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bubbeleh'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
5.0
Graphic: Death, Genocide, Mental illness, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Antisemitism, Religious bigotry, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Child death, and Deportation
imds's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
3.5
Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Genocide, Gun violence, Hate crime, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Antisemitism, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Abandonment
uniquelymace's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- 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
Graphic: Genocide, Police brutality, Grief, 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