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kaziaroo's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.5
I read this because of the connection to Studio Ghibli's The Boy and the Heron, but was very disappointed.
This book is incredibly suspenseful and John Connelly is brilliant at creating atmosphere, but there were just too many sections that left a bad taste in my mouth. I had my misgivings at the start when racist slurs like "g*psies" were used casually, but it got worse and worse. The book is permeated with homophobia, fatphobia and misogyny. The complex characters are all men, while the female characters are either villains or damsels in distress (with the possible exception of Rose, who is still one-dimensional). There are two gay characters in the book (one briefly mentioned near the beginning and one with a major role later on) and both are linked with paedophilia and "unnaturalness". This was an incredibly spiteful book to anyone who isn't a straight, white, well-educated man.
I also didn't like how the author makes enemies of non-fiction books, encouraging the reader to look on reading the newspaper or textbooks with disdain:
"He couldn’t understand most of what they [the non-fiction books] were saying, but they spoke v-e-r-y s-l-o-w-l-y as if what they had to impart was very important or the person to whom they were speaking was very stupid. Some of the books appeared to be arguing among themselves in blah-blah-blah tones, the way experts sometimes talked on the wireless when they were addressing one another, surrounded by other experts whom they were trying to impress with their intelligence."
"Newspaper stories were like newly caught fish, worthy of attention only for as long as they remained fresh, which was not very long at all. They were like the street urchins hawking the evening editions, all shouty and insistent, while stories – real stories, proper made-up stories – were like stern but helpful librarians in a well-stocked library. Newspaper stories were as insubstantial as smoke, as long-lived as mayflies. They did not take root but were instead like weeds that crawled along the ground, stealing the sunlight from more deserving tales. David’s father’s mind was always occupied by shrill, competing voices, each one silenced as soon as he gave it his attention, only for its clamour to be instantly replaced by another."
This is an incredibly dangerous idea to impress on potentially young readers of this book. Yes, fiction is wonderful, but reading and understanding non-fiction is vital.
Additionally, I found the key action scenes disappointing; after a lot of build-up, David seemed to get out of each situation relatively easily. The other characters kept praising how he was brave and achieved what grown men didn't and I was just like... Where? When did he do anything special that Roland (for example) couldn't have done? I felt like I was constantly being told to be in awe of David but I just didn't feel it. The ending felt too easy as well. I suppose it's good that David decided not to sell his brother to the Crooked Man, but simply holding out for long enough magically solved all of his problems – his two main antagonists, the Crooked Man and the Loups, simply disappeared and David trotted off into the sunset leaving the kingdom potentially in chaos, being suddenly without its monarchy.
Overall, I don't recommend this book and I certainly would never encourage any under-18s to read it, no matter the target audience (the book is written in a fairytale style and the protagonist is ~13–14 years old for most of the story). The content is dark and violent enough to make it unsuitable for young children, but I would be worried about even teenagers being influenced by this book. There are so much better things out there.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Death, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Body shaming, Cancer, Confinement, Fatphobia, Gore, Homophobia, Misogyny, Sexism, Kidnapping, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, and War
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Rape, Cannibalism, and Pregnancy
cecicastro's review against another edition
dark
emotional
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
1.5
If you are considering reading this book, don’t. The only redeeming things about it are the first and last chapter (hence my added .5). Although it has some good lines here and there, the writing style is mostly incoherent and random, the story telling is clunky at best. Plot-wise its one of the worst books I’ve ever read.
There were so many plot holes left unanswered. The side characters were flat and used only to portray stupid stereotypes. Apart from David’s mom, every woman in the story is either a horrible person or weak. The men all read the same, giving advice that was so straightforward it was boring and took away from interesting story lines being explored (like David’s OCD). There also seemed to be no point to the story being set during WW2 other than to justify the sexism, fat shaming, and rampant homophobia.
Also important to note: this book is NOT for children. There’s so much gore and violence in it, I really don’t get how it’s supposed to be meant for younger audiences.
There were so many plot holes left unanswered. The side characters were flat and used only to portray stupid stereotypes. Apart from David’s mom, every woman in the story is either a horrible person or weak. The men all read the same, giving advice that was so straightforward it was boring and took away from interesting story lines being explored (like David’s OCD). There also seemed to be no point to the story being set during WW2 other than to justify the sexism, fat shaming, and rampant homophobia.
Also important to note: this book is NOT for children. There’s so much gore and violence in it, I really don’t get how it’s supposed to be meant for younger audiences.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Mental illness, Sexism, Violence, and Death of parent
Moderate: Death, Homophobia, and Pedophilia