Reviews tagging 'Injury/Injury detail'

Uprooted by Naomi Novik

45 reviews

fraise's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious medium-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Violence, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Death of parent

Minor: Miscarriage and Vomit

protagonist has a sexual relationship with her much older mentor (technically they're both immortal, but she's only lived a normal lifespan for a young woman)

esme_may's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

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

4.5

I adored this! It's written absolutely beautifully with gorgeous imagery, and the ending is maybe my favourite I've read this year. I'd read more by Naomi Novik in a heartbeat

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Violence, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Confinement, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Death of parent, and Classism

Minor: Genocide, Racism, Torture, Xenophobia, Vomit, Grief, and Alcohol

orchidlilly's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

2.0

Overall, subpar. The magic and world building are far more interesting than any of the characters could ever dream of being, which is a shame because we don't get to see much of it. The premise was interesting, the plot was an actual plot, but it could have been fleshed out so much better if it only had a bit more time. The ending was a semi-refreshing subversion of the expected romance ending, but it felt a bit rushed. The romance part itself was, in my opinion, wholly unnecessary and a bit unpleasant. The main romantic interest is an immortal while our mc is... 17-ish. Not to mention the attempted rape scene.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Death, Fatphobia, Gore, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Kidnapping, Grief, and War

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Torture, Blood, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Confinement, and Alcohol

bookhoarderbea's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Vomit

fatherprozac's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.75

I kept rooting for this book and it kind of kept letting me down, sadly. I fell in love with the magic system, the visualizations of spell casting, the descriptions of reading the Summoning, and the dark horror of the Wood. Unfortunately, Sarkan's never ending verbal abuse toward Nieshka, her being 17 to his 150, the weird sympathetic framing of a rapist, and the inclusion of only one explicitly black character just to have her be the daughter of a slave really soured me on the whole thing. 

I'll just rant here. The fact that Sarkan chooses specifically girls (never explained why boys aren't chosen if everyone with the gift must be trained) and expects them to cook all his meals for him for ten years was already irredeemable in my eyes. His constant berating of Nieshka literally left her EXPECTING abuse multiple times throughout the book which left me feeling sick at its romanticization. Truly, Sarkan's only traits were that he liked cleanliness and that he was mean. Their hideous age gap (of literally a child and a very old man) being framed as his excuse to momentarily hesitate from sex with her? yikes. Why did she need to be 17? I would have much preferred reading about an adult woman and her ages old immortal boyfriend. Lastly, the rape scene was handled unbelievably poorly and just made Sarkan even more monstrous to me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Animal cruelty, Child death, Infidelity, Vomit, Kidnapping, Murder, and Alcohol

rainstormdragon's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective tense 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Violence, Murder, and Classism

Moderate: Genocide, War, and Injury/Injury detail

naomi_k's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Torture, Violence, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Confinement, Sexual content, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Sexual assault, Kidnapping, and War

rivercat0338's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Bullying, Death, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, War, and Injury/Injury detail

beesknees's review against another edition

adventurous emotional slow-paced

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

4.0

Uprooted provides a slow-paced, ever-expanding adventure reminiscent of Beauty and the Beast. Agnieszka is not a girl following her fate, but an unsuspecting heroine who follows her intuition for better or for worse. Agnieszka truly is the highlight of this book, I was delighted to follow alongside her journey and watch her grow. Uprooted showcases complex relationships between friends, family, lovers, enemies, and community. Specifically the relationship between Agnieszka and Kasia was unique and well-documented. Again, this is a rather slow-paced story, so paying attention is crucial to gather the imagery author Novik describes. The story takes some classic tropes such a young and prideful princes, and moody loner wizards, and expands on them to create this new fairy tale.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death and Kidnapping

Minor: Sexism, Grief, War, and Injury/Injury detail

bookishchef's review against another edition

adventurous funny mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

There's a few tropes in here that I am not the biggest fan of

- Ancient creature x barely legal teenager romance.

I know that there is no equivalent to this irl so I should stfu, but it still makes me uncomfortable, even if it is later revealed that the MC is immortal as well. It is even mentioned within the text by Sarkan that this has weird undertones (right before he has sex with the MC anyway, so he obviously was not too concerned). 

- Best friend character that should have been the love interest instead but is not because heteronormativity says no.

I did not dislike Sarkan as a love interest. Gloomy, grumpy, bookish boys are a weak spot of mine. But Kasia x Agnieszka would have been immaculate. Super strong sword fighter girl x witch? I want that story dammit! 

- Ancient magical objects and places getting a thorough explanation instead of staying mysterious.

Stories with fairy tale vibes do not need to explain everything. Why can the bears in Goldilocks talk? Because they can. Why do they eat porridge? Because they do. Not everything needs an explanation in fairy tales. And for me  explaning why The Woods existed felt a bit unnecessary. 

It is an enjoyable read nonetheless! And there was much I did enjoy! 

- Uneasy allies to lovers
- Well written friendship 
- A fairy tale esque feeling
- Female characters calling men out for their bullshit
- "Being strong" not being linked to violence or traditionally masculine tasks and features
- Eastern european influences (Baba Jaga, the food, the names of the characters, hell maybe even the Woods itself) 
- Everything about the Summoning
- That singular smut scene

I don't love the ending of the book either, but somehow it did not take away from the rest of the story for me. There is just too much to enjoy here.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement

Moderate: Animal death, Sexual content, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Death, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, and War