kaiyakaiyo's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
There was a lot of suffering in this book! Some of it was gratuitous, but overall I really like when fantasy doesn’t gloss over how fucking disgusting and dreary life could be in these historical settings. Battle half-planned half-freestyle, mud everywhere, cold as fuck, and everything sucks until the fight is over; it felt more accurate than if Vasya had ridden up in shiny armor with the perfect plan and giant allies. Still have complaints about the heavy-handed sexual assault & harassment throughout these books as an attempt at “historical accuracy” but … whatever
My biggest complaint that took this down a full star: The Bear actually liking Konstantin was… weird. I don’t love retroactive queering of villains, and this iteration of it felt especially shoehorned and strange. The author could have easily written in a few queer monks or cheyrti if they were that anxious to inject queerness after like 600+ pages of het-fest… loads of potential material given how willing they were to bend and freestyle mythology… Having the murderous mentally ill monk with a fetish for harming women he desires and the giant chaos bear that literally possessed and assaulted said monk be lightly gay for each other was ill-timed and ill-chosen. Don’t get me wrong, I live for queerness in historical fantasy but i thought we’d long ago established that throwing a little fruit into abusive, horrible villain characters was not an okay way to add diversity…
Graphic: Blood, War, Death, Violence, and Misogyny
Moderate: Torture, Sexual harassment, Religious bigotry, Toxic friendship, Grief, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Vomit
elisabeth_g_mark's review against another edition
- 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
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.
Graphic: War, Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, Misogyny, Grief, Violence, Religious bigotry, Physical abuse, Animal death, and Animal cruelty
Moderate: Suicide and Torture
Minor: Vomit, Toxic friendship, and Sexual harassment
ktkeps's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Religious bigotry, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Animal death, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual harassment, and War
saintyeehaw's review against another edition
- 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
3.5
Spoiler
We are pretty much outright told that no man can resist Vasya's wild/unique charm; while that's something seen in the behavior of other men in the previous books, making it some kind of general rule that gets her out of more than one life threatening situation feels pretty cheap. I also don't feel great, or even good at all, about a 17 year old feeling forced by a dire situation to have sex with an ancient winter god. I was already iffy about their relationship but this book pushed it from questionable to straight up ick for me. Not loving that the only queer relationship in the entire series is between the two villains either. Finally, if we're going to undo some of Vasya's greatest development into adulthood by bringing Solovey back, at least give us more time with him.Graphic: Sexual content, Blood, Child death, Confinement, Kidnapping, Pedophilia, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Toxic relationship, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, War, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Grief, Animal death, Death, Emotional abuse, Adult/minor relationship, and Murder
chattie_the_mad_chatter's review against another edition
- 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
5.0
I love the journey we go with Vasya, it starts with a band then slows down, it took me by surprise but wraps everything up so well.
I love this out of all 3 as it mixes things I enjoy from the first 2, tje conflict between Chereti and the Church, politics, Vasya finding herself. Character growth is brilliant emotions are high and it has made me appreciate mushrooms!
Graphic: Animal death, Death, Sexism, Violence, Child death, Fire/Fire injury, Misogyny, and Murder
Moderate: Blood, Vomit, Injury/Injury detail, and Sexual harassment
erinreadsfantasy's review
- 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
4.75
Moderate: Sexism and Sexual harassment
eininthebird's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Een verdrietig einde aan een mooie serie.
Moderate: Sexual harassment