Reviews tagging 'Rape'

Enraizados by Naomi Novik

43 reviews

livid_by_any_other_name's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious 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? No

3.75

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esme_may's review against another edition

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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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orchidlilly's review against another edition

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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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sof_led's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious 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? N/A

4.75

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fatherprozac's review against another edition

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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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threadsof_kate's review against another edition

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5.0

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mallorypen's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-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? No

4.5

This felt like a classic, wonderful fairytale! The premise starts out simple - protector/local menace is owed a tribute of a young woman every decade to some unknown, likely nefarious purpose; the wrong (unexpected) girl gets chosen.

What I really loved about the story is each character felt important. Agnieszka and the Dragon are obviously so, but Kasia starts out at the best friend who was supposed to be chosen and wasn’t - even so, I fully believed in the relationship the two girls had, so when it came time for Kasia to be used as bait against Agnieszka, the motivations of the characters made perfect sense. The prince’s character, too - he is both fairytale prince and uncaring, would-be rapist in the very first meeting, but later is shown as a heroic figure, an easily-manipulated pawn, a lost child driven by a need for his mother.

I also like the premise of the Wood as a villain, and at the end of the story
there wasn’t really a black and white villain at all. The wood queen was betrayed by people who feared her, and everyone she loved was threatened and taken away because of it - of course she fought back and sought revenge, and of course the need for revenge blackened her purpose and twisted the Wood. I adored Agnieszka‘a solution in the end, to heal even as she was forced to harm the heart trees.

The relationship between Sartan and Agnieszka was paced in such a way that, even though there was that initial power imbalance, they didn’t really recognize their feelings for one another until Agnieszka came into her own power and they had done the working together. That, and that Sartan fought against his feelings the entire time and called out the age difference - all to which my girl Agnieszka said “don’t care, take your pants off” - I felt like they met on equal footing and never once did their relationship feel like Stockholm syndrome or a savior/teacher preying on their rescue/student.


Overall, there were so many little details that I thought the author did so well. The connections through the story, the pacing and build up of plot, the characterization, and the hopeful ending made this a fun, nail-biting, fantastical read.
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caitander's review against another edition

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adventurous hopeful inspiring 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

5.0

This was such a beautiful story about the relationship between people and nature. The prose was poetic and beautiful and the tone felt very much like a fairytale. I loved every second of it and can’t wait to read her other book!
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kaceyatwood's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious 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? No

5.0

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fantasycat's review against another edition

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adventurous dark hopeful inspiring mysterious 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

4.25

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