Reviews with content warning for Torture - The Witches of Vardø

Reviews tagging 'Torture'

The Witches of Vardø by Anya Bergman

37 reviews

alice_poppy's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Content Warnings

katiemcdo's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

Dark historical fiction that gives powerful voices to those women impacted by the Vardo witch trials. Very well researched, I particularly enjoyed the use of Sami and Norse folklore. Good use of POVs and well build characters.

It took me a little while to get into it and the middle third of the book felt a bit long but it does help to emphasise the long, torturous winter experienced by those on trial. The pacing really picked up in the last third of the novel.

Content Warnings

ninamanon's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional reflective sad tense 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? Yes

4.25

A harrowing feminist tale about sisterhood, power, and justice. I loved Ingeborg and Maren instantly; they drew me into the story. I had a more difficult time getting through Fru Anna’s chapters, as she reads as haughty and annoyingly delusional, a sort of pick me girl. She irritated me greatly in the beginning, but the strength of the book was that the further you got into her story, the more you understood how she became the way she was, and in the end I couldn’t fault her and merely felt sorry for her, as I did for every other woman in the book. As for the ending,

I loved it: I loved how the conflict was resolved, how it ended with a shimmer of hope, how every single girl and woman was liberated in one way or another. I especially loved Maren and Elisa’s future: it is so beautiful to find a queer historical story that doesn’t end in misery. I will think of them often.

The prose was beautiful; I did have to get used to the first person narrative, and I struggled a bit at around the 30% mark, as Anna was boring me a bit with her tedious stories of her past lover, but as I said, I now understand their purpose.

Content Warnings

ehs1989's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense 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

4.0

Content Warnings

vbzshenanigans's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.25

Content Warnings

contemporarymeepsie's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional hopeful informative tense medium-paced

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

3.5

The Witches of Vardo is a retelling of the true witch hunre that happened in Noway between 1662 and 1663. It follows 2 main characters: Anna Rhodius, an outspoken physician sent as a prisoner to Vardohus by the King of Denmark and Ingeborg Iversdatter, a teenage fisherman's daughter caught up in her mother's witch trial.
I enjoyed this book and the story it told. I found the historical side of it very interesting. Anya Bergman does a fantastic job of describing the desolate island of Vardo where the main portion of the story take place. I found the pacing steady and the novel easy to read despite some of the more difficult portions. My only issue with the whole thing is that Maren at the end *spoilers* is described as having true magical powers and that didnt sit right with me. The thing I like about this kind of book is how superstition and religion can taint the appearance of actual events to be 'like magic'. Therefore giving Maren the ability to summon birds or rats makes the whole thing too unrealistic for me. I know it's historical 'fiction' but that can be done without magical realism, in my mind. Just a little gripe, but overall the story was enjoyable and I would recommend it to someone interested in witch trials, historical fiction or magical realism.

Content Warnings

d0nt_be_so_rude's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional informative sad medium-paced

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

3.5

This story is based on true facts which made it even more impactful. For me, I could think of current events that seemed similair like nothing has changed since the witchs hunts. At the same time the way Ingeborg and Anna think about themselves, witches and the devil really pulled me into the past.
There is one thing that made me almost dnf this book. Ingeborg and Anna tell their story from different perspectives. One from first person and the other from third person. Every chapter I had to take a moment before I could read further because I could not really get into the story this way. After a while, about half way through, I got used to it.

Content Warnings