Reviews tagging 'Genocide'

The Wolf and the Woodsman by Ava Reid

48 reviews

chrisljm's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

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

1.25

Meh. Not a fan of the narration, which read like poetry but in the way where I just don't know wtf they're talking about sometimes. The folklore is written well but it became repetitive and too drawn out, making the story drag. 

Also for all the people who recommended this book because of the romance, you had to be making shit up because the romance sucked. Not to say the romance came out of nowhere, because I knew it was going to happen, but there was absolutely no build up at all. I didn't care for any of the characters, which is besides the point because they also had no chemistry at all. I truly don't understand what Gáspár liked about Évike because she was honestly dumb as fuck. She had no common sense and no sense of self preservation. She absolutely refused to think before any of her actions, even when Gáspár explicitly explains how she'd make the situation worse. She also spends majority of the book belittling Gáspár, and constantly attacking him on how she thinks he's ashamed they've laid and slept together, even though they have so many other things to worry about. He literally tries to get her to think before doing something rash and getting them both killed and she accuses him of fearing people will found out he's no longer pure. Like be fucking fr. 

The book also touches on religious/ethical/moral themes but honestly with the messy plot and execution, flat characters, and confusing narration, I honestly don't know what the take away was supposed to be. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Death, Gore, Hate crime, Racism, Self harm, Violence, Blood, Antisemitism, Religious bigotry, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Bullying, Confinement, Genocide, Death of parent, Abandonment, and War

Minor: Fatphobia, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, and Vomit

maresuju'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

4.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Blood, Religious bigotry, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal death, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Antisemitism, Kidnapping, Murder, Sexual harassment, and Colonisation

Minor: Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and War

soffafa's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense slow-paced

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

2.25

cant believe i spent so much time reading this. tldr; its basically an enemies to lovers but also stockholm syndrome. two characters with nothing in common other than they travel together. shes like "oh hes actually cute" and fawns over him when hes gives her the cold shoulder the entire book. their interactions are so toxic, so many dialogue lines that emphasize "to spark a reaction from him..." or "in hopes to rattle...". that comes up so often in this book its annoying. 

the interactions between the different groups also could have been addressed better. weirdly OP villian and then the royal court-- the conflicts werent interesting in the slightest for the pagans or the woodsman folk. 

not worth spending time reading for mid story and characters

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Genocide and War

breadwitchery's review against another edition

adventurous medium-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

2.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Genocide, Self harm, Violence, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Animal death, Sexual content, Antisemitism, Religious bigotry, and Death of parent

Minor: Ableism and Child abuse

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

---

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

katievallin's review

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Genocide, Gore, Hate crime, Racism, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Vomit, Antisemitism, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Murder, Toxic friendship, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child death, Domestic abuse, Sexual content, and Death of parent

Minor: Body shaming, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol

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.

---

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.

dainybernstein's review against another edition

adventurous dark medium-paced

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

2.5

The premise of the book is good, but the execution is lacking. When I looked up the author and saw she studied ethnonationalism and religion, it all made sense. This is an intellectually sound story-experiment, but the characters' changes in emotion are abrupt and don't fully make sense.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Confinement, Death, Genocide, Gore, Hate crime, Self harm, Violence, Blood, Antisemitism, Religious bigotry, Murder, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: War

tahsintries's review against another edition

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Xenophobia, Antisemitism, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Child abuse, Confinement, Genocide, Hate crime, Racism, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, and Colonisation

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.”

---

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