst forth and shook something awake inside her. Leelan, I just wanted to know. That’s all I ever wanted… I stood on the edge of that abyss between man and beast and played my harp for you, checking each note, one by one, to see if it would reach you. Because I wanted to know. I wanted to know what you thought. And you – you spoke to me, one note at a time. We explored each other’s incomprehensible minds from across that yawning chasm. Sometimes we hit the wrong notes like clashing echoes. Yet sometimes, just by chance, the notes we played for one another made unexpected music, like this. Her eyes filled with tears. As long as the life you have given me continues, let me stand on the shore of that great abyss and play. Let me pluck my harp, note by note, and speak to the creatures of earth and sky, so that I may hear music as yet unknown. "

third in recouting but by far not in importance was the dear & fond memory of taking this book to see ennie, this book that had just arrived on the day i was leaving to see them, on the train, and on the couch in the morning with my cute lil coloured pencils, and on the twenty something minute ride of me retelling it in all the jumbled detail and out of order mess & how they listened & they cared in their cute lil white shepe coat with their cute lil smile and questions and just perfectly right comments. thats just the vibes my lads.

Content Warnings

szuum's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.75

Content Warnings

cameronmh's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

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

5.0

This book starts out confusing and slow, but it is absolutely so worth it to hang in there. It’s a very detailed world and I felt a little overwhelmed by how much was being thrown at me, but anything that is actually important will come up again, so don’t worry about memorizing all of the different people and logistics until a few chapters in!

Content Warnings

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