Reviews tagging 'Blood'

Thornhedge by T. Kingfisher

60 reviews

julessssss's review against another edition

adventurous dark lighthearted medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Death

Minor: Body horror, Gore, Violence, Blood, and Kidnapping

lilshelly's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad 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

4.0

Finished this interesting little novella tonight. Writing some broken thoughts about it before I must sleep. 

It took me days to read this 100ish page book, when really it could have been read in one. I think I'm just out of practice when it comes to fantasy. I found myself struggling slightly to understand all the mythology and folk tales and references included here. I know enough about the fae realm to get me by, but apparently not enough! 

That being said, I found T. Kingfisher's writing to be beautiful in many regards. Their descriptions of emotions and connections are lovely to read. I found myself trying to predict twists that never came throughout the story. Maybe that's because I'm too jaded by other texts. 

I loved Toadling deeply for all her flawed not quite humanity. Her reflections on emotions and life and how one should feel were lovely to read. The knight himself, Halim, was very kind and subdued in a charming way. 

Everything Kingfisher did in this story was to subvert our expectations of common tropes in fairy tales, and honestly, I respect it. Interested to check more of their catalogue, though maybe some time between is needed.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty and Death

Moderate: Suicide, Violence, and Murder

Minor: Blood and Injury/Injury detail

wrensreadingroom's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

linneak's review

dark mysterious fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Death, Violence, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Confinement, Blood, and Kidnapping

scrubsandbooks's review against another edition

adventurous dark fast-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

4.5

I think I have decided I will only be reading retellings written by T. Kingfisher from now on. Another absolute banger of a book by someone who has become my favorite author of 2023.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Confinement, and Death

Moderate: Suicide, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

lunalorenne's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad fast-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? No

4.5

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Content Warnings

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, and Blood

lindseyrenee's review against another edition

medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Suicide, Blood, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

luxton's review against another edition

hopeful mysterious sad fast-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? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Suicide, Blood, and Death of parent

katiecoconut21's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

5.0

What if the evil fairy had cursed Sleeping Beauty

because it was necessary, rather than evil

? A tale of friendship, of accepting who each other are for who they are.

Short and sweet with endearing characters, I highly recommend this for anyone who is a fan of fairy-tale retellings that turn the accepted tale on its head.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty

Moderate: Animal death, Death, and Death of parent

Minor: Blood and Injury/Injury detail

samchase112's review against another edition

adventurous dark relaxing fast-paced

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

4.5

Absolutely delightful, and just as sweet as T. Kingfisher believes it is. I adored this little story about a kind toad girl and her search for love and home. As a fairy tale retelling it's certainly the most unique I've encountered, and it used its relationship to fairy tales and mythology and folk tales so wonderfully. I thoroughly enjoyed my immersion in this world, and will definitely be reading more from T. Kingfisher in the future.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Blood

Moderate: Animal death and War

Minor: Pregnancy