Reviews tagging 'Hate crime'

Thistlefoot by GennaRose Nethercott

43 reviews

lilliana_blackstar's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Amazing. All the stars. This book feels important. Takes a spot on the shelf next to American Gods as a must-read modern folk tale masterpiece. Feels like something that will become a classic in fantasy mystery horror. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Death, Genocide, Hate crime, Violence, Antisemitism, and Murder

temymm's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Genocide, Hate crime, Racism, Blood, Antisemitism, and Religious bigotry

uranaishi's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious reflective 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? No

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief

Moderate: Body horror, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Violence, Blood, Antisemitism, Car accident, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Animal cruelty, Confinement, Drug abuse, Drug use, Infidelity, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual content, Torture, Xenophobia, Vomit, Suicide attempt, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Alcohol, and War

plantbaybe's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Genocide, Hate crime, Xenophobia, Antisemitism, Grief, Religious bigotry, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury

vivelarevolution's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective tense medium-paced

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

5.0

I might have words later, but I don't have them now. This book was incredible. Also, incredibly heavy.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Genocide, Gun violence, Hate crime, Racism, Suicide, Violence, Xenophobia, Antisemitism, Murder, and War

Minor: Rape, Torture, and Alcohol

Chapter 38 ends in what I would characterize as a suicide. Chapter 43 describes a pogrom.

enyltiak's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective sad 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

5.0

Lying was reductive, but in a way, all art was a form of lying. Poets hyperbolize. Painters heighten colors, smudge edges. Actors shapeshift. All ways to twist reality in order to tell a deeper, more potent truth. Fact only goes so far. There are a finite number of facts in the universe with which to tell a story. Lies, on the other hand, are limitless. 

What an incredible, wonderful book. Stories about houses, about hauntings, about stories themselves, will always draw me in and delight me. I can't express the love I have for this story. I'd rate it six stars if I could, if not more. Utter perfection, falling somewhere between the cozy epic-ness of Six of Crows and the comforting gothic of A Series of Unfortunate Events. It's a book about folk tales and magic and siblings and ghosts and memory, told from the perspective of the house in which the characters reside. I cannot recommend it enough. An instant new favorite. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Genocide, Hate crime, Violence, Xenophobia, Antisemitism, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, and War

lancemama's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark funny hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Cursing, Death, Genocide, Hate crime, Racism, Violence, Xenophobia, Antisemitism, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Colonisation, and War

ominousspectre's review against another edition

1.5

Prose: purple

Themes: heavy handed

I very much wanted to like this. If you showed the blurb to any of my friends, they'd immediately be like oh! This is so on brand for you, almost to a way that's borderline spooky. However, I hated the execution of this.

It's unfortunate because this is a very personal story to her as one side of her family is Jewish Ukrainian. She helps run the Lore podcast. Clearly she's done her research. There are good pieces in here (I loved the line from the villain that said, "I am not a what, I'm a when). But overall, I have a lot of issues with it.

The Longshadow man isn't even really an allegory for bigotry/white supremacy, because he just walks up to people and says alt right talking points at them for a few minutes until they commit a hate crime. I'm not kidding. It's very on the nose. Though the pipeline moves fast, it doesn't work THAT fast, so those scenes felt disingenuous.

What irked me the most was Baba Yaga reimagined as a Jewish Ukrainian in 1919. Nothing inherently wrong with that, I love folklore retellings or generally inspired things. But the connection of Baba Yaga basically stops at the name. She's just a woman who is sort of made fun of in town and given that nickname, and she then

experiences horrible violence very common of the Jewish experience during that time period. No explanation needed.

Nothing inherently wrong with that either, but otherwise, there's no tie in to any of the actual themes of Baba Yaga the original myth. I was expecting some sort of reclamation of the name and how she's a social outcast, a villain arc, SOMETHING, but there's nothing there.

I would've even accepted if we didn't know her name from the start, and it was revealed as the story went on as a sort of OH! That's why they inherited the chicken leg house! But as with the rest of the themes, it must be heavy handed. 

As a less serious aside: crazy how Isaac is a tit for tat self insert character I would've written in middle school. Not even kidding, younger me feels so called out. It's honestly very funny

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Racism, and Antisemitism

caebrown's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Death, Genocide, Hate crime, Self harm, Violence, Antisemitism, and Murder

loscamp4lyf's review against another edition

adventurous sad 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? It's complicated

4.0

I really enjoyed it! The author is also a poet, which explains the more purpley prose, but for me (and the audio book) i thought it added to the story. My only true gripe is the yaga siblings parents - why were they not involved/informed of any of this?? i figured the mom would at least be helpful but instead they're weirdly distant/specifically not helpful. thought that was weird and that it mightve been better for the parents to have been dead than distant, but alas.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Genocide, Hate crime, Violence, Xenophobia, and Antisemitism

Minor: Self harm