Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

The Wolf and the Woodsman by Ava Reid

36 reviews

manchester_macy's review against another edition

I thought the concept was great, but there was no progression of the main character who got quite annoying. The plot also took really random side bars which didn't make sense. Even after getting half way I wasn't engaged.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Self harm and Antisemitism

Minor: Emotional abuse and Racism

adonis_march's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring 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

3.75

The Wolf and the Woodsman is a debut novel. It’s got the clunk of one. But by god, is it a good debut novel. For all my issues with some of the tropes in this book, and it’s pacing, and occasionally meandering plot, the latter half of this novel had my heart pounding, my stomach doing turns.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Genocide, Gore, Hate crime, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Antisemitism, Religious bigotry, and Murder

Moderate: Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Self harm, Torture, Xenophobia, Grief, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Animal cruelty, Body shaming, Confinement, Fatphobia, and Kidnapping

This is a book very much about the horrific history and acts of Christian zealotry that caused both pagan and Jewish communities to be wiped out, and echoes the centuries of fear and grief that the Jewish community has had to endure since.

saurahsaurus's review

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

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

16rcampbell's review against another edition

There was a lot of politics and religion in this book -- way more than I was expecting -- which is normally fine, if I know that's what I'm getting into first. Regardless of the surprise of it, all of the metaphors and symbolism felt way too literal. It's blatantly obvious who is being cast in which roles, which religions we're talking about, etc. Instead of creating her own religion with which to expose the abusive, racist, and sexist under AND overtones of religion (a certain religion in particular) and the horror that comes with an organized religion like this, it felt like a copy and paste. If I wanted to have those kinds of discussion, I would have picked up a non-fiction book. I understand the frustrations, and share many of the same sentiments and beliefs as the author seems to encourage, but reading this just made me angry. I encounter enough of the bs of the "love interest" in my everyday life, I don't need to relive those comments, beliefs and arguments in a fantasy book. I am all for using fiction as a way to digest and discuss contemporary issues, but the way it was presented here made me feel frustrated and angry instead of allowing me to become involved in the conversation. And there's never a break. It's constant. If we're not shitting on each other's religions, we're condemning their politics. If not that, we're fighting some monsters (and not well). Or we're sleeping. I don't understand characters' choices, I don't feel connected to them, I'm not really rooting for them because if they succeed it's still a shitty end result, and I don't like a single person in the book so far. The only reason I read this far is because I felt like I had to be missing something since it was recommended and praised so many times. 

I also felt absolutely no chemistry between the main character and the supposed love interest. Accents are used purely for aesthetic purposes instead of and indication of pronunciation and it didn't look good and just confused me as I read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Religious bigotry, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Bullying, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, and Abandonment

archaicgambit'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? Yes

5.0

This is a heavy book. It is also brilliant. The first person present tense voice is immediate and vivid. Evike’s relationship with Gaspar is one of the best enemies to lovers romance arcs I’ve ever read. The multiculturalism and the cost of the magic was handled deftly. I loved the constant weaving of folktales throughout. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Gore, Physical abuse, Self harm, Xenophobia, Antisemitism, Religious bigotry, and War

Moderate: Emotional abuse and Grief

kylasmv15's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense slow-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Death, Gore, Blood, Religious bigotry, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Bullying, Emotional abuse, Self harm, Sexual content, Violence, Vomit, Grief, Death of parent, and Gaslighting

mjwhitlock18's review against another edition

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

I loved lots of things about this. It has a sentient forest, a prickly stubborn female main character, a magic system derived from multiple different religions, and an forced proximity enemies to lovers subplot. The influence of Eastern European and Jewish history and folklore lends the worldbuilding a rich fullness, but the plot wandered substantially and the pacing seemed weird, slow at times and blazing quick at others. I love the verbose, lyrical descriptions, as it really helps me feel immersed in the world, but I can imagine that it will make others feel bogged down. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Violence, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Bullying, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, and Antisemitism

Minor: Death of parent

bandysbooks's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Colonisation, War, and Classism