Reviews tagging 'Pregnancy'

The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill

11 reviews

vibingjaren's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful 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

3.0

I was recommended this book by a friend, it’s not what I usually read but it wasn’t bad. The beginning is slow to start but the middle of the book is pretty good. I was honestly disappointed at the climax and how they

did the time-skip

which as a writer I view as a lazy way out instead of actually writing what happened. I loved the middle of the book too so this was a huge disappointment.

I also was a bit turned away by the weird relationship with Glerk and Zan at the end of the book. It almost seems like beastiality

. Either way this was an okay book. It had good lessons, but I feel like it could’ve been executed better.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Animal death, Emotional abuse, Torture, and Kidnapping

Minor: Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, and Abandonment

micaelamariem's review against another edition

adventurous emotional inspiring mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

 

Around my birthday a couple months ago, I went to a used bookstore and picked up a few gems, including this one, which seemed perfect to read around Halloween. 

The Girl Who Drank the Moonby Kelly Barnhill is a middle grade fantasy novel about a town that sacrifices a baby each year to the witch in the woods under the belief that she would curse them elsewise. The witch doesn't know why the town is abandoning their babies, but she tries to save them and give them each a loved home. Until one day, she accidentally enmagiks a baby by feeding her moonlight and decides to raise her as her own. Over the novel there are secrets that lead to the discovery of why the town must sacrifice babies and how the story began. The novel actually won a Newberry award! 

The author, Kelly Barnhill, is a teacher turned author who loves promoting the arts for children. 

I really enjoyed this story for a middle grade novel. There were a few themes that really struck out to me: the danger of sorrow vs hope, the fragility of memory, as well as some motifs of paper and birds and magic. 

The worldbuilding of the novel is great, showing a vast landscape for readers to escape into, complete with its own laws and myths and origin stories.  

The writing style was a little confusing and a lot whimsical. Half the time I wasn't quite sure what was going on but I enjoyed the ride, reminding me kind of like the show I just watched called Over the Garden Wall. 

I loved the characters as well, each one combatting their own fears and sorrows. My favorite character was the Simply Enormous dragon Fyrian who was always childlike and naive, but had blocked out his own trauma which perhaps kept him this way. 

Perhaps the main idea of the book is the hope and sacrifices we make for whom we love can combat sorrow. The witch and the girl formed a tightly-bound relationship like a mother and daughter and held hope for each other. The swamp monster and the dragon seemed to also care about each other. The boy from the town found his own love and hope, ready to change the world, as did the madwoman. 

I would highly recommend this book to middle grade readers who like whimsical quirky things with deep messages and meanings or who like to make their own inferences in stories. 

Overall, this was a four star read for me! 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Violence, Grief, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, and Abandonment

a_alves00's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Pregnancy, and Abandonment

captainoliimar's review against another edition

adventurous challenging funny lighthearted mysterious sad 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

4.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, Forced institutionalization, Stalking, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Blood, Medical content, and Kidnapping

Minor: Violence

skudiklier's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring lighthearted mysterious sad medium-paced

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

4.75

This book was really sweet, and I loved the way it was written. It touches on some really important ideas and I'm glad I'll get to talk about it with others in my book club. I'd recommend this to fantasy fans, and people who want a complicated but mostly heartwarming story about love and found family. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Death, Kidnapping, and Grief

Moderate: Child death, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Murder, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Self harm, Death of parent, and Pregnancy

peytonktracy's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

This book was utterly delightful in so many ways. A huge focus of the book is love, and it’s tremendous power and it’s drawbacks and the choices and places it puts people in. And my heart feels very full at the end of this read, which I believe is what the author intended.

The setting is unique (I’ve never read a book whose central location is a bog near a volcano), the characters are unique, and the magic and struggles the characters face is unique. I’ve never read a book quite like this.

I also appreciated that not only did the author wrap up all loose ends, she did so with mixed results while still being empathetic. Some good people got everything they wanted. Some didn’t get what they sought, but they worked through it. Some bad people got their comeuppance, but were given the opportunity to learn and grow - some did, some didn’t. It was soothing, in a way, to still have a happy ending that wasn’t what the reader expected. Like real life.

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Mental illness and Grief

Minor: Pregnancy

Central to the plot is the perceived loss of children.

The children are left in the woods as a sacrifice to a witch, and their community is under the impression those children are dead. Those children are not dead, and are rescued by the witch and brought to live in loving homes elsewhere.

So it’s not “child loss” exactly, but kind of? The grief is real even if the loss is not.

cookiecat73's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting and Abandonment

Moderate: Child abuse, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Terminal illness, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Animal cruelty, Murder, Pregnancy, and Fire/Fire injury

penofpossibilities's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

3.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Confinement, Gaslighting, and Abandonment

Moderate: Grief, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Ableism, Death, Genocide, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Fire/Fire injury

tessanie's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad slow-paced

2.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

Moderate: Pregnancy

zombiezami's review

adventurous emotional funny lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief and Gaslighting

Moderate: Ableism, Body horror, Confinement, Mental illness, Blood, Pregnancy, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Animal death, Child death, Sexism, Vomit, and Death of parent

saneism, incarceration