Reviews tagging 'Animal cruelty'

The Wolf and the Woodsman by Ava Reid

72 reviews

frmeden'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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Emotional abuse, Blood, Religious bigotry, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Bullying and Sexual content

Minor: Death of parent

7cleo7's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring reflective tense medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Racism, Self harm, Violence, Antisemitism, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Bullying, Confinement, Sexual content, Xenophobia, Trafficking, Grief, Religious bigotry, Cultural appropriation, and Colonisation

Minor: Body shaming and War

callistag1's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Classism

Minor: Ableism, Vomit, and War

asbld123's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder

Minor: Animal cruelty

evelphysicist's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Self harm, Violence, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Physical abuse, Racism, Xenophobia, and Religious bigotry

Minor: War

brysonsmommie84's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

2.75

I don’t know that Meh, is truly a review…

Other people are talking about the Hungarian history and Jewish folklore, which I guess was an interesting spin that I didn’t expect going into the story. The characters go over the story of Esther (yes, from the Bible) for a hot minute and Evike (MFC) feels like her father is calling for to be like Esther and use the story to give her insight into how to save an entire kingdom of people. So… I guess it depends on how you feel about Esther’s story. This added copious amounts of gory, self mutilation, and magic. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Self harm, Sexual content, and Violence

moonchild_cos's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Gore, Self harm, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Religious bigotry, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Bullying, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Vomit, Antisemitism, Grief, Death of parent, Abandonment, and War

Minor: Child abuse, Confinement, Torture, and Fire/Fire injury

stardust_heidi's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-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

3.75

I have no idea how to rate this book. I listened to the audiobook. Saskia Maarleveld did an amazing job, as per usual. But the story itself... It was fine? I think part of it was what usually happens when I listen to fantasy on audiobook (for the first time) -- I miss a lot as I go about my day. And I'm fairly slumpy right now. But at the same time, it lacked something that made me look forward to listen to it every day. I think the story was solid enough for me to keep going, for sure, but not enough to love it. It was very gruesome and dark, so beware. The romance was not particularly moving, but I like how they connected by the end. The mythology and lore parts of the story are pulled from is interesting. 

I liked it okay but definitely won't reread it. I'm hoping Ava Reid's other books are better. 😬

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Emotional abuse, Gore, Violence, Blood, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

immovabletype's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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

3.25

man, i thought this was going to be a solid 4 stars for a good chunk of the novel, while we're following the two main characters on a quest of sorts. this is hate-to-love, and throughout their journey they're grappling with preconceptions about each other based on centuries of hatred and oppression between their people (the fantasy is very cleverly based on pagan, christian, and jewish mythology, with all the attendant real world conflicts--the author "has a degree in political science . . . focusing on religion and ethnonationalism" and her expertise shows). grappling while wanting to grapple each other, if you know what i mean. it makes for a very intimate narrative, slow-paced but propulsive . . . but then the journey ends, the world opens up, and our two lovers are separated. what was compelling me to keep reading just kind of dropped out of sight for a while and i found it harder to pick up as much as i had been, and even after they were reunited it never quite got that spark back for me. and then i loathed the epilogue.

idk. there were things that happened in the latter part of the book that i liked and i think were necessary to forward the narrative and themes. however. it just could've been done better. i will also say, this is sold as adult fantasy. i would argue it feels a lot more ya. the heroine is almost a classic ya heroine, the tropes are very ya tropes. these aren't necessarily bad things, but that's not gonna work for everyone, so i wanted to make a note of it.

i did enjoy this for the most part, i'm glad i read it because now i know that ava reid is gonna knock it out of the park for me someday (this was a debut). i'm quite looking forward to reading more from her.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Confinement, Death, Gore, Hate crime, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Antisemitism, Religious bigotry, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Genocide, Sexual content, and Death of parent

Minor: War

Genocide is

a constant threat, but no genocide actually occurs.

triley's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Self harm, Violence, Blood, Religious bigotry, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Racism, Antisemitism, Kidnapping, and Death of parent

Minor: Physical abuse, Vomit, and Grief