Reviews tagging 'Blood'

Hag: Forgotten Folktales Retold by Imogen Hermes Gowar, Naomi Booth, Emma Glass, Irenosen Okojie, Daisy Johnson, Natasha Carthew, Eimear McBride, Liv Little, Mahsuda Snaith, Kirsty Logan

5 reviews

madi_oasis's review

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

4.5

way more wlw theming in this book. Other than 1-2 stories that were personally hard to read, this was a standout collection of stories. The original tales added at the end was a nice touch!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Death

Moderate: Body horror and Blood

nicnevin's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

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

4.5

A wonderful collection of reimagined folk tales I had never heard of before. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Ableism, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Classism, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Grief, Infidelity, Medical content, Mental illness, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Sexism, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Lesbophobia, and Homophobia

sarapocher98's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Miscarriage, Blood, and Violence

syllareads's review

dark mysterious fast-paced

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

4.0

This anthology is a wild mix of different Folktales from the British Isles brought back to life by 10 talented authors from all around the Isles. These retellings focus both on the magical aspects of the folktales but manage to quietly plant some modern approaches to feminism as well, giving these ideas ways to grow within ancient settings - it was quite magical to witness.

I can't clearly say that I have a favourite, as all of these tales were beautiful in their own ways, but two I particularly enjoyed were The Panther's Tale, where a lost and bewitched Princess is brought over to the Isles, ripped from her homeland and imbued with a curse that turns her into a large panther, and meets a miller's wife and her daughter - and Between Sea and Sky, a rather different take on selkie legends, where a young woman bears a selkie man a child thus born between sea (the selkie man) and sky (her name is Skye). 

All of these tales had a fascinating way with words, imbueing old legends with queer, free and beautifully fierce women intend on telling their stories, if nothing else, and I am very glad I read it. I did not know about most of these tales beforehand, either, and I'm doubly glad the book includes the old legends which these authors took to make them their own, so I could look them up afterward and trace what inspired them through the original lines.

I highly recommend these short stories to anyone who feels like the magical, whimsical and horrifying world of fairytales and folktales is preferrable to our own; though be warned: a lot of these stories deal with the real world as well, just perhaps through the lense of something older walking the earth.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Miscarriage, Domestic abuse, Addiction, Alcoholism, Blood, Cancer, and Grief

questingnotcoasting's review

dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.5

This was an interesting collection. My favourite stories were by Naomi Booth, Mahsuda Snaith, Imogen Hermes Gowar and Kirsty Logan and I found the introduction by Carolyne Larrington really insightful. The tales are dark, weird and unsettling. There were no stories I really disliked but there were a few I felt indifferent towards. However I appreciated the inclusion of the original tales at the end because it was really interesting to see how they were reinterpreted. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, and Miscarriage

Moderate: Alcoholism