Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden

75 reviews

uselesspirateraven's review against another edition

adventurous emotional inspiring mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gore, Misogyny, Violence, Blood, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Pedophilia, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Vomit, and Death of parent

Minor: Pregnancy

ewitsmich's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional inspiring mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

I loved this book! Such rich and vibrant folklore is in good hands. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Sexism, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Child death, Sexual violence, Blood, and Kidnapping

sn8man's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny informative inspiring lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Rape, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Pregnancy

shadowearitei101's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

3.25

Second half was pretty good, first was a bit difficult to get through. Extra .25 star for good prose.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse

Minor: Sexual assault

mmelibertine's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.0

Slow to get going, and the 3rd person omniscient POV bouncing from one character to another in rapid succession didn't work for me. As the book pared that POV down to two or three main characters, it felt much stronger. Then it absolutely stuck the landing. Hell yes. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Blood, Death of parent, and Sexual harassment

twoweeeeks's review against another edition

adventurous emotional slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Emotional abuse, Violence, Blood, and Death of parent

Moderate: Animal death, Child abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Kidnapping, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Child death and Sexual violence

kiwij96's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense 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? Yes

4.25

Bit of a jumpy start with the multiple POVs and time jumps for the first couple of chapters but I'm so glad I stuck with it. Also, the names were confusing at times because everyone had a name, a nickname, and then an affectionate name given to them, and it took me maybe half the book to remember who was who.

The story was enchanting and magical with a big focus traditional gender norms and values in medieval Russia, as well as religious bigotry in traditionally pagan areas. However, these topics were handled really well and were written to evoke emotion in the reader.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Child abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Blood, Religious bigotry, and Death of parent

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Child death, Death, Mental illness, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Self harm

dragonaion's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective 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? Yes

5.0

The title and cover are delightfully deceptive and are not for the faint of heart. Arden writes this in an excellent story book pattern, giving a natural cadence and bounce if you read it aloud, but this is absolutely a brilliant story for adults that will give nightmares to children. Filled with complex themes, this is an excellent blend of historical fiction and fantasy that had me at the edge of my seat and desperately turning the pages. One moment you are naturally shivering with the main characters in winter (I had to turn the fireplace on a number of times) and as they mention the household spirits you can almost imagine the ones next to you while you read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Violence, Blood, Grief, Religious bigotry, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Child death, and Classism

Minor: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury

The story takes place in a realistic Russian village and appropriately shows the hardships of winter, how women were treated in such a time, and the clash of Christian religion with pagan beliefs.

geooo's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious sad tense 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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Sexism, Religious bigotry, and Death of parent

Moderate: Child abuse and Rape

itsnotalakeitsanocean'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? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

I remember seeing a lot of hype surrounding this book. While I'm not the type to fall for hype after reading the blurb, I came to the conclusion this book wouldn't have the same tired old problems as books that tend to get hyped (glorification of abusive relationships, gender bioessentialism, characters that act like walking tropes) and should give it a go. I was mostly right.

I think if you read books purely for vibes and you enjoy richly described dark fairy tales you'll probably enjoy this boom greatly.

What I liked:

• Vasya was a realistic protagonist who was easy to empathise with. Though set mostly in the Russian countryside, I think anyone growing up on the fringes of society in some capacity can relate to Vasya's struggles as our world seems to be heading in a darker direction and we're expected to keep our heads down and not question anything.
• I also enjoyed Vasya's family's dynamics with each other.
  It really paid off when Dunya died and eventually came back as a thrall of The Bear, and Pyotr chose to sacrifice himself to bind The Bear. Dunya's ghastly resurrection was especially hard to read.
• Vasya did not end up in any last minute unnecessary romantic relationships or forced by the plot to "find the right man". I don't know if she is explicitly aromantic, asexual or aromantic asexual but it was depressingly refreshing to have a female lead whose freedom from romantic or sexual relationships was seen as a good thing. It would have been so easy to have her hook up with the Frost King at the end and major kudos to Arden for not going there. More MCs like this please! The bar is subterranean!

What I didn't like:

• I feel like the bulk of the plot was backended towards the last third of the book. While it was necessary to build up
  the village's conversion to Christianity through fear and the consequences of ignoring the demons that used to help them
  the same things kept happening and got very repetitive to the point of it being accidentally comedic. Seeing how this is Arden's debut novel, I'm sure she can improve her pacing in later novels.
• Some of the characters do end up feeling kind of tropey. While this is to be expected in fairy tales, said characters feel more like a means to progress the plot rather than be organic characters or twists on the trope they were embodying.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Blood, Religious bigotry, and Death of parent

Moderate: Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, and Sexism

Minor: Rape and Sexual assault