Reviews tagging 'Fire/Fire injury'

Historia naturalna smoków by Marie Brennan

8 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.

euphemiajo's review against another edition

adventurous funny mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Gun violence, Infertility, Miscarriage, Sexism, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Murder, Pregnancy, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Fire/Fire injury and Alcohol

snerp_reads's review against another edition

Stopped reading after some weird choices for the portrayal of Vystrana that left a bad taste in my mouth. None of the other reviews on here mentioned this, but the entire crafting of their fictional religion was pretty obviously antisemitic. It took me a few pages to catch onto it, but it's very obvious that the Vystrana religion was based on Judaism. The religion of Vystrana in the book was portrayed as backwards, savage, and more superstitious and sexist than the main character's religion. 
I made the connection that she had based their religion off of Judaism when I came across two main details in the book; the specific detail that the villagers use graggers to symbolize their disapproval of her arrival, and a ritual the villagers have of fully submerging themselves in "living waters" (it was straight up just a mikvah).

The villagers were then written forcing the main character to take part in the submersion in front of everyone watching, and she even briefly thought they were going to rob or kill her at this point.

 
I wish authors would quit dragging in their own antisemitism into otherwise perfectly fine books.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Gore, Blood, Kidnapping, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Misogyny, Sexism, Antisemitism, and Religious bigotry

lunep's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious tense slow-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Gun violence, Misogyny, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal death, Mental illness, Miscarriage, and Classism

Minor: Body horror, Cursing, Death, Rape, Violence, Vomit, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Colonisation

crunchylettuce's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious relaxing medium-paced

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

5.0

Fictional memoir that reads like a Jane Austen novel combines the fantasy of dragons with scientific discovery. Cannot recommend this one enough, a delightful read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence

Moderate: Death and Misogyny

Minor: Miscarriage and Fire/Fire injury

ophycore's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Misogyny, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Grief, and Classism

Minor: Miscarriage, Death of parent, and Pregnancy

featherinthewind's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.25

A magnificent read about dragons and history that had an underlying note of love. I really did enjoy this book but boy was I not expecting that ending.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Cursing, Death, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Sexism, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

puttingwingsonwords's review against another edition

adventurous slow-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Misogyny, Sexism, and Grief

Moderate: Gun violence, Miscarriage, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, and Murder

Minor: Cursing, Sexual content, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Colonisation