Reviews

Bryony by R.J. Anderson

octagonal's review against another edition

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3.0

Parts were great... other parts made me wonder how exactly I come to read such strange books. But it was cute? Kinda?

bungleboo's review against another edition

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4.0

Yet again I picked a book for its front cover, and every time I do I love the story! Knife, the 7inch faery is drawn to the human world and to a human boy. Join her on her quest to discover why the 'silence' is killing the faery folk. A fairytale with a human twist.

zoealyce's review against another edition

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….

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……….

What the hell…? I thought this was YA … am I wrong? Because it very much reminded me of tween reading.

Oh well. Plot wasn't too bad, and writing style was okay… just didn't suit me at all.

DNF.

myzanm's review against another edition

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4.0

This was sooo good!
There was just a few small things nagging me that prevented this to rise all the way to a 5 star rating.

honeypielovesbooksnthebeatles's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional lighthearted reflective fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

thecannibalgirl's review against another edition

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4.0

This is a slightly different take on most faery novels. It starts out with a young faerie who is full of adventure and curiosity. Her name is Knife.
SpoilerLeaving the safety of the tree is forbidden unless your job demands it. This tiny faerie child leaps out of the window and hangs onto a branch of the home tree. This is where her story truly begins. The first sight of a human intrigues the child. Humans and connecting with the outside world is forbidden by the Queen. To keep the faerie girl from leaving the tree, the queen's hunter, Thorn, scares the child into thinking that humans are the reason for the lack of magic in faeries. She grows up believing that humans are something to be feared. Knife becomes a fierce hunter for the Queen, and while leading a crow away from the tree she falls into the lap of the same human boy she saw as a child. The story continues on with Knife learning the truth about her people and the demise of her magic.
The story ends sweetly alluding on towards another book.

This book captured my attention from the first page and held it until the last. The characters were believable and fully developed, each having their own flavor. The story moved fast enough to keep me interested, but not too fast as to spoil the experience. I will be continuing with this series.

petrel's review against another edition

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1.0

Ehh. I did not like the human-fairy romance. The power dynamics just didn't sit well with me and the reveal that the fairies had to breed with humans to expand their population and were also sort of reliant on humans by acquiring their skills via some kind of magical-osmosis-due-to-proximity felt very uncomfortable.

It was also confusing why a book with such a simplistic plot and seemingly marketed to younger audiences had Paul's attempted self-harm and suicide attempt just...casually thrown in there? It simultaneously made sense considering what Paul went through, but also felt super jarring. Homeboy should go to therapy instead of rediscovering meaning in life from a romantic interest, even if said romantic interest is a magical fairy.

I suppose the insidious new disease, Bryony/Knife's egg-mother's self-sacrifice, and the threat of being eaten by crows are quite dark as well, but it didn't feel like they had any weight behind them because they were overshadowed by diary reading and the questionable romance with a super-duper-special magical love bond thrown on top for good measure.

thedayoflight's review against another edition

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

3.0

kblincoln's review against another edition

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4.0

Bryony/Knife is a young fairy of the Oak who longs to explore outside her tree-defined world despite the Queen's edict and the fear of crows and humans.

She proves her worth and suceeds in going outside, only to meet a human, Paul, and embroil herself in an illicit relationship that nonetheless seems to be making things better in the Oak where other fairies are going into a coma-like "Silence" and noone has produced an original dress or painting or song in living memory.

A little bit of romance, a plucky youngster out to prove her strength, questioning authority, and likable characters.

Very nicely done.

This Book's Food Rating: Cinnamon rolls, for a basic, comforting sweetness in all it's layers.

storytimed's review against another edition

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2.0

He fucked the fairy.

I'm just like.... I was excited to have a all-female society where women lay eggs! But, like, that didn't happen, so. I liked the concept of Knife hanging out with Paul? But the weird like, fairies are the muses of human men, they can't create art except by absorbing what men have to give them and also they have sex with them a ton :) felt weirdly kinky to me and I Did Not like that kink. Also the worldbuilding was hella inconsistent.