Reviews tagging 'Adult/minor relationship'

The Bear and the Nightingale, by Katherine Arden

24 reviews

thewildmageslibrary's review against another edition

4.0

Hey look, I finally read this! And then proceeded to devour the next two books immediately, so pretty safe to say I loved it.

Definitely going on my new faves list.

CW: y'all it's set in like the 14th century so

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Misogyny, Religious bigotry, Violence, Sexism, and Blood

Moderate: Rape, Adult/minor relationship, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Domestic abuse, and Animal death

olivia_piepmeier's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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? No

4.0

This was a very readable, cozy winter fairy tale that left me wanting more. I sometimes felt confused with the names, and some of the action sequences were hard to “see,” but these elements can be overlooked. I realize the age of marriage thing is trying to be historically accurate but I’m tired of it. Vasilia is an endearing lead and certainly carries the story well. More please! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Death, and Blood

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship and Rape

mnerd63's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Violence, Injury/injury detail, Rape, and Blood

Moderate: Death, Religious bigotry, and Adult/minor relationship

jelliestars's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death and Death

Moderate: Death of parent

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Colonisation, Alcohol, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Rape, Child death, Child abuse, Infidelity, Medical content, Physical abuse, Xenophobia, War, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, and Sexism

misszoe's review

adventurous mysterious slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Death, and Misogyny

Moderate: Alcohol, Sexual assault, Sexism, and Injury/injury detail

mmefish's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious slow-paced

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

5.0

It's hard to believe that Katherine Arden is not Russian (or just Slavic) because of how authentic this book feels — it is clear she's very knowledgeable on the subject. Well integrated myths and Russian terms brought back memories from my childhood, while masterfully crafted 14th century Rus' landscapes made me want to read more Slavic-inspired fantasy. 
And to think that it's a debut novel!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Religious bigotry, and Death of parent

Moderate: Animal death, Child death, Death of parent, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexism, Adult/minor relationship, Domestic abuse, Gore, and Sexual assault

Minor: Child abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Pedophilia, and Rape

kappafrog's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Misogyny, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Violence, Death, Blood, Mental illness, Self harm, Sexual harassment, Grief, Injury/injury detail, Child abuse, Body horror, Domestic abuse, and Gore

Moderate: Rape, Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, War, Forced institutionalization, Ableism, Child death, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, and Sexual violence

Minor: Vomit, Alcohol, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual content, and Animal cruelty

emfass's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense 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

 Comfort reread of one of my favorites series.

Kathleen Gati does a beautiful job as narrator, capturing the characters, the dialects, the world of medieval Rus. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Blood, Death, Misogyny, Sexism, Animal death, Religious bigotry, and Death of parent

Moderate: Cannibalism, Child death, Sexual assault, Violence, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Grief, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, and Self harm

Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, and Rape

saintyeehaw's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

I came into this book expecting a first person narrative focused on the female lead (similar to Uprooted) so it took me some time to get adjusted to the ever shifting perspectives. There were many times when I found myself waiting for the story to actually get going, which made chapters like Pyotr and his sons' visit to Moscow especially sluggish for me. Overall though, once the story got going I was all in. I loved Vasya's relationships with the different creatures, the characterization of Morozko, and the sheer evil/selfishness of the antagonists . I am definitely going to continue the series.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Colonisation, Death, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Toxic relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Classism, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Injury/injury detail, Mental illness, Misogyny, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Sexism, Violence, and Vomit

maeverose's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious slow-paced

• 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

A note: If you dnfed just because it’s slow, pls don’t give up! The second and third books are much more fast paced and plot driven. It makes me sad that so many people give up on this series because the first book is slow. It gets better!! But if you disliked it for other reasons then you can ignore this I guess.

Themes/Tropes:

-russian folklore

-snow/winter

-nature/house spirits

-clashing of christianity and paganism

-small medieval town in the middle nowhere
-realistic, morally grey characters 

-witches

-talking horses with individual personalities (not in a cheesy way I promise)

-vampires (but they're very zombie-like)

-god of death

This book is atmospheric, fairy tale-esque and dark. I loved how the Russian folklore was incorporated into the story, and reading the author's notes in the back of each book, I felt that both the folklore and history were very well researched, which I always appreciate in historical fiction/fantasy. I loved the house and nature spirits, they reminded me of studio ghibli characters a little bit, maybe that's just me. If you like assassin's creed valhalla, this series reminded me a little of that. Especially the later books. The story is different, and it's probably not quite as gruesome but the time period, setting and some of the themes are similar. I loved how believable the characters felt. I really value realistic characters in stories, and this book definitely has that. They're also all morally grey.

I will say that despite this being written as an adult novel and having some darker themes, it does read a little YA to me. Thankfully it doesn’t have the super annoying irrational/stupid characters thing that I hate in YA, but it does still have a little bit if a YA fantasy feel to it. Maybe just because the heroine is 17? (and even younger in the first book)

As I said at the top, this first book is a bit slow. It’s really just introducing you to the characters and setting things up for the next books. But I loved the atmosphere and characters so I didn’t mind it at all.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death of parent, Misogyny, Rape, Gore, Pedophilia, Religious bigotry, and Adult/minor relationship

Minor: Animal death, Death, Child death, and Child abuse

The gore is only really in one scene, but it is somewhat graphic in that scene. It’s brief enough to kinda skim it. Also, this book does have the ‘17 year old girl ends up with an immortal man’ trope, if that’s something that bothers you.