Reviews tagging 'Death'

The Wolf in the Whale by Jordanna Max Brodsky

20 reviews

valbowski83's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative sad tense medium-paced

• 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, and Violence

Moderate: Animal death, Gore, and Rape

likethepickle's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark tense slow-paced

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

2.5

The most interesting plot I’ve read about in years, but delivered so flatly it was hard to get through. I alternated between reading a physical copy and listening to an audiobook to change it up, but the writing just lacked something for me. 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Death, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Transphobia, Violence, and Death of parent

Indigenous POV written by non-Native author.

_annika__'s review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional inspiring reflective fast-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: Animal death, Child death, Death, Gore, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Death, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Slavery, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail

mikki_9's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad fast-paced

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

2.0

I loved the story, but Brandr’s character was flat to me. Everything toward the end seemed to kind of get jumbled, and Brandr’s character made even less sense. This book also covers gender, race, and colonialism in… possibly not good ways? The author’s white, but the story is about Inuit, there is a lot of talk of Omat’s gender, and some other stuff. 

The story was fast-paced and never boring and I liked Omat’s character, but idk how I feel about the aforementioned issues were handled.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Fatphobia, Suicidal thoughts, and Kidnapping

Minor: Pregnancy

jellifysh's review against another edition

adventurous emotional tense slow-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: Animal death, Rape, and Violence

Moderate: Child death, Death, and Sexual violence

emakay's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional tense slow-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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Sexism, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Confinement, Domestic abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Death of parent, Outing, Colonisation, and War

abutler's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

• 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? It's complicated

5.0

This book is incredible. The first few pages contain some of the most beautiful writing I've ever read. It's a tough read at times though- definitely check the trigger warnings because there are some painful moments. But it is a wonderful journey that melds wonderful myths and traditions together to make something wonderful.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Rape, Sexual assault, Slavery, Violence, and Xenophobia

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Gore, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Blood, Kidnapping, and Death of parent

viktorreads's review against another edition

Way too slow. It took forever to get to the action and even when it got there it immediately went back to being slow. Plus it didn’t really know what it wanted to be. Was it a story about an Inuit person meeting a Viking or an epic battle between the gods? If it had just been about an Inuit person meeting a Viking I could have vibes with it. I liked that. But the gods part was too jarring. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Confinement, Death, Rape, Transphobia, Death of parent, and Dysphoria

bookishthots's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Violence

Moderate: Body shaming, Sexism, Transphobia, and Blood

Minor: Death, Gore, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Xenophobia, Excrement, Vomit, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Pregnancy

claudiamacpherson's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful inspiring 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

4.5

Omat has her foot in two worlds: born with her father's spirit in her woman's body, Omat is destined to follow in her grandfather's footsteps as an angakuk, a link between the Inuit and the spirits. When tragedy strikes, Omat must go on a journey to save her family. Along the way, she meets gods—both Inuk and Viking—and finds help in unlikely places.

4.5 stars

Wow. I absolutely loved this book: the history, the mythologies, the hero's journey...it was all told so beautifully! Please check the trigger warnings for this book, though:

I had some trouble with the rape scenes (one is part of the Inuk mythology, one happens to Omat) as well as some of the hunting/animal violence (though it's all very respectful of the animals, it was a bit graphic).

I really liked learning about the Inuit and Vikings, because I honestly never really learned much about this period of history. I also liked how Brodsky described Omat's two-spirit identity (I used she/her pronouns for Omat while writing this because they are used in the book's description).

Happy ending meter (no specific spoilers, just my judgement of how happy the ending is because I always wish someone would tell me that before I read books):

Happy!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Death, Violence, and Blood

Moderate: Incest, Rape, Sexual violence, and Death of parent

Minor: Pregnancy