Reviews tagging 'Body shaming'

A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking by T. Kingfisher

4 reviews

purplepenning's review

adventurous funny lighthearted fast-paced

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

4.5

"A weird little anti-establishment book with carnivorous sourdough and armies of dead horses" was just what I needed, thanks. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence, Child death, Classism, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Vomit, Animal death, Excrement, Blood, Colonisation, Grief, and War

Minor: Body shaming and Death of parent

novella42's review

adventurous dark funny hopeful lighthearted 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? No

4.25

Such a fun, weird, dark-yet-delightful book! I love baking bread and reading fantasy stories, and found this book to be hilarious and just the right amount of snarky. I usually avoid dark/horror themes but I love Kingfisher's style and take on mental health and relationships enough that I keep going back to read a lot of Kingfisher's other books in the Clocktower universe. I kept imagining this story taking place there, too. It's certainly dark enough for it, to the point where I kept feeling surprised that this is a young adult novel. But then Mona would do or say something and I'd have a little argument with myself that of course this is a young adult novel. If Hunger Games is Young Adult, than this can be too, and is a heck of a lot sweeter. (And not just because of all the scones and gingerbread.) I genuinely love Mona and all the people in her life. Kingfisher has a real talent for writing group dynamics and I think that shows here. I was surprised to learn in her afterword that she first wrote this in 2007, as many of the themes are especially relevant in the 2020s. I'd love to read another in a series, and I also think this makes a lovely standalone story too. Well done, Kingfisher!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Death, Hate crime, Police brutality, Excrement, Murder, Violence, Grief, Vomit, Child death, Animal death, and Blood

Moderate: Ableism, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Stalking, Body horror, Xenophobia, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Classism, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, and Confinement

Minor: Genocide, Cannibalism, Body shaming, Fatphobia, and Medical content

sarah984's review

adventurous dark funny fast-paced

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

4.0

“But as long as they gave us medals, that fixed it, as far as the army was concerned. You expect heroes to survive terrible things. If you give them a medal, then you don’t ever have to ask why the terrible thing happened in the first place. Or try to fix it.” He made a flicking gesture with his fingers. “How else are you gonna have heroes?”

This was a really charming story about a teenage baker and her group of misfit friends joining forces to save their city. The writing is punchy and fun (Mona’s bakery creations are fantastic) and the character’s voice is great. I loved how she would constantly describe things in baking metaphors, and she had realistic fourteen-year-old reactions to what was going on around her. I liked that she was heroic but the story carried a message about how heroism basically requires the failure of all measures to prevent a crisis first.

I did notice a few editing errors (Uncle Albert became Uncle Earl in one scene for example) and I was kind of disappointed that in a story about how people shouldn't be judged based on stereotypes and rumours the Carex mercenaries were exactly the savages Mona thought they were. Aside from those complaints though I would definitely recommend this.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, and Grief

Moderate: Animal death, Excrement, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Stalking, and Violence

Minor: Ableism, Body shaming, Death of parent, Hate crime, Medical content, Vomit, and Xenophobia

kake's review

adventurous funny hopeful sad medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Minor: Body shaming, Fatphobia, Excrement, Grief, Mental illness, Vomit, Violence, Death, and Animal death