Reviews tagging 'Animal cruelty'

Das Mädchen und der Winterkönig by Katherine Arden

26 reviews

emfass's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Miscarriage, and Misogyny

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Kidnapping, Pregnancy, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Vomit

maeverose's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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

5.0

This one is equally as good as the first book to me, maybe even better. I liked it for all the same reasons I liked the first book; atmosphere, setting, writing, realistic characters, the interweaving of the folklore into the story, plus it has one of my favorite tropes (female character has to disguise herself as a man), and Vasya actually leaves her home to explore different towns/cities, including Moscow, and gets to be a badass (albeit pretty naive at times, but what do you expect from someone who's never left her very small town in the middle of nowhere until now?). I really grew to like Sasha in this book, despite him being a bit of an idiot sometimes

(like why are you focused on your sister 'sinning' by dressing as a man when she just saved several kids LIVES?)

The main antagonist was very predictable, not sure if he was supposed to be or not... but I didn't feel it took away from my enjoyment of the story at all.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Death, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Violence, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, Murder, Pregnancy, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: War

stillbirth

livinginbetweenthepages's review against another edition

adventurous 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Miscarriage, Misogyny, and Violence

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Death, and Sexual assault

Minor: Slavery

sarahaf712's review against another edition

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Child death, Confinement, Gore, Misogyny, Sexism, Slavery, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Bullying, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Sexual assault, Death of parent, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, and Classism

Content warning: birth; stillbirth

victoriousbookworm's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional medium-paced

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

5.0

This book was just as amazing as the first in the series, and does not fall victim to the second book slump. There is adventure and intrigue, deception and betrayal. The setting of medieval Russia both has its positives in the magnificent imagery created by the author and moments that will anger as it hinders Vasya’s ability to show her true strength. The ending was so gratifying and the perfect way to end such a riveting second installment. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny and Violence

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Animal cruelty and Sexual harassment

pvbobrien's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious fast-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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Confinement, Sexual assault, Violence, and Blood

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Kidnapping, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Slavery, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, and Pregnancy

chattie_the_mad_chatter's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense fast-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

5.0

This is a much quicker pace than the first book, the story moves to Moscow, politics in the city. Whilst Vasya is reunited with the siblings she said goodbye to as a child, the folk of fairy tales are trying to stay present as the people in Moscow forget and put Paton gods aside as superstition. Bandits are rife in the villages the Tarta's want their ransom and Vasya refuses to abide by Russian rules and stay hidden in the Tower with the rest of the women. Not whilst she sees animals, people and being who need her.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Confinement, Sexism, Violence, and Sexual harassment

grimviolins's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Sexism, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Murder, and Gaslighting

Minor: Animal cruelty, Pedophilia, Vomit, and War

kassielovestoread's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

5.0

I'm having a hard time putting together a worthy review of this book. Truly, it was a fantastic book and doesn't fall at all under the middle book syndrome. There's just so many things that I loved about the first book that the second takes under its wing and expands it. To name a few...

Vasya, first and forever foremost, is a badass -not to be fucked with- MC. Vasya is uniquely herself in a society that would rather see her confined or dead than allow her to live freely, bound to no man or church. Her journey is not one I'd ever forget and could easily re-read in the future. I also really, really love that her "ugliness" does not faze her. Nor can it be used against her to hurt her. It's a testament that while Vasya may not be conventionally attractive to her society's standards, she nevertheless stays a constant topic of conversation and borderline obsession amongst these people. I love that for her! Stay mad!

The twists and turns this plot took! Towards the ending of the book, the anxiety of everything falling apart was nearly going to eat me alive. Several times I had to take breaks and rant to my best friend about the story, LOL. What makes a book a great read for me is when I am so impacted and invested in the story that it feels like my heart will leap out of my chest if all does not end well. 

Finally, I enjoyed the topics of religious hypocrisy and gender norms. I feel like these issues were discussed quite well in The Bear and the Nightingale, but they come to a dramatic apex in The Girl in the Tower. Overall, this book was an extremely entertaining and reflective read. I cannot WAIT to read the final book! 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal cruelty and Animal death

thoseoldcrows23's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense slow-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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Child death, Confinement, Death, Sexism, Sexual assault, Violence, Blood, Grief, Religious bigotry, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Slavery and Death of parent