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sparklefarm's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
If you had said, "Hey Hannah, read this folk tale about generational trauma," I don't know that I would have picked up Thistlefoot enthusiastically. But this was such a good read.
I think some people would describe this prose as flowery or purple or excessive, but for me it worked well within this folk tale setting, especially within an audiobook.
This was wonderful and I think will appeal to fans of Alix E. Harrow. I can't wait to read more from Nethercott.
Pay attention to the content warnings because it is a book about trauma, and dips occasionally into horror territory as well.
Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Death, and Genocide
Moderate: Body horror, Violence, and Fire/Fire injury
bellesunbridled's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Antisemitism, Religious bigotry, and Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Body horror, Child death, Death, Genocide, Self harm, Violence, Vomit, Antisemitism, Religious bigotry, and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Sexual assault, Violence, Murder, and War
18soft_green's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
This is a good book, unfortunately.
I say it this way because a lot of the time it felt like the author was being pretentious in her flowery style and drama. The POV switches were painful and Isaac is my least favorite type of character and Bellatine is so fucking annoying! And her statue love interest is worse! Baba Yaga herself was very interesting but her great, great, great, great grandkids are the worst! In fact, it's as if Nethercotte took my least favorite types of characters, added some quirks, and dumped them into a story.
But the story is good! The grief is real, the magic is weird, the contradictions are mysterious, the walking house is fantastic! The angst, my friends! It's such good angst! Not the relationship angst, that shit was boring as hell and annoying, but the life angst, the way the characters felt about themselves, that was the true sauce.
It also felt so fucking weird that Nethercotte constantly acknowledged the atrocities of the land. Maybe that's just my privilege talking but it felt so out of place and character for the Yaga siblings. Like, this book isn't addressing those topics so why is it bringing them up. I care very much about those issues but it felt like the story was only bringing them up out of obligation and personal responsibility rather than because it was important to the story. It was awkward for me.
4/5 I would not recommend unless the situation truly called on THIS particular book
Graphic: Genocide, Hate crime, Mental illness, Police brutality, and Grief
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Child abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Vomit, Medical trauma, Fire/Fire injury, Cultural appropriation, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Homophobia, Misogyny, Self harm, Antisemitism, and Kidnapping
shirarweiss's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Death, Genocide, Antisemitism, Religious bigotry, Fire/Fire injury, and War
deetabz's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Death, Genocide, Gore, Hate crime, Violence, Blood, Antisemitism, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Vomit and Alcohol
zghutcheson01's review against another edition
- 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
4.5
Graphic: Death, Hate crime, Antisemitism, and Grief
Moderate: Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Genocide, Gore, Racism, Violence, Xenophobia, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury
winifreddie's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Child death, Genocide, and Antisemitism
Moderate: Death, Violence, and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Body horror, Murder, and War
torturedreadersdept's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Genocide, Gun violence, Hate crime, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Antisemitism, Grief, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, and Alcohol
abominablesnowaro's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Child death, Death, Genocide, Gore, Hate crime, Violence, Xenophobia, Antisemitism, Grief, Religious bigotry, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Animal death, Body horror, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, and Blood
Minor: Vomit and Alcohol
nichole_of_numenor's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
A brother and sister with a magical and troubled past inherit a house that travels on chicken legs. Bellatine and Isaac aren't close but this pulls them together for the first time in years. Soon after they revive the show they performed on the road as children, they discover a sinister creature is hunting them. (No spoilers here, just what's on the dust jacket).
I'll start with what I didn't like, since that happened first:
Unfortunately, this was a really hard book for me to get into. As the house was traversing all over America, it didn't really address how it walked everywhere without causing a huge media circus. It tried by regailing tales about magical houses in other major cities, but I just wasn't buying it. Tell me it was invisible to everyone unless it wanted to be seen. Tell me it traveled instictively in places where it knew it wouldn't be detected. Just tell me *something.* I can suspend almost any disbelief but it has to be addressed. Are you telling me that an enormous chicken footprint in a cemetary isn't going to get national media coverage? Right.
Bellatine has a special gift. For most of the book, she spends nearly all of her energy suppressing that gift, à la Elsa from Frozen (and becoming a huge stick-in-the-mud in the process, by the way.) I've been reading lots of books with that particular trope lately, so that irritated me. "Let it go." Be yourself. Love your abilities. I get it.
What I loved:
From the very beginning, I loved the beautiful sentences woven throughout the story. This author is primarily a poet and it shows. But they weren't overly complicated or too frequent; just enough to be a delight when they happened. That's what kept me reading. Here's an example: "Though it was well past noon, his people would be in bed still, sleeping off the sorrows they'd tried to drown the night before."
I also really enjoyed the multiple POV with which this story is told, including a very unique one.
As I hit the halfway point, I was convinced I was going to give this book 2 starts. So just powered through, trying to finish as fast as I could so I could get to something I would (definitely) like better. Then the tide turned and I ended up loving the last half of the book so much my 2 starts turned into 5. All of the magic is finally explained. Everything is tied together beautifully, linking the past and the present, tragedy and healing.
I'm glad I stuck it out.
There are definite trigger warnings in here: violence, anti-Semitism, pogroms, death, self-harm, murder, xenophobia.
Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Genocide, Gore, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Xenophobia, Antisemitism, Religious bigotry, and Murder