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milooo'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? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
this was almost 4 stars, just because there are some things that i didn’t love but overall, this is a great book. i absolutely loved the vibes (im a sucker for elemental themed magic). it really reminded me of The Hazel Wood (which i love love love). i went into this read completely blind, so it took me a while to get a hold of what the themes and commentary was about, but once i was up to speed, i really enjoyed this exploration or morality and how different standards are applied to women. the diversity of experiences and circumstances was also a really important angle to explore for this theme, and i think that the book handles this really well. i would recommend checking the content warnings for this because i was caught off guard several times. however, let it be know that i think these difficult topics were addressed with sufficient grace and were not at all gratuitous or trivialised. all the romances were tinged with a weird sense of being ‘not quite right’, which makes sense eventually, but still. the overarching theme of sisterhood would be so well done, if only they weren’t constantly talking about their father or their boyfriends. this is actually something that bothered me a bit during the whole book, that there are just. so. many. men. i know it makes sense plot-wise, but i loved the moments where we got glimpses of each sister’s relationship with each of their mother and how each of them dealt with the consequences of being a woman in Wilhelm Grimm’s world. i wish we got a bigger focus on that. the magic system was nice and vague (just how i like them), but the overall worldbuilding wasn’t developed in a satisfactory way. anyway, to summarise: really good read, just didn’t quite hit like i wanted it to
Content Warnings
Graphic: Self harm and Sexual assault
Moderate: Racism and Abandonment
Minor: Rape
smolfri's review against another edition
adventurous
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.25
Content Warnings
Moderate: Self harm
sebnia_05's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Self harm, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Dementia, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Gore, Incest, Torture, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, and War
Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Racism
hitheremynameislisa's review
adventurous
dark
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? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Self harm
Moderate: Child abuse
cardans_wine's review against another edition
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
medium-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
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Dementia, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts and Alcohol
utopiastateofmind's review against another edition
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.5
(Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher. This has not impacted my review which is unbiased and honest.)
TW: mentions of past rape and pedophilia
Let me first start this by saying, if you liked the cosmic and whimsical vibes of Good Omens, but want to combine it with sisters - then you have to read The Sisters Grimm. With a framework of being children of Wilhelm Grimm, these sisters not only have to figure out their own origins, but each other. This multiple POV story delivers an atmosphere of whimsical magic. Magic that infuses the fabric of our reality, but sometimes we can't put a finger on what or how. The Sisters Grimm walks this line of being founded in magic and, at times, being quite subtle about it.
There's plenty of mystery on all levels - personal, familial, and world building. It's incredibly fast paced not only being multiple POV, but also chronicling their lives and days until their 18th birthday. So it's easy to get lost in the characters, to want to keep reading. My favorite part of The Sisters Grimm is, unsurprisingly, the characters. While there were some moments that dragged a bit, largely it's a book about them discovering their potential and family.
TW: mentions of past rape and pedophilia
Let me first start this by saying, if you liked the cosmic and whimsical vibes of Good Omens, but want to combine it with sisters - then you have to read The Sisters Grimm. With a framework of being children of Wilhelm Grimm, these sisters not only have to figure out their own origins, but each other. This multiple POV story delivers an atmosphere of whimsical magic. Magic that infuses the fabric of our reality, but sometimes we can't put a finger on what or how. The Sisters Grimm walks this line of being founded in magic and, at times, being quite subtle about it.
There's plenty of mystery on all levels - personal, familial, and world building. It's incredibly fast paced not only being multiple POV, but also chronicling their lives and days until their 18th birthday. So it's easy to get lost in the characters, to want to keep reading. My favorite part of The Sisters Grimm is, unsurprisingly, the characters. While there were some moments that dragged a bit, largely it's a book about them discovering their potential and family.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Self harm
Moderate: Sexual assault
amdbarger's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Self harm, Sexual assault, Death of parent, and Murder
Moderate: Fatphobia, Incest, and Sexual content
beldaran1224's review against another edition
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
There were so many things wrong with this book. Let's start with something objective: there are five main POVs in the story, and they swap approximately every half page to page and a half. They are all labelled...but the labels were sometimes wrong, or the POV of the passage would literally shift from one sentence to the next. It was very frustrating.
The plot is very slow, and I kept hoping for a good payoff, but frankly felt it wasn't worth it.
The diversity was shallow, especially in regards to Bea. With Liyana, there is at least one running theme that felt more than a little racist, especially because it was rooted in the family's immigration story. The book explicitly positions itself as feminist, but has nothing of interest to say about feminism, womanhood, or any related topic. Several of our characters experience economic hardship, but any opportunity to say interesting things about them is left by the wayside.
Folklore is used throughout, but in a kind of ham-fisted way. Three of the four girls clearly fit folklore archetypes or are meant to. One is left out for no apparent reason. The folklore didn't particularly enhance the story.
There are quite a number of horrible things that happen to these girls, and it really seems to just be checking tragedies off a list without delving into them or exploring them or how they shape the character of the girls. Check the trigger warnings, because there are a LOT of triggering things. It's meant to be a character driven book, but between the many POVs and the hopping around in time, its hard to get invested in any of them. Both the past sections and the present frequently lacked anything of real interest.
What does this book do well? The ending was interesting. Not amazing, but solid. It doesn't really deliver on any of the elements the blurb sells. All in all, if you're looking for a book that integrates folklore, has themes of anger, feminism, sisterhood, etc., read the Once & Future Witches instead.
The plot is very slow, and I kept hoping for a good payoff, but frankly felt it wasn't worth it.
The diversity was shallow, especially in regards to Bea. With Liyana, there is at least one running theme that felt more than a little racist, especially because it was rooted in the family's immigration story. The book explicitly positions itself as feminist, but has nothing of interest to say about feminism, womanhood, or any related topic. Several of our characters experience economic hardship, but any opportunity to say interesting things about them is left by the wayside.
Folklore is used throughout, but in a kind of ham-fisted way. Three of the four girls clearly fit folklore archetypes or are meant to. One is left out for no apparent reason. The folklore didn't particularly enhance the story.
There are quite a number of horrible things that happen to these girls, and it really seems to just be checking tragedies off a list without delving into them or exploring them or how they shape the character of the girls. Check the trigger warnings, because there are a LOT of triggering things. It's meant to be a character driven book, but between the many POVs and the hopping around in time, its hard to get invested in any of them. Both the past sections and the present frequently lacked anything of real interest.
What does this book do well? The ending was interesting. Not amazing, but solid. It doesn't really deliver on any of the elements the blurb sells. All in all, if you're looking for a book that integrates folklore, has themes of anger, feminism, sisterhood, etc., read the Once & Future Witches instead.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child abuse, Pedophilia, Racism, Self harm, Sexual violence, Forced institutionalization, Dementia, and Suicide attempt
abookishwasp's review against another edition
3.25
I had very high expectations for this book and for about the first 15o pages or so, it met them, but after that it went downhill. I expected this to be a 4 or 5 star read and it would've been if the book were maybe 200 pages shorter. After the first 150 pages it started dragging on and it was super slow paced till the very end and that made me not wanna read it anymore but i pushed through because i was curious and wanted to know how it would end. As for the end (without spoiling anything) i expected something amazing and what i got was pretty anticlimactic. But maybe that's just me, maybe i just lost all excitement and had none left for the end of the story. I also wanna add that i loved the writing a lot, it was very lyrical (which is something i enjoy) but i didn't like the sudden switching of POVs. I felt like that took me out of the story and it was hard to get attached to any of the characters since i would spend no more than a couple of pages with each one. This also made it hard in the beginning for me to remember who was who, since the story kept jumping from one girl to the other. Even though this review sounds a bit negative, i can't say that i didn't enjoy the story, it's very unique and like nothing i've read before and i really loved the beginning so that's why i'm giving it 3.5 stars. If you think you will like this and if you don't mind slow paced books and lyrical/descriptive writing, the definitely give this a go.
*An e-copy of this book was kindly provided to me by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*
*An e-copy of this book was kindly provided to me by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Domestic abuse, Self harm, and Sexual assault
cutlet's review against another edition
mysterious
slow-paced
- 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? Yes
3.5
I was intrigued by the premise, but I felt like I had to push through a lot of stuff. When it ended, it felt like the 'why' was never explained, a few random additions were made but never elaborated on, and there was no real resolution, the story just sort of dropped off and stopped.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent and Abandonment
Moderate: Child abuse, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, and Sexual harassment
Minor: Incest