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gabography's review against another edition
- 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
4.75
what an honestly bonkers concept turned out to be such a dark, fast paced, and surprisingly moving story written in a lovely prose that i can only imagine comes from the very stories that inspired the ensemble of not-so-cuddly creatures (some reviews did not care for that and some even called it pretentious, but i see what the author was going for and i loved it).
truly the only reason why this book doesn't earn a perfect five is due to the human characters, except for the one girl in the group named caroline who i liked a lot. to keep it as spoiler-free as possible because this book should be read blind, i found the main character to be the male equivalent of a mary sue at times, in the sense that you can tell he was the apple of the author's eye and had to be the most specialest lil guy of all the guys in the story, which felt a bit :/ as the story went on. while he was interesting and you feel for him, it all lining up the way it did just made me wish there was more there than just something that felt very "ope, he was special the whole time! surprise everyone!" like... okay. his male friend was also very one-note, left to be nothing more than the bumbling himbo sidekick who makes the main character look ever so clever and special in comparison. if not for his bravery and care for caroline and their relationship tugging at my heart, i would not care for him at all.
other than that, the world, the animal characters and their plight, the theme of trauma and loss and grief, all of it made for such a unique story that i know is going to stay with me. peter rabbit and friends are already looking a little more suspicious.
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, and Murder
Moderate: Confinement, Self harm, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail
ocean_in_a_teardrop's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
4.5
Overall, I loved this book! Even though there were sentences and phrases were hard to understand at times due to their wording, some questions left unanswered that I would have loved answers for, as well as the ability of characters both human and animal to survive the seemingly impossible after graphic injuries that should've killed them, the rest of this book absolutely makes up for these failings.
Graphic: Confinement, Death, Gore, Self harm, Blood, Kidnapping, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail
gondorgirl's review against another edition
- 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? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Confinement, Death, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Self harm, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Cultural appropriation, Alcohol, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail
franzys_whip's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
A teeny tiny bit slow in the beginning. Just a little. Coming from a person who reads pretty fast-paced books most of the time though, it's really not that bad.
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Confinement, Death, Genocide, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Cursing, Gun violence, Grief, Alcohol, and Classism
Minor: Death of parent
uchihas'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? No
3.5
Graphic: Death, Violence, Blood, and Murder
Moderate: Alcoholism, Self harm, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Confinement, Slavery, Vomit, Abandonment, Colonisation, and Classism
kurumipanda'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? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Gore, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Confinement, Genocide, Self harm, Alcohol, and Colonisation
Minor: Suicidal thoughts
cait's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Self harm, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail
dale1997's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Confinement, and Injury/Injury detail
monsterofidaho's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Winterset Hollow clearly takes inspiration from Watership Down. Despite the story itself being set in the Pacific Northwest and the fact that the author himself is not British, it seems as though he's trying to fully imitate that style of narration and it does not work. It's clunky and it detracts from what parts of the story actually work. Bits of prose feel somewhat pretentious at times and Durham does a lot of preemptive thinking for the reader, as though he wants to be positively sure that the reader will come to the same conclusion as him no matter what.
That said, the actual story of Winterset Hollow is beautiful, wild, and devastating. As someone who grew up with Watership Down and Grimms' fairy tales, this story means a lot. The four antagonists are usually more interesting than the other characters--with the exception of Eamon, who also has a lot going on--and the way that Runny, Flackwell, Finn, and Bing all try to cope with their traumas and seek vindication are treated as complexly as they should be.
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, and Colonisation
Moderate: Self harm, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Confinement and Abandonment
wrensreadingroom's review against another edition
5.0
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Self harm, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail