Reviews with content warning for Animal cruelty - The Winter of the Witch

Reviews tagging 'Animal cruelty'

The Winter of the Witch by Katherine Arden

6 reviews

lisa_m's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

This book was the perfect conclusion to the trilogy! It truly got better and better. I really liked the first book, loved the second and this one was just amazing.
I don't think I understand every theme that was explored in this book so I won't even try to analyse it. I just read this book for pleasure so I didn't make notes or anything. I can say that there is definitely loads of things to analyse and think about though.
I loved the way the myths were mixed with real events and people. It just feels like an alternative universe.

This series is officially one of my all time favourites. The writing is amazing, as is the storytelling. The characters range from good, to horrible, to amazing, to very morally ambiguous. The exploration of good & bad and if there even is such a thing in the first place was done so well. This book had a twist I truly did not expect. After the 3rd big chapter I thought everything was over (because in every other fantasy book, that is how the story ends), everything that came after was just so unexpected and amazing. I can't say more without saying too much and spoiling the book so I won't. This is truly a series you should know as little as possible about before reading.

Also I was surprised by how fresh this book felt. I have read so many fantasy books by now and I can enjoy a book while still realising how tropy and cliquee it is. This book felt like something new and exciting though.

I can only highly recommend this book! Especially if you are interested in russian folklore :)

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elisabeth_g_mark's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional inspiring mysterious sad fast-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? Yes

5.0

This became my favourite trilogy of the last year. Every character is alive, has depth, evolves and has a role to play. The setting is vibrant, you feel the cold, the darkness and the summer heat.
The love story is a side plot, because for our MC her own growth, searching for her own way, is more important than a man. But it's still important to her, home and in the end, she needs it all - her love, her friends and allies, her enemies and faith in herself.
I'll miss this world and will reread it next winter. Katherine Arden became quickly a favourite author with this 5-star trilogy.

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rai's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional mysterious slow-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? No

3.75

Time is really weird in this book. Like, that's part of the point of the magic but it made it hard to follow where along the calendar they were working. I also would occasionally get confused between the Russian names and English honorifics the characters are referred too. There is a good glossary at the end of the book but no way to reference it easily while reading.

Content Warnings