Reviews tagging 'Adult/minor relationship'

The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden

44 reviews

olivia_piepmeier's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious 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? No

4.0

This was a very readable, cozy winter fairy tale that left me wanting more. I sometimes felt confused with the names, and some of the action sequences were hard to “see,” but these elements can be overlooked. I realize the age of marriage thing is trying to be historically accurate but I’m tired of it. Vasilia is an endearing lead and certainly carries the story well. More please! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Blood, and Death of parent

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship and Rape

mnerd63's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Rape, Violence, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Death, and Religious bigotry

jelliestars's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death and Death

Moderate: Death of parent

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Infidelity, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Xenophobia, Medical content, Pregnancy, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, and War

misszoe's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Misogyny, Blood, and Death of parent

Moderate: Sexism, Sexual assault, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

mmefish's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious slow-paced

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

5.0

It's hard to believe that Katherine Arden is not Russian (or just Slavic) because of how authentic this book feels — it is clear she's very knowledgeable on the subject. Well integrated myths and Russian terms brought back memories from my childhood, while masterfully crafted 14th century Rus' landscapes made me want to read more Slavic-inspired fantasy. 
And to think that it's a debut novel!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Blood, Religious bigotry, and Death of parent

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Child death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, and Death of parent

Minor: Child abuse, Pedophilia, Rape, and Fire/Fire injury

kappafrog's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Self harm, Sexism, Violence, Blood, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Child death, Emotional abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, Forced institutionalization, Kidnapping, and War

Minor: Animal cruelty, Sexual content, Vomit, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol

emfass's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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

4.0

 Comfort reread of one of my favorites series.

Kathleen Gati does a beautiful job as narrator, capturing the characters, the dialects, the world of medieval Rus. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Sexism, Blood, Religious bigotry, and Death of parent

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Self harm, Sexual assault, Violence, Grief, Cannibalism, Pregnancy, and Gaslighting

Minor: Rape, Forced institutionalization, and Fire/Fire injury

fatherprozac's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

I came into this book expecting a first person narrative focused on the female lead (similar to Uprooted) so it took me some time to get adjusted to the ever shifting perspectives. There were many times when I found myself waiting for the story to actually get going, which made chapters like Pyotr and his sons' visit to Moscow especially sluggish for me. Overall though, once the story got going I was all in. I loved Vasya's relationships with the different creatures, the characterization of Morozko, and the sheer evil/selfishness of the antagonists . I am definitely going to continue the series.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

maeverose's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious slow-paced

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

5.0

A note: If you dnfed just because it’s slow, pls don’t give up! The second and third books are much more fast paced and plot driven. It makes me sad that so many people give up on this series because the first book is slow. It gets better!! But if you disliked it for other reasons then you can ignore this I guess.

Themes/Tropes:

-russian folklore

-snow/winter

-nature/house spirits

-clashing of christianity and paganism

-small medieval town in the middle nowhere
-realistic, morally grey characters 

-witches

-talking horses with individual personalities (not in a cheesy way I promise)

-vampires (but they're very zombie-like)

-god of death

This book is atmospheric, fairy tale-esque and dark. I loved how the Russian folklore was incorporated into the story, and reading the author's notes in the back of each book, I felt that both the folklore and history were very well researched, which I always appreciate in historical fiction/fantasy. I loved the house and nature spirits, they reminded me of studio ghibli characters a little bit, maybe that's just me. If you like assassin's creed valhalla, this series reminded me a little of that. Especially the later books. The story is different, and it's probably not quite as gruesome but the time period, setting and some of the themes are similar. I loved how believable the characters felt. I really value realistic characters in stories, and this book definitely has that. They're also all morally grey.

I will say that despite this being written as an adult novel and having some darker themes, it does read a little YA to me. Thankfully it doesn’t have the super annoying irrational/stupid characters thing that I hate in YA, but it does still have a little bit if a YA fantasy feel to it. Maybe just because the heroine is 17? (and even younger in the first book)

As I said at the top, this first book is a bit slow. It’s really just introducing you to the characters and setting things up for the next books. But I loved the atmosphere and characters so I didn’t mind it at all.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Gore, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Rape, Religious bigotry, and Death of parent

Minor: Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, and Death

The gore is only really in one scene, but it is somewhat graphic in that scene. It’s brief enough to kinda skim it. Also, this book does have the ‘17 year old girl ends up with an immortal man’ trope, if that’s something that bothers you.

weminence's review against another edition

adventurous emotional slow-paced

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

3.5

I liked this story all the way through for various reasons but my problems with the story are still present and so I couldn't give this a five star rating. I loved the folklore in this book, the world for all its faults felt expansive and magical and the evolution of Vasya's village felt real and heartbreaking. I especially loved the ending when the plot is happening. The scenes in the cottage where my favorites. I do want to read the next book, but I do have issues with the story. 

Please if you are going to read this book check trigger warnings. 

While, I loved the world, I didn't like the accuracy to the period. Not the Christianity coming in and ruining everything for everyone; that felt par for the course, but Pyotr, Dunya, or Anna hitting Vasya I hated. I understand again that that is time accurate but as a fiction writer you get to pick which accuracies to portray. I also understand that Pyotr and Dunya were only trying to protect Vasya and make her act "right" but even if their motives are pure, it ultimately made the story hard to enjoy. Also, treating Vasya like an adult when she is fourteen is gross. Again, accurate for the time, gross for a book released in 2017. Yes, that one dude who briefly appears in the story is treated like a creep but not really because he's twenty-four and she's fourteen. Konstantin should've died at the end too for all his shitty behavior towards Vasya, but that is purely a personal opinion. Morozko, who I think is supposed to be Vasya's main love interest, is the creepiest in this regard but for some reason he is the nicest person to Vasya? Yeah, he gives her frost burn at one point, he still is some how the nicest person to this girl. (Besides her siblings to be fair) The scenes in the cabin were my favorite but they set up a relationship that just gets weirder the more you think of it. I just wish there was more care put into these aspects of the book. Especially considering more than once Morozko refers to Vasya as 'child'.

I am not saying this as someone who hates this book, in fact I bought into the propaganda and Morozko is my favorite but that's not to say that he should be, he's just some how the nicest adult in Vasya's life despite being the one with the most concerning age gape between them.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Death, Rape, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Religious bigotry, and Death of parent