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summerpy's review against another edition
challenging
dark
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
4.0
This historical mystery crime procedural novel begins when city watchman Mikal Carnell finds a dead body in the river - arms, legs, eyes all missing.
Setting: We are thrown into the intense setting of Stockholm in 1793. Historically, King Gustav III had just been assassinated. The crown prince was too young and thus Sweden was controlled by an oppressive puppet regime. At the same time, Europe was feeling the after currents of revolutionary fever. In France, Marie Antoinette had just been executed. All of this created a bleak sense of chaotic paranoia and dread permeating the dark, dirty streets of Stockholm.
Characters: The characters really shine in this story. First we have watchman Mikal Carnell. He had fought in the Russo-Swedish War and lost his arm and best friend. As the story starts, he is barely getting by, burdened by shell shock and phantom limb pain, and drowning out life with drink. After fishing the body from the water, he is paired with brilliant, incorruptible lawyer/detective Cecil Winge, who is diagnosed and dying of consumption. We also have Kristofer Blix, a young man with a gambling problem, and Anna Stine Knapp, a poor teenage who after the death of her mother, finds herself at the mercy of depraved men.
The rising tensions of Carnell and Winge working against the clock to solve the mystery, Winge’s declining health, the precarious situations of Blix and Anna, and the unstable social environment really elevate this book to a different level. The different points of view serve a valuable purpose in the end, tying together details and filling in context.
In all honesty, I had to take several breaks while reading this novel. It’s very dark and bleak with a lot of graphic violence. However, it is exceptionally crafted and I am very glad to have read it. The plan is to read a comedy and then go back to the 1793 sequel. I loved the two main characters, Carnell and Winge. Wolf and the Watchman is a definite recommend for me. Just be very careful with the violence and triggers.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
knels813's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- 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? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Gore, Rape, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Misogyny, Self harm, Excrement, Death of parent, and Classism
Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Child abuse
sawowza's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Torture
Moderate: Pregnancy
clemso's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Incest, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Terminal illness, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Excrement, Medical content, Trafficking, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and War
anne_marie_samp's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
medium-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
4.0
This is a hard book, dark, disturbing in a number of ways. People do dark things, some to survive, some because they can.
Not an easy read, but I do now know more about the Russo-Swedish war, the Swedish royal family, and Stockholm in the 1790s - which is enough for me to know that I am very glad not to have lived in Stockholm in the 1790s.
Good book, well told, but definitely need something lighter now.
Not an easy read, but I do now know more about the Russo-Swedish war, the Swedish royal family, and Stockholm in the 1790s - which is enough for me to know that I am very glad not to have lived in Stockholm in the 1790s.
Good book, well told, but definitely need something lighter now.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Chronic illness, Physical abuse, Police brutality, and Alcohol
Moderate: Confinement, Death, and Emotional abuse
Minor: Suicide and Fire/Fire injury
archivofrances's review against another edition
challenging
dark
tense
slow-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? It's complicated
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Kidnapping, Murder, Pregnancy, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Moderate: Alcoholism, Cursing, Suicidal thoughts, Medical trauma, and Abortion
elijah_leaf's review against another edition
dark
emotional
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
don't let the reviews lead you askew, other than the book being extremely gorey, i disagree with most of they have said upon my first read - i'd recommend it to anyone who enjoys this genre (and is okay with the warnings, which i strongly suggest you check if you could be effected by anything, but if not then don't spoil it for yourself!). i feel as if i need to defend it, it didn't have me gripping onto each page as i cried on the edge of my seat, but it's a pretty good book, hence the stars.
the average is low for what it is, reading through many either didn't like the genre (which is no fault of the book) or got bored because of the slower pacing, and therefore didn't actually read the book; i don't think it's as horrendous as people describe it to be since it's a pretty average sized book, if it were 1,000 pages i'd be inclined to agree but if you can get yourself invested in the characters it's a smooth read!
another criticism is that people think that the characters are flat or shallow, while i think my tolerance to worse characters is probably larger than other people's, i was still able to enjoy them. it's a short crime novel, they don't have much time to flesh out and develop a range of characters but they aren't completely 2D, they have their own traumas and are easy to tell apart! it's not explicitly said but you can pull apart the way they work, impossible for such shallow characters as they describe. there was a lack of diversity in the way that most of the characters were male and, as far as i can remember, there was only one character who was described to be dark-skinned; but there is a canonly queer character (though i wouldn't exactly say it was the best representation...) and the female character is named and has a portion of the book dedicated to her in her POV!
i saw a review say that it was targeted at the male-gaze but as an afab, i think they've took that term and ran with it. in my eyes the male gaze would be sexualising the female cast (going out of their way to describe their breasts, ect.), and just baking misogynist ideas into the text - that was not this book. the book is set in 1793 sweden, a classist and misogynistic time period, it's only period accurate to have the girl to go through the troubles of the time. she is never described to enjoy it, or be wholly submissive to it - she plays the role of a girl of the time, she knows her place in society and dreads what comes with it.
that aside, i enjoyed it! i'm not much of a gore person myself, always hated the people who flexed that they didn't flinch at the sight to it, but it was written so well that i could feel my heart in my chest! the two mains (cecil winge and mickel cardell) didn't pull on any classic golden tropes for their characters or dynamic but i still found them lovable as a pair; i'm shocked that most people didn't like them as much as i did?
overall, i'm very glad i read it! i'll probably pass it around to as many people as i can, in hopes that i can reference it in conversation 😭😭
the average is low for what it is, reading through many either didn't like the genre (which is no fault of the book) or got bored because of the slower pacing, and therefore didn't actually read the book; i don't think it's as horrendous as people describe it to be since it's a pretty average sized book, if it were 1,000 pages i'd be inclined to agree but if you can get yourself invested in the characters it's a smooth read!
another criticism is that people think that the characters are flat or shallow, while i think my tolerance to worse characters is probably larger than other people's, i was still able to enjoy them. it's a short crime novel, they don't have much time to flesh out and develop a range of characters but they aren't completely 2D, they have their own traumas and are easy to tell apart! it's not explicitly said but you can pull apart the way they work, impossible for such shallow characters as they describe. there was a lack of diversity in the way that most of the characters were male and, as far as i can remember, there was only one character who was described to be dark-skinned; but there is a canonly queer character (though i wouldn't exactly say it was the best representation...) and the female character is named and has a portion of the book dedicated to her in her POV!
i saw a review say that it was targeted at the male-gaze but as an afab, i think they've took that term and ran with it. in my eyes the male gaze would be sexualising the female cast (going out of their way to describe their breasts, ect.), and just baking misogynist ideas into the text - that was not this book. the book is set in 1793 sweden, a classist and misogynistic time period, it's only period accurate to have the girl to go through the troubles of the time. she is never described to enjoy it, or be wholly submissive to it - she plays the role of a girl of the time, she knows her place in society and dreads what comes with it.
that aside, i enjoyed it! i'm not much of a gore person myself, always hated the people who flexed that they didn't flinch at the sight to it, but it was written so well that i could feel my heart in my chest! the two mains (cecil winge and mickel cardell) didn't pull on any classic golden tropes for their characters or dynamic but i still found them lovable as a pair; i'm shocked that most people didn't like them as much as i did?
overall, i'm very glad i read it! i'll probably pass it around to as many people as i can, in hopes that i can reference it in conversation 😭😭
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Rape, Blood, Death of parent, and War
Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Child death
the book itself is very gorey, i'm not going to tag these as spoilers in case people need them but there is description of public execution, amputation and a scene where one of the characters crawls through an enclosed area with a corpse. there's also some references / a short description of eating faecal matter.hanarama's review against another edition
Book at a Glance:
Multi POV
1793 Stockholm
Mystery thriller
CW: extreme body horror, extreme physical and mental abuse, medical trauma, medical content, injury detail, abelism
More extreme and bleak in its depictions of gore an human cruelty than I want to engage with. I'm not usually squeamish in regards to true crime or medical content, but I found the descriptions in this book to be very vivid. The mood of this book honestly made it hard for me want to press on. As such, I'm calling it quits.
I'm sure others will enjoy this book, but I just found it to be too much.
Multi POV
1793 Stockholm
Mystery thriller
CW: extreme body horror, extreme physical and mental abuse, medical trauma, medical content, injury detail, abelism
More extreme and bleak in its depictions of gore an human cruelty than I want to engage with. I'm not usually squeamish in regards to true crime or medical content, but I found the descriptions in this book to be very vivid. The mood of this book honestly made it hard for me want to press on. As such, I'm calling it quits.
I'm sure others will enjoy this book, but I just found it to be too much.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Injury/Injury detail
anniesidd's review against another edition
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Sexual violence, and Torture