Reviews tagging 'Animal cruelty'

Winterkeep by Kristin Cashore

22 reviews

albernikolauras's review against another edition

adventurous emotional lighthearted tense 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

4.5

Winterkeep follows Bitterblue in a brand new nation with a brand new culture, magic system, & government. I was worried we would spend too much time following Bitterblue or Gideon, but instead we follow Lovisa - a daughter to some very important politicians.

I really enjoyed following Lovisa and the path she went on. It was hard following her some times and this book carries on with a lot of the heavy themes Cashore writes so delicately. There are adorable foxes and lovable characters, and I love how strategic and delibrate Lovisa is.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse and Child abuse

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Xenophobia, Violence, and Death of parent

Minor: Sexual content

lizziaha's review against another edition

• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.75

I love the additions to the Graceling world in this book! I especially enjoyed the Keeper(?) perspective and the interactions with the silbercows. I also thought that Lovisa as a character was very complex, and it was refreshing to see a teen in YA acting like a teenager instead of a small adult. very excited to pick up the next installment! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Confinement, Death, Child abuse, Classism, Murder, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Sexual harassment, Animal cruelty, Grief, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Drug use, Animal death, and Death of parent

laurenkimoto's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

I put off reading this for such a long time because I didn’t think anything could live up to the original trilogy but I regret that choice. Cashore expands the world and builds the characters deftly while dealing with some heavy and serious topics with nuance and care. 

Spoiler

I was warned about the parents and wow I did not expect it to go like it did and how it evolved

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Murder, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Violence, Animal cruelty, Confinement, and Classism

margaret_k30's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious fast-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Xenophobia, Toxic relationship, Sexual assault, and Death

Minor: Sexual content, Animal death, and Animal cruelty

kllyholt's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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

3.75

I think Bitterblue may be one of my all time favorite characters and I loved seeing her again in this book, and especially because all the parallels between her and Lovisa’s upbringings were really interesting. But I absolutely hated that

Spoiler

Giddon and Bitterblue ended up together- mostly because of the age gap. I mean I saw it coming, and yes she’s older in this book, but he met her when she had just barely turned eighteen and he’s literally in his thirties. It gives me the ick- the author makes it obvious that it’s alright because “Giddon is a such good man” but that feels like such a cop out and really poor excuse, especially given how he has been in almost a mentorship role with her the entire time. It just reeks of grooming in my opinion. It’s not the most egregious display of it I’ve ever seen, but it’s still disappointing. It’s why I’m rating this book a little lower than I might have otherwise.

I liked everything else about this book though, especially the political and environmental commentary- it was really interesting and fun to read. 
Also, Lovisa’s character seemed very autistic to me- there’s one quote where she says, ‘“Why shouldn’t I ask about it directly? Would it be so terrible for everyone to say what they mean when they do things, and what they want, and why? Wouldn’t it make things simpler, and create fewer disasters?”’ 
Growing up I must have cried about that exact same thing hundreds of times- because I couldn’t understand why everyone around me would be upset or read into what I say all the time when I was trying my hardest to communicate with them the only way I am really able to. Anyways, I don’t know if this was an intentional thing by the author or not, but I definitely saw myself in Lovisa because of that and it made me love her character so much more. 

Also, the Keeper and the silbercows? I’m obsessed with them. Love them. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Child abuse, and Death

Moderate: Animal cruelty

Minor: Animal death

talonsontypewriters's review

adventurous hopeful mysterious medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Kidnapping, Confinement, Classism, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Child abuse, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Animal death, Violence, Death of parent, Toxic relationship, Drug use, Sexual content, Gaslighting, Blood, War, Bullying, and Animal cruelty

Minor: Vomit, Sexual assault, Infidelity, Addiction, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Torture

Drowning. Slut shaming. Starvation. Relationship between characters who are currently both adults, but almost definitely met when one was around 10 and the other was an older teenager/adult.

thedevouringbookshelf's review against another edition

adventurous emotional inspiring lighthearted mysterious relaxing sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Gaslighting, Kidnapping, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Animal cruelty

saltydough's review

adventurous emotional hopeful reflective tense fast-paced

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

3.75

I've been reading the Graceling books since I was young, and I really enjoyed finding myself back in that world again. Kristin Cashore is undeniably a very good writer and creates carefully thought-through plots with lots of focus on the characters' thoughts and feelings. That being said, this is not my favorite or hers, which could also be down to the fact that I'm no longer within the target age range. I felt that the multiple POVs didn't work very well because she Cashore didn't change her writing style, or the character's thoughts, enough for each one to be distinctive. In such a character-focused story, switching from one to the other is almost counter-productive because we never stay in anyone's head long enough to feel truly connected to their POV. I was also a bit disappointed by Giddon and Bitterblue's romance. Though I think those characters do have chemistry when they're on the page together, it was annoying that when they were apart, every other sentence would be about how Bitterblue would've loved this or Giddin would've done that, and so on. I get that Cashore was trying to create that pining, but it just didn't work for me.

I do think this is a really fun and entertaining book, though, and I appreciated the allegory about climate change. Would recommend!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Kidnapping, and Violence

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Suicidal thoughts, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Death of parent

Minor: Drug use

elle_dee's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Violence, War, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, and Death of parent

kayladaila's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark hopeful mysterious tense slow-paced

• 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Fire/Fire injury, and Murder

Moderate: Child abuse, Death of parent, Sexual content, Animal cruelty, and Kidnapping