jelliestars's review against another edition
- 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
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
- 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
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
- 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
And to think that it's a debut novel!
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
rotuna's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Moderate: Death of parent, Domestic abuse, and Misogyny
Minor: Sexual assault
smeier22's review against another edition
2.0
Minor: Sexual assault
emfass'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
4.0
Kathleen Gati does a beautiful job as narrator, capturing the characters, the dialects, the world of medieval Rus.
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
epellicci'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? No
5.0
Moderate: Violence
Minor: Child death and Sexual assault
cynicalraven's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
4.0
Graphic: Misogyny, Religious bigotry, and Child abuse
Moderate: Sexual assault, Rape, Death, Death of parent, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
Minor: Animal death
btwnprintedpgs'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? No
4.5
Graphic: Death, Death of parent, and Religious bigotry
Moderate: Animal death, Child death, and Vomit
Minor: Sexual assault and Rape
Corporal punishmentsauvageloup's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
pros:
- stunning, lyrical, fairytale writing. simple style but really lovely in originality of description and poignant turns of phrase. the story is carried along beautifully, smoothing over time skips.
- the character development was also so good, with Konstantin descending into worse evils, Anna's rise and fall, Vasya growing into her strength while still being fallible, and my favourite, Morozko, of sleep and death. he was cold but fair, human but other, real and not, and i just loved how Arden wrote him.
- i also enjoyed the setting so much, and the historical details too. the afternotes show how much effort Arden put into historical accuracy.
cons:
- maybe a bit slow, which didn't help my lack of reading focus
looking forward to reading book 2, and glad i won't have to leave the characters :)
Graphic: Toxic friendship, Gore, Death of parent, Death, Sexism, Emotional abuse, Child death, Religious bigotry, and Body horror
Moderate: Forced institutionalization, Eating disorder, Blood, Violence, Murder, Mental illness, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Misogyny, Grief, and Gaslighting
Minor: Sexual assault
warning for eating disorder is really for starvation and struggling to get enough to eat, descriptions of extreme weight loss.