Reviews tagging 'Miscarriage'

The Mercies by Kiran Millwood Hargrave

118 reviews

contemporarymeepsie's review against another edition

dark informative inspiring 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

The Mercies is a fictional retelling of the real life storm of 1617 off the coast of Vardo, Norway and the subsequent witch trials that followed in the years after. We follow the stories of Maren Magnusdatter, a young woman of Vardo who lost her father, brother and fiancé in the storm, and Ursula Cornet, the wife of the dreaded Commissioner Absalom Cornet who played a big part in Vardo's witch trials.
Initially I struggled to get in to this book. I think I didn't associate with Maren as a character and I found the writing style hard to get in to. Regularly having to reread sentences to understand their meaning. But once Ursa was introduced, I found a character I liked and gradually as the story picked up pace I lost myself in the plot. The friendship that blossomed between Ursa and Maren is so well described and thoroughly genuine that I couldn't not love this book by the end. Every choice each character makes feels real and believable for that character. Every character had a realistic fully formed personality. Kudos to Kiran Millwood Hargrave for her first adult novel as I believe it was a success, and although I struggled to begin with, I do believe it was worth pushing through and I'm excited to see what she writes next. This is a book I have already recommended to a friend.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Rape, Racial slurs, Miscarriage, and Racism

Minor: Pregnancy, Blood, and Torture

chirpchirp's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Misogyny, Miscarriage, and Body horror

Moderate: Physical abuse, Violence, and Sexual violence

Physical burns and burning.

hannahri0's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Domestic abuse, Death of parent, Misogyny, Murder, Religious bigotry, Sexual violence, Torture, Racial slurs, Violence, Death, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Hate crime, Racism, and Sexual assault

Minor: Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Miscarriage

jenferlizbeth's review against another edition

dark 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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Miscarriage

plantgal_jill's review against another edition

dark emotional tense slow-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Miscarriage, Racial slurs, Sexual violence, and Suicidal thoughts

jordanbolker's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.25

This book definitely got better throughout. But I admitted that the language that the book is written is a little difficult to comprehend. But loved all the longing and slow burn that occurs between Maren and Ursa and felt happy when they had that one night together. It was a good story and historice fiction novel and I appreciated the historical note at the end to summarize everything.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Murder, Violence, Blood, Domestic abuse, Genocide, and Misogyny

Moderate: Miscarriage, Classism, and Colonisation

hopeadinfinitum's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative 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? No

5.0

A difficult book that tears at your heart even as you can’t put it down. This book made me Feel Things with capital letters, angry and sad and hopeful and thoroughly gutted like a fish. There’s a lot of content warnings to take into account and they shouldn’t be taken lightly, but this book is so worth a read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Miscarriage, Domestic abuse, Grief, Alcohol, Misogyny, Xenophobia, Rape, Racism, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Religious bigotry, Racial slurs, Death, and Sexism

Moderate: Animal death, Pregnancy, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Colonisation, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, and Murder

klsreads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad 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

4.75

I picked this up on a whim to read alongside Caliban and the Witch, and I ended up loving it. The writing is an absolute feast - I felt I could touch the world and characters. +100 for a gorgeous exploration of Sapphic desire and love. 

This book is sad but the subjects are treated with immense tenderness. Will definitely be reading more of Kiran Millwood Hargrave.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Rape, Confinement, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Grief, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Chronic illness, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Murder, Religious bigotry, Alcohol, Blood, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Infertility, Pregnancy, and Vomit

Minor: Animal death and Colonisation

jmitchell20's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

This was a reread. I've been recommending this book to everyone I know for years so I wanted to check it was still as good as I'd remember, and it is! 
The writing is beautiful and the story is heart-wrenching. Read it over two miserable February days- the perfect backdrop. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Rape, Death, and Miscarriage

Moderate: Domestic abuse

b_easelbub's review against another edition

dark sad tense slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Torture, Racism, Sexual assault, and Racial slurs

Minor: Miscarriage