Reviews tagging 'Pedophilia'

The Bear and the Nightingale, by Katherine Arden

11 reviews

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

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.

reddeddy'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? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Death of parent, Violence, Toxic relationship, Gaslighting, Physical abuse, Classism, Death, Injury/injury detail, and Misogyny

Moderate: Abandonment, Grief, Mental illness, Sexual content, Child abuse, Gore, Child death, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Blood, and Animal death

Minor: Body horror, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Medical content, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Vomit, Pedophilia, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Body shaming

rosequarterdrifting's review against another edition

mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.25

folkloric winter horror horse girl book

the first third of the book was p slow but it kicked off in the second half. kinda petered out at the end but still really good

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Death of parent, Gore, Physical abuse, and Self harm

Moderate: Religious bigotry

Minor: Ableism, Incest, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual content, Vomit, and Adult/minor relationship

leilapeach's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Death of parent, Pedophilia, and Religious bigotry

Minor: Animal death and Sexual assault

kylieqrada's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful 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

3.5

Once I got used to the narrative voice of this book, I really enjoyed listening to this one on audio. It was definitely an immersive experience, with some moments near the end getting pretty creepy, TBH. While I did like this book a lot, I didn't love it on the level of, say, Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik, which I was sort of expecting to based on reviews I'd heard. I think I'll pick up the next book in physical copy, just to see if perhaps this is something that needs to be enjoyed more quickly than the realities of my life allow for with audiobook listening. But overall, Katherine Arden has created a gorgeous world, with both loveable and love-to-hateable characters. The plot is very much fairy tale-esque, so if a more whimsical narrative isn't your style, I would say to steer clear of this one. I'm excited to see where we go with (hopefully) Vasya in the next installment!

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Cannibalism, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Grief, Medical trauma, Medical content, Mental illness, Misogyny, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexism, and Violence

liteartha's review

adventurous dark mysterious slow-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

this book really takes its time and only amps up plot and action-wise in the last third, which i didn't love. that said, it definitely finishes strong and sets itself up well for the next instalment. i was a fan of the folklore and overall fable-like way this story was told, i really enjoyed the sibling bonds, and i think i quite liked vasya as a protagonist? i'm just not sure how well i got to know her, but i'll grant that she was rather young throughout this book.

Spoiler

on that note: why the fuck did morozko kiss her. why the fuck. why is that always a thing in these stories. like? keep these immortal dudes away from teenagers' lips and bodies? i mean?

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Animal death, Sexual assault, Sexism, Religious bigotry, and Adult/minor relationship

Moderate: Child abuse, Gore, Self harm, Rape, Pedophilia, and Child death

rainyrhythm's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Misogyny, Religious bigotry, and Sexism

Moderate: Blood, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, and Pedophilia

Minor: Rape and Self harm

osttank's review

slow-paced

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

1.0

i was going to give this 2 stars but why bother? it's... underwhelming; i was bored to tears, the plot picked up in the last 20 pages or so and i did not care about the characters at all. vasya, lyoshka, & sasha were more tolerable than the rest. but... nothing more, i just DID NOT CARE for anything or anyone.

that being said, the author did a brilliant job at setting up the story, the environment, & the atmosphere. i'm not well-versed with russian folklore so it was good to know about that & it 'seemed' incorporated nicely into the story. 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Sexual assault and Pedophilia

kestrel's review

adventurous emotional inspiring sad slow-paced

• 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, Child abuse, Blood, and Body horror

Moderate: Pedophilia, Forced institutionalization, and Child death

Minor: Animal cruelty and Body shaming