Reviews tagging 'Murder'

Slewfoot: A Tale of Bewitchery by Brom

145 reviews

greygryph's review against another edition

dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

5.0

Support women's rights, wrongs, and wholesale slaughter of those who harm her.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture and Murder

haileeraye's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful 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? No

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Physical abuse, and Murder

chasinggrace's review against another edition

dark tense slow-paced

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

4.0

A really good read for the Halloween season. If you’ve ever been interested in the Salem Witch Trials, this was hauntingly accurate. So atmospheric. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Gun violence, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Religious bigotry, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury

dymonlikestoread's review against another edition

challenging dark funny sad tense 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

4.0

✨Book Review✨

Slewfoot 

Author: BROM

Rating: 4/5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Synopsis: Abitha is trying to find her place amongst the extremely religious Puritans after being married off to a kind stranger Edward. But when Edward mysteriously dies. Abitha fights for her freedom to keep her and Edward’s farm. Ostracized and singled out by her peers Abitha is broken until a powerful entity Slewfoot appears.

“ but this belief this absolute conviction that the evil they were doing was good, was God’s work – how, she wondered, how could such a dark conviction ever be overcome?”

Abitha was a fantastic FMC. I felt both her outrage and confusion about her place amongst the Puritans, especially once Edward passed. I truly believe Abitha was trying to find comfort in God but constantly questioned her faith because of the Puritan's actions that contradicted what the Bible stated. 

It’s mind-boggling to see the contradictions and self-convincing tactics Puritans used to convince themselves they weren’t doing anything wrong.

“Angels must often do dark deeds in the name of the Lord, “ Magistrate Watson added. “Do they not ?”

I really liked Samson but Abitha was the star. And I think her revenge was only fair. I also really liked Edward and I thought he was so sweet 🥲. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Cursing, Death, Gore, Blood, Religious bigotry, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

mijtje's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.75

Slewfoot is a historical novel about Abitha who tries to reconcile her Christian beliefs with her Pagan roots while living in a rigid puritan town in the mid 1600s. Her story intertwines with that of Father/Samson, a supernatural being who awakes without memory and isn’t sure whether he’s an evil demon or a benevolent spirit. Together, they explore who they are and try to find their way in life. 

I finished this book rather quickly and found it to be very captivating, but have still settled at 3 stars. The modern morals of Abitha felt out of place — her shock at the arranged marriage of a 17 year old, for example. At times it also felt like a bit of a cheap jab at Christianity. The author tried to weave in some deeper considerations about God and religion, but

in between all the torture and gore of the last third of the book

, that message fell a bit flat for me. The ending was definitely not for me either,

I don’t like revenge stories

.

If you enjoy these kind of dark fantasy stories, the themes sound appealing to you, and you are on the hunt for a witchy read this fall; give this a try, you will enjoy it. If not, you’re not missing too much.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Torture, Violence, Religious bigotry, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal death and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Domestic abuse and Death of parent

jenniferbookishwormish's review against another edition

dark tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Sexism, Violence, Grief, Religious bigotry, Murder, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail

lyzasage's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail

clovetra's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional funny tense 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? No

5.0

oh my god. go read this.

i actually think this might be one of my new all-time favourites.

i’m so serious this book was so good with <50 pages left i was so excited my apple watch kept telling me my heart rate was too high. this book got me THAT EXCITED my apple watch kept alerting me until i finished this 😭

firstly, the illustrations are so fucking beautiful. within each chapter, as well as the big spread of the main characters were magnificent illustrations, and it was so fun to see what the characters were supposed to look like, as well as small snippets of what was happening through the chapter introductions. 

the characters are written so wonderfully. abitha is a bad ass bitch, samson is incredibly interesting, and forest, creek & sky were great additions. the townsfolk were surprisingly well flesh-out, especially the carters & wallace.

the plot kept me wanting to come back for more, as i was not just invested in abitha getting her revenge, but in finding out the truth behind samson.

i loved the ending, and the atmosphere as well as the horror elements to this book were delectable.

i was so in love with this book i didn’t want to pick it up because then i knew it would end. i think i could read this again and again and never be sick of this.

i actually can’t stop thinking about this book. GOD IT WAS SO GOOD.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Death, Misogyny, Sexism, Violence, Blood, Religious bigotry, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Chronic illness, Gun violence, Vomit, and Colonisation

Minor: Racism and Sexual content

aidamaria_reads's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense 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? Yes

5.0

Brom understands feminine rage. Through this novel, he supports women’s rights AND women’s wrongs. (I wouldn’t even necessarily label those wrongs as, well, wrong, but more as justice served while it’s still hot.)

It may surprise you that, despite this being a book about witches and devils, I was holding back tears several times. This author knows how to make you root for certain characters in this story and absolutely despise its villains.

This may be dark historical fantasy, but the misogyny that shaped society was, ultimately, very real (and still is, to this day, something that threatens the existence of many women in the world). Which means the scariest part turned out to be the non-fictional part.

Also, the illustrations are amazing. I envy Brom’s ability to both be an excellent storyteller and extremely talented artist.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death, Body horror, Death, Gore, Misogyny, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Religious bigotry, Murder, and Colonisation

trollmila's review against another edition

dark sad tense fast-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Confinement, Death, Misogyny, Sexism, Torture, Violence, Blood, Religious bigotry, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Bullying, Grief, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Domestic abuse, Excrement, Death of parent, and Colonisation