Reviews tagging 'Confinement'

Vassa in the Night by Sarah Porter

6 reviews

corriejn's review against another edition

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4.25

I... wouldn't even know where to start in categorizing this book. It's strange/creative/not quite like anything else, but I found it engaging and entertaining (with the exception of some dream-sequence-ish passages that at times dragged a bit). 
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creolelitbelle's review

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

3.5

3.5 stars. I'm only vaguely familiar with the story of Baba Yaga, so I cannot say how well of an iteration this book is of that tale. Vassa does not have a ton of depth as a character considering her struggles and mission, but I enjoyed her journey working (and living) at Be-Wise for three nights. For a dark fairy tale set in our modern world, the tone and setting are spot-on with creepy vibes and a true lasting nighttime. Babs is unpredictable, and that left me wondering what would possibly transpire next. Erg adds so much to the story; without her, the plot would die early on with Vassa's death. I would have liked more of Vassa's sisters, Stephanie and Chelsea, even if only them fighting to have Vassa release as a scene. They felt like minor supporting characters that could have played larger roles. An epilogue showing how Vassa stays connected (or not) to her new friend after the events at the store and reuniting with Stephanie would have been great to tie up lose ends. 

Edit: Having read from worldhistory.org who Baba Yaga is in the old Slavic folklore, I view this book as an accurate, creative modern retelling set in a Brooklyn neighborhood. The stepsisters, the doll, and the store (house) with chicken legs are all there. 
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carefulfearanddeaddevotion's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

This book has been on my TBR since high school. The concept/plot sounded really cool. And it is really cool. I love fairytale retellings. I love love urban fantasy. The execution, however, left a little to be desired.

I was so so confused the whole book. While I do think some things were explained, it was done so gradually or so vaguely that I am still not sure why or how they happened (how's this review for vague, lol??) I do not like being spoonfed lore/plot, but this book was too far to the other extreme. It was too frustrating for the little payoff we got. I am still unsure if the magic of the world is an open secret, an obvious fact of life, or completely hidden from everyone except a select few. At different points in the novel, any of these could be true.

The characters were interesting, but I'm not sure I liked Vassa. No offense, but she was so stupid. I don't know if I found the book so confusing because she was so confused the whole time or because it was just confusing. Like, I get that we had slightly more bg as the reader, but I feel like certain things were really obvious and she just didn't get them. 
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greenlivingaudioworm's review

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adventurous challenging 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? Yes

3.0

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zahrowl's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious 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? Yes

4.75

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ravensandlace's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

 Find this review and others like it at https://aravenclawlibraryx.wordpress.com

I might have to stop reading Russian fairy tale retellings because so far, I have not been a fan of the ones I have read. I didn’t care much for the Bear and the Nightingale. And I did not like Vassa in the Night at all. It was a chore to read and I just did not like it at all.  

During the course of the book, I was bored and confused. I didn’t understand how Baba Yaga could get away with literally murdering people and hanging their heads in the street? This book took place in modern day New York. Even though there was magic involved, I find it hard to believe that no one did anything about this. If you are going to have a magic system in your book, you have to make sure it makes sense, otherwise the reader is just going to be upset. 

While I didn’t care for Vassa, my biggest character complaint lies with Erg. Erg is a magical doll that Vassa takes care of as it was given to her by her mom. Erg was awful! I couldn’t STAND her. She treated Vassa poorly and guilt tripped her all the time. She had no concern that her actions were hurting Vassa and putting Vassa in situations that she couldn’t talk her way out of. Now, I don’t know if Erg is part of the original fairy tale but if she wasn’t, I don’t think she needed to be in this book. She did nothing but upset me. 

I think my problem with the book wasn’t realistic enough. It had a magical system like I mentioned above but it wasn’t blended in well enough. It felt like the magical system was battling to fit into the real world. It just wasn’t well done at all. There were characters in the book that I assume were from the original fairy tale but they didn’t make sense to the world. The whole thing was just a big plot of confusion. 

Overall, I didn’t like this book as you could all probably tell. Maybe I would have liked it if I had read the actual fairy tale? I’ll never know. All I do know is that I need to stay away from Russian fairy tale retellings for a while because so far they have not been a hit with me at all. 
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