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uranaishi'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? No
4.25
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
clairelisebella's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Child death, Death, Genocide, Suicide, Violence, Antisemitism, Grief, Stalking, Fire/Fire injury, and War
Moderate: Body horror
Minor: Vomit
tiernanhunter'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? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Child death, Death, Genocide, Hate crime, Racial slurs, Self harm, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Vomit, Antisemitism, Grief, Religious bigotry, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Deportation
thehobbitbarbie's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Animal death, Antisemitism, and Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Body horror, Child death, Death, Genocide, Gore, Hate crime, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Car accident, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Sexual content, Medical content, Suicide attempt, Abandonment, and Alcohol
sneaky_snake22'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
5.0
Graphic: Child death, Death, Genocide, Self harm, Antisemitism, and Murder
Moderate: Vomit and War
Minor: Death of parent
blewballoon'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
3.5
Moderate: Body horror, Child death, Death, Gore, Racism, Violence, Xenophobia, Vomit, and Antisemitism
bellesunbridled'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
5.0
Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Antisemitism, Religious bigotry, and Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Body horror, Child death, Death, Genocide, Self harm, Violence, Vomit, Antisemitism, Religious bigotry, and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Sexual assault, Violence, Murder, and War
18soft_green's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
This is a good book, unfortunately.
I say it this way because a lot of the time it felt like the author was being pretentious in her flowery style and drama. The POV switches were painful and Isaac is my least favorite type of character and Bellatine is so fucking annoying! And her statue love interest is worse! Baba Yaga herself was very interesting but her great, great, great, great grandkids are the worst! In fact, it's as if Nethercotte took my least favorite types of characters, added some quirks, and dumped them into a story.
But the story is good! The grief is real, the magic is weird, the contradictions are mysterious, the walking house is fantastic! The angst, my friends! It's such good angst! Not the relationship angst, that shit was boring as hell and annoying, but the life angst, the way the characters felt about themselves, that was the true sauce.
It also felt so fucking weird that Nethercotte constantly acknowledged the atrocities of the land. Maybe that's just my privilege talking but it felt so out of place and character for the Yaga siblings. Like, this book isn't addressing those topics so why is it bringing them up. I care very much about those issues but it felt like the story was only bringing them up out of obligation and personal responsibility rather than because it was important to the story. It was awkward for me.
4/5 I would not recommend unless the situation truly called on THIS particular book
Graphic: Genocide, Hate crime, Mental illness, Police brutality, and Grief
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Child abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Vomit, Medical trauma, Fire/Fire injury, Cultural appropriation, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Homophobia, Misogyny, Self harm, Antisemitism, and Kidnapping
deetabz'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? No
4.5
Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Death, Genocide, Gore, Hate crime, Violence, Blood, Antisemitism, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Vomit and Alcohol
displacedcactus's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
I didn't like Isaac at all as a character. I have no time or patience for smarmy men or people who steal from small businesses and others who can ill afford the loss.
Bellatine was a character I could have liked, but she was so closed off that I felt like she was even closed off to me as the reader, and it was hard to connect to her.
A story about hosting a traveling puppet show in Baba Yaga's chicken-legged hut should feel fun and adventurous, even if a dangerous enemy is chasing you. But no fun was to be had.
There is a final, beautiful, hopeful message at the end, but I had a miserable time getting there. I understand why others enjoyed this book, but I was the wrong reader at admittedly the wrong time in my life for something this heavy.
Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Death, Gore, Gun violence, and Antisemitism
Moderate: Self harm, Violence, Xenophobia, and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Vomit and Cannibalism
There's a brief off-handed mention of necrophilia, somehow SG doesn't have a CW tag for that one. There are specific scenes of a pogrom and they're pretty disturbing.