Reviews tagging 'Violence'

Enraizados by Naomi Novik

164 reviews

lydiazwag's review against another edition

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Main plot was dull and unengaging. Romance was also dull as well as really toxic and gross. 17 year old mentee who has basically been kidnapped by hundreds of years old emotionally abusive, cold wizard mentor who basically kidnapped her. And you're telling me they're falling in love?? No, ew! Also, he's boring.

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beansprout15's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective 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

5.0

This is a brilliantly written book! I loved it from start to finish and didn't want it to end. I could happily live in the descriptions of the woods and valley and I adored Agnieszka and the mysterious, ornery Dragon. I can't wait to read more of Novik's works.

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brittbee07's review against another edition

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adventurous dark 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? No

3.0

I really wanted to love this book, but the pacing was all wrong, and the book was too long.

Right from the start, I was able to predict the major plot points well before they happened. I don't mind this in a story, I like to be able to work bits and pieces out, but it felt like I was able to work every major plot point out before it happened because the points weren't original.

The characters were okay. The relationships were okay. The climax was okay. It was, honestly, just an okay book overall. Nothing special.

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icy1's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

I definitely had fun reading this book, which is why I'm giving it a high rating. That being said, I did have issues with it. Novik has very beautiful prose throughout the book, and I love her use of elaborate metaphors and imagery to describe things. However, I think she sometimes gets so into writing all these metaphors for magic and whatnot that it takes over the actual narrative. There were many points in the book with paragraphs and paragraphs of metaphors that I forgot what was actually going on. 

I really like the plot for the most part in this book. I think the villain is very unique and is unlike any other fantasy I've ever read. I do think near the middle of the book once they left the tower the story started to drag a little. I think their time spent in the kingdom could've been shortened and still convey everything that needed conveyed for the narrative.

My biggest gripe with this book is the "romance" (if you can even call it that). First of all, the main character is 17 and the love interest is 100-something. Now, I get that aging is different for the main characters, and in this world it seems like in this world that 17 year olds are basically already treated as adults anyway. But I do wish the main character was at least a bit older for my own peace of mind. 

Second of all, there really is no love or romance between the two characters. It's just lust. I literally had to put the book down and roll my eyes at the two (and there's really only two in the whole book) romance scenes between the two characters because it just came out of nowhere at felt like an afterthought for the author. I wish the characters (especially love interest guy, not saying because of spoilers) got more character development throughout the novel. That would've been nice in general, but it also would've helped readers see why the main character fell for the love interest. Honestly, it would've made more sense based on what I did see if she just ended up with Kasia instead.

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milesofsmiles's review against another edition

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dark sad tense 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

Contrary to some of the content warnings, there is no pedophilia in this book. It's an adult minor situation. She is 17 and he's hundreds of years old but with the looks of a man closer to her age. 

I like to think this was modeled around medieval times and back then it was more acceptable, definitely not okay now. It's a dark fantasy with swords, poor villages, kings and queens, wizards and witches, complete with a young maiden in a tower.

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elanuruysal's review against another edition

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adventurous dark hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0


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makemestagger's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

The first 4 chapters were a little hard for me to get into, but I was hooked after that. There were several plot twists and I didn't see any of them coming! The romance wasn't a subplot to the political/magical intrigue so keep that in mind if you're a fan of romantasy.

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queenbumi's review against another edition

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  • Loveable characters? No

2.0

As many other reviewers, I’m conflicted by this book. It had all the ingredients of a book I would typically love, but I just didn’t enjoy it.

The characters just did not mean much to me. I felt little to no care about what would happen to them. I felt like I barely knew them. Could not point them out in a line up.

I did like the way the Wood was “remedied”… in regard to the message it conveyed. Even though it felt really disconnected from the earlier parts of the book? It was strange… like each chapter was written by a different person who didn’t have knowledge of previous chapters other than the SparkNotes summaries.

The romance was very … shallow? I’m perfectly fine with the romance plot being in the background, I’m okay that it wasn’t more major than it was. But it felt like there was no reason they even liked each other except for the forced proximity in early chapters? I liked their scenes working together to create and build their magic, and I honestly think this book may have been better if they had a friendship relationship instead 😅

I think I’m mainly angry because people told me to read this if I loved Emily Wilde … and uh no. No, don’t do that. 

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anna_curlyquotesediting's review against another edition

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adventurous dark funny mysterious fast-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

5.0

This is genuinely my new favorite book; no exaggeration. If I did things like give more than five stars, I would. I loved literally everything about Uprooted. The way magic worked (and didn't), the characters and how they grew, the spice (subjective, but I'd say just mild), and tension. Not a word was wasted. Nothing was left undone or dragged on too long. Immaculate pacing. I aspire to write a book this good.

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timbsy's review against another edition

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adventurous dark tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No

4.25


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