Reviews tagging 'Death'

Historia naturalna smoków by Marie Brennan

82 reviews

theirgracegrace's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

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

4.5

If someone asked me if it were possible to simultaneously copy the Victorian memoir style and acknowledge the political and social culture that created it, I would ask if they liked dragons and hand them A Natural History of Dragons. Lady Isabella Amherst is a fascinating character as she tells the story decades later of her first expedition into the treacherous mountains of Vystrana in search of information about the biology of dragons. The split between the Isabella who is narrating the book and the Isabella we see in the narrative itself is astoundingly well-depicted, showing what decades of research and growth have given her over her younger counterpart. The care given to all aspects of the worldbuilding (religion, dragon and other creatures' biology, economics, politics, even language) creates an incredibly believable and lifelike setting. I cannot recommend this book enough!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Gun violence, Hate crime, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Sexism, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Religious bigotry, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child abuse, Infidelity, Antisemitism, Trafficking, and Classism

Minor: Alcoholism, Cursing, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Vomit, Abortion, Cultural appropriation, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, and War

The Vystrani religious practices very closely mimic orthodox Judaism, so I've categorized Isabella's comment about her younger self writing the Vystrani religious practices in a exoticizing/fetishizing light as similar to antisemitism (although this is in no way obvious in the text itself).

Technically the villain's burn is from acid and not fire, but the injuries are described similarly.

grace_b_3's review against another edition

adventurous 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

3.5

If you like Emily Wilder’s Encyclopedia of Fairies, I’d recommend this book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

Moderate: Sexual content

idesofmarch's review against another edition

adventurous 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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death and Death

Moderate: Misogyny, Sexism, Kidnapping, and Classism

Minor: Blood

ninjamuse's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death and Gun violence

Moderate: Death and Miscarriage

Minor: Murder

karlin0336's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death

Moderate: Death and Violence

Minor: Grief and Pregnancy

pagesihavenotyetread's review against another edition

adventurous challenging reflective slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Animal death, Death, Miscarriage, Sexism, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Pregnancy, and Classism

briely's review against another edition

adventurous slow-paced

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

3.5

I wanted to love this because I love a scholarly fantasy vibe but it’s almost too dry even for me. I’m curious about where it goes but I might wait a bit to continue. I think the distant nature of the narration due to her time apart from the events of this book don’t lend well to keeping one gripped in the story because there’s few emotions in the text to grip you. Though by nature it is meant to be a memoir and I’ve never been one for nonfiction so this is in a very odd spot of being fiction resembling nonfiction and I feel odd about it.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Death

abby_can_read's review against another edition

adventurous lighthearted 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

4.0

📱
This was a wonderful book. I had a great time reading it and I basically read it all in one-sitting. I loved the memorial style and the foreshadowing. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, and Misogyny

Moderate: Miscarriage, Sexism, and Classism

Minor: Kidnapping, Grief, and Pregnancy

amaranthine_dragon's review against another edition

adventurous funny inspiring mysterious fast-paced

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

4.5

If the later books are even better (as I've heard), this promises to be a great series! The blend of science and fantasy and mystery was lovely and I just really enjoyed the whole premise. Nothing stuck out at me as being a plot hole or otherwise making no sense and I especially appreciated the author popping in at opportune moments to say things like "this was bad science, it just happened to work this time." It gave me more respect for the character and made everything more plausible. 

That said, I'm also a big classic fiction reader and I could see how this would be a tough read for someone who isn't as comfortable with that style--It is fantasy, but written in a Victorian England memoir style with appropriately dry English humor and side comments that slow the narrative. If you can make it through Pride and Prejudice / Jane Eyre and similar stories and want dragons, this book is for you.

Planning to continue with future books!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death and Death

Moderate: Grief

anneofsturgeonbay's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful sad 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death and Miscarriage