Reviews tagging 'Classism'

The Wolf and the Woodsman by Ava Reid

12 reviews

chrispybacon's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious tense slow-paced

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

2.5

The book had a strong premise but poor execution. I was excited to have a heroine in her mid-twenties but Evike is so dumb I could not relate to her at all. None of her relationships are healthy - the Yehuli want her to convert (they also help her but they are very interested in her joining them), her love interest is a coward and also her jailer, her whole village physically and verbally abused her. Her life was shit and I would have left all of them in the dirt. It makes zero sense to return to her abusers. 
The plot is a lot of walking, being horny, being angry, being horny, plans backfiring, suffering deadly injuries but surviving them, more being horny and more walking. Somewhere in there were aspects of accepting yourself, growing into your powers (and loosing them), and conflicts about religions and cultures clashing which suffered greatly under all the rest. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body shaming, Colonisation, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Bullying, Child abuse, Classism, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Animal cruelty, Cursing, Death of parent, Abandonment, Antisemitism, Death, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Physical abuse, Blood, Gore, Grief, Toxic relationship, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Sexism, Sexual content, and Torture

alliecat1915's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious reflective tense

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, War, Violence, Hate crime, Colonisation, Death, Classism, Torture, Animal death, Religious bigotry, Grief, Gore, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Death of parent

Minor: Slavery, Sexual content, and Deportation

cepbreed's review against another edition

adventurous dark slow-paced

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

3.75

“We belong to each other. ”

So atmospheric and each description is as fantastical as the last. I was particularly impressed by the witch in the sod house. The sudden switch to the grotesque and horrifying caught me off guard and was truly immersive. The world building is like no other but at the same time it is convoluted and hard to keep track of. I won’t pretend that I could name a single place or character besides the main two despite dedicating days to reading this book. 

The one thing occupying my mind during the duration of my read was the fact that Gáspár is basically Zuko from Avatar: The Last Airbender. The evil royal father casts him aside, abuses both him and his mother, and most strikingly delivers a prominent eye injury. Just like Zuko Gáspár has to become a warrior and complete an unsavory mission. He’s forced to work alongside Évike, an enemy of his determined by the wars of men that came before them, aka she represents Katara/the entire Gaang. Similarly to Zuko losing his firebending Gáspár becomes incompetent in the art of battle when he’s forced to use an axe as a woodsman rather than the sword he was used to as a prince. In both scenarios, the change in power is due to casting aside their family.

Spoiler

Even the final battle is similar. Gáspár/Zuko face their overly powerful dark sibling Nándor/Azula with the help of their former enemy-turned ally Évike/Katara.

Spoiler

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE LEFT ME WITH SO MANY THOUGHTS. As much as the act of Gáspár kneeling in front of her was sexual it brought me so much relief. Nándor constantly made lewd jokes about Évike on her knees which were meant to demean her. In the one scene where someone is on their knees in that context, it is not Évike. Even more importantly it is an expression of love, a plea for forgiveness, and a promise from Gáspár to her. So wonderful.

I can’t help myself. Whenever I read something with any remotely religious undertones I have to put on Ethel Cain. This is no exception, hence the songs I feel represent the novel.

Songs:  

• Strangers - Ethel Cain
• Compass - The Neighbourhood
• Take Me to Church - Hozier 
• Not Strong Enough - boygenius
• Dear Arkansas Daughter - Lady Lamb
• mad woman - Taylor Swift 
• The Exit - Conan Gray (“the shape of our wounds is the same” - Évike)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Animal death, Classism, Death, War, and Sexual content

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Bullying, Death of parent, Grief, and Murder

Minor: Confinement

adonis_march's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring 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

3.75

The Wolf and the Woodsman is a debut novel. It’s got the clunk of one. But by god, is it a good debut novel. For all my issues with some of the tropes in this book, and it’s pacing, and occasionally meandering plot, the latter half of this novel had my heart pounding, my stomach doing turns.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Religious bigotry, Violence, Death, Xenophobia, Antisemitism, Blood, Murder, Gore, and Hate crime

Moderate: Classism, Torture, Emotional abuse, Colonisation, Bullying, Self harm, Body horror, War, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Animal death, Xenophobia, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Body shaming, Fatphobia, Animal cruelty, Confinement, and Kidnapping

This is a book very much about the horrific history and acts of Christian zealotry that caused both pagan and Jewish communities to be wiped out, and echoes the centuries of fear and grief that the Jewish community has had to endure since.

dainybernstein's review against another edition

adventurous dark medium-paced

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

2.5

The premise of the book is good, but the execution is lacking. When I looked up the author and saw she studied ethnonationalism and religion, it all made sense. This is an intellectually sound story-experiment, but the characters' changes in emotion are abrupt and don't fully make sense.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Classism, Colonisation, Genocide, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Confinement, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Death, Gore, Animal death, Antisemitism, Blood, and Violence

Minor: War

zghutcheson01's review against another edition

adventurous fast-paced

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

3.75

This book had a problem with not explaining some details and I would’ve liked some more time with the Yuhuli but overall a good book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Antisemitism

Moderate: Grief, Animal death, Blood, Classism, Death, Death of parent, and Domestic abuse

Minor: Genocide, Gore, Racism, and Violence

gemma_clare's review against another edition

adventurous 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

3.0

The pacing in this drove me mad and made me really struggle to finish it, which is sad because it had so much potential. I enjoyed the characters and would have enjoyed the plot if it was more consistent, but it felt like it was jumping all over the place and like the end goal of the book changed 5-6 times. I liked the conflict between religions and comparisons to real history, but found some of the lore either confusing, or boring and shallow. The writing style was nice. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm

Moderate: Genocide, Physical abuse, Violence, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Antisemitism, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Abandonment, Grief, Hate crime, Religious bigotry, Blood, Child abuse, Gore, Classism, and Emotional abuse

ofbooksandechos's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional medium-paced

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Religious bigotry, Body horror, and Gore

Moderate: Blood, Antisemitism, Sexual content, Animal death, Child abuse, and Violence

Minor: Classism, War, and Bullying

gurofl's review against another edition

I liked the start of the book well enough, but about halfway through, the book turned into everything I don't like about young adult books (this is marketed as adult fantasy, but seriously. It's young adult): a bit two-dimensional, the main character doing very stupid things to advance the plot, and everything being very dramatic. From the character's feelings (going rapidly back and forth between the ends of the spectrum) and motivations, to the dialogue between the characters.
The main character is 25. She reads as a teenager.  
Definitely not for me. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, and Religious bigotry

msradiosilence's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny tense medium-paced

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

3.75

Tldr; I was expecting a lot more, and I feel like the story would’ve benefitted from a slower pace and maybe another book for the second half. There was just a lot all the time, and it smothered what was good. 

Read my full review here: https://www.rainyreader.com/single-post/the-wolf-and-the-woodsman.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Bullying, Death, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Physical abuse, War, Hate crime, Classism, Death of parent, Religious bigotry, Violence, Animal cruelty, Antisemitism, Racism, Self harm, Sexual content, and Torture