Reviews tagging 'Physical abuse'

The Wolf and the Woodsman by Ava Reid

59 reviews

bedtimesandbooks's review against another edition

adventurous dark medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Genocide, Physical abuse, Self harm, Xenophobia, Blood, Antisemitism, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and War

Moderate: Child death

anastasiadreaming's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

2.0

I really wanted to love this one, and unfortunately it didn’t work out. I’m granting one star for the atmosphere, and another for Gáspár, but I’m stripping three for how nonsensical Évike’s decision-making was. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Self harm, Violence, Blood, Lesbophobia, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

grace_yin's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Blood, Religious bigotry, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Bullying, Child abuse, and Physical abuse

jasperw's review against another edition

adventurous emotional informative inspiring medium-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? Yes

3.5

I felt very mixed about this book. I flew through the first 1/3 of this book, into the world and interested where it was going. For the rest of it I did find myself having to push myself to continue reading. I really enjoyed the characters (not to say they didn't annoy me at times), and the histories used to create the story were amazing to see. I was just a bit uninspired by some of the storyline. It seemed at moments more tell than show, with confusion about why it was suddenly doing this action to get to a certain plot.
The ending, while I understand it and it fit the end of the story, did still leave me wanting a bit more. But I can recognize that more me than the story. It was a good ending for the story. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse

saurahsaurus's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful tense medium-paced

• 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Hate crime, Racism, Self harm, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Antisemitism, Religious bigotry, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body horror, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Abandonment

Minor: Infidelity and War

r_a_bell's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious tense medium-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

4.5

The perfect example of what a stand-alone should be! You get all of the story of a trilogy in one book. The beginning journey did seem a little pointless in the end, and I kind of wish it had been a bit shorter if it wasn’t really going to go anywhere. However, it was still enjoyable to read and didn’t feel unnecessarily drawn out. I love how realistic it was its depiction of social structures and relationships, especially in regard to religion. I also really liked the end! It didn’t wrap everything up in a neat little bow just because that’s what the author thought readers would want. The ending was realistic and true to the story, yet satisfying, and it left that little kernel of hope that everything would end up as a “happily ever after.”

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Gore, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Grief, Religious bigotry, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Genocide, Hate crime, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Torture, Antisemitism, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury

onthesamepage's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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? Yes

5.0

This is the kind of fantasy that I truly love, but I understand why it won't appeal to everyone. If you enjoyed Uprooted by Naomi Novik, I would recommend giving this a try as well, because the tone and the pacing of both books felt very similar to me. The stories are completely different, though.

The most important thing to know is that this book is slow paced. And I don't mean that it dragged, just that we can spend many chapters following our characters as they travel through a forest and are confronted with obstacles on their journey. If that's not the kind of story you enjoy reading, then this book is probably not for you.

The world is based on Hungarian and Jewish history/myths, and a lot of the plot is about toxic nationalism. Gáspár, the titular woodsman and actually the prince, has a younger brother who is convinced that anyone who is "other" needs to be killed for their country to flourish. This includes the tribes who live in the forest and follow a pagan religion, but also the Yehuli, who are confined to a specific part of the city, and frequently persecuted. I don't know enough about Hungarian history to draw any kind of parallels, but I do find this exploration to be fascinating because of the parallels with Palestine and Israel, even though the roles are reversed in that case. I also really appreciated Évike's personal journey to figure out who she is and who she belongs to. As someone who is biracial, it's something I've always struggled with, because I don't quite fit within either culture. Évike's eagerness to learn more about her Yehuli heritage really endeared her to me.

I enjoyed the romance between Évike and Gáspár, but I wouldn't consider them a new favourite couple. The development from enemies to reluctant allies and then to lovers felt natural and unforced, and all of it done without the romance becoming the main focus of the story.

The writing is beautiful. It's descriptive without ever becoming purple, and I found great enjoyment in sinking into the words. I also especially loved the stories Évike tells Gáspár; the dynamic between them during those sections was fantastic to see, but I also just loved the fairytales themselves, which never ended quite the way you'd expect.

All in all a masterful book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Self harm, and Violence

Moderate: Animal death, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, and Torture

gemma_clare's review against another edition

adventurous slow-paced

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

3.0

The pacing in this drove me mad and made me really struggle to finish it, which is sad because it had so much potential. I enjoyed the characters and would have enjoyed the plot if it was more consistent, but it felt like it was jumping all over the place and like the end goal of the book changed 5-6 times. I liked the conflict between religions and comparisons to real history, but found some of the lore either confusing, or boring and shallow. The writing style was nice. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Violence, Blood, Antisemitism, Grief, Religious bigotry, Murder, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

claudiamacpherson'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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Antisemitism, Religious bigotry, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Child abuse, Child death, Genocide, Hate crime, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Vomit, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and War

maiadunleavy's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious fast-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Antisemitism, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, and War

Moderate: Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual content, and Grief

Minor: Bullying, Genocide, Colonisation, and Deportation