Reviews tagging 'Pregnancy'

Thornhedge by T. Kingfisher

8 reviews

riledupryepie's review against another edition

emotional hopeful mysterious medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Confinement, Violence, and Death of parent

Minor: Animal cruelty and Pregnancy

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

melodyseestrees's review

adventurous dark emotional 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Confinement, and Death

Moderate: Animal death, Suicide, and Murder

Minor: Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

callidoralblack's review

dark slow-paced

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

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Bullying, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Murder

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Physical abuse, Suicide, Blood, Medical content, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

uranaishi's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful mysterious reflective 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? No

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Physical abuse, Death of parent, and Classism

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Miscarriage, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Murder, Pregnancy, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

booksthatburn's review against another edition

mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

3.0

THORNHEDGE is a Sleeping Beauty retelling which recasts the sleeper as someone best never woken: a faerie changeling whose confusion at the human world and disregard for other lives turns her into someone who can only be contained in sleep or stopped forever in death. The sleeper is constrained and contained by Toadling, the once-human girl who was stolen from her cradle and replaced by that very same changeling.

I like this as a take on Sleeping Beauty, but it plays the idea of changelings straight, not engaging with the historical links between “changeling” children and autism (or other ways of being ostracized for being strange). In that light, featuring a child so unable to learn social rules that she must be kept or killed becomes a more fraught narrative, one that makes the story harder to enjoy. I like Toadling and Halim, but because of how the backstory is told first as memories then as stories to Halim, I remain unsure just how much Toadling told him of what had happened. I appreciate Halim as an idea of a character, but as a novella there wasn’t really room to flesh out that many significant characters and Toadling received most of the detail (to Halim’s detriment). The time dilation between the human world and Faerie allows for a couple of cool narrative moments. Ultimately this is a book I would neither recommend nor dissuade someone from reading. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Child death, Death, Violence, Blood, Murder, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Cursing, Self harm, Suicide, Torture, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Pandemic/Epidemic

maryellen's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring relaxing medium-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? It's complicated

5.0

I adore this book so, so much. As always, Kingfisher has charmed me. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Suicide, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

ezwolf's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective sad medium-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? It's complicated

5.0

I adored this retelling of Sleeping Beauty! My dear Toadling, I loved her so much, her story could have been so tragic and yet ends up so sweet. 

T. Kingfisher's books have been on my reading list for a while now and I'm so glad to have read this as my first book of hers. I will be moving her other books to the top of my list. 

Thank you to NetGalley and Tor for making this available in exchange for an honest review!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Confinement, Death, Suicide, Blood, Grief, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Kidnapping, and Death of parent

Minor: Body horror, Cursing, Violence, and Pregnancy