Reviews tagging 'Addiction'

Os Magos by Lev Grossman

16 reviews

haleyrayreads's review against another edition

dark lighthearted slow-paced

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

3.5

The concept of this book is great, the characters are okay, but the plot drags a bit. I appreciate not being dragged through separate books for each year of school but the transition between years could be abrupt and unclear at times. 

The story is mainly driven by character who are pretty one note and their motivations are questionable at best. Their main quest is motivated by ‘well we aren’t doing anything else right now.’ and it takes forever to get to that point. This first 2/3 if this book was so slow. However, once they’re off on their quest the story moves at a more brisk pace that’s refreshing until the main antagonist is taken care of. After that it goes on several chapters too long. It felt like every time a chapter ended I thought that was the end, then there was even more story that served no purpose than to allow readers to wallow in our narrator’s sorrow. This could have been cut in half or more and gotten the same point across. 

The concept is great and it’s a fun story with some adjustments, but the pacing, character development, and casual use of ableist and fatphobic language would make me hesitate to read this particular book again. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Cursing, Blood, and Alcohol

Moderate: Ableism, Death, Fatphobia, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, and Violence

Minor: Body shaming, Infidelity, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Blood, and Toxic friendship

jmeier's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

I would give this book a five if it weren't for the mild to moderate ableism, racism, and overall attitude of white privileged. The characters are all white. The setting is all white. The narrator and protagonist us multiple disability slurs and is deeply judgemental of neurodiverse coded characters. I love the story, but it reads like something from the 80s at points, not 2009.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Body shaming, and Classism

Moderate: Drug abuse, Drug use, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Biphobia, Death, Gore, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, Sexual content, Violence, Religious bigotry, and Alcohol

lauralintunen's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Death, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Grief, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Ableism, Alcoholism, Cursing, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Cannibalism, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Body shaming, Child abuse, Drug use, Incest, Misogyny, Pedophilia, and Sexism

katreadswaytoomuch's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious tense 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? Yes

2.5

I was really excited to read this because I love the SyFy series, but I was sadly disappointed. 

This book is full of misogyny, racism, and ableism. AND IT WAS PUBLISHED IN 2009. It suffers horribly from man-writes-woman.

I also found the MC more unlikeable than he was in the SyFy series. I can’t figure out if that was by design and genius or if it was how the author thinks and distasteful.

I’m so glad SyFy got a hold of this. They really improved the story overall. Don’t bother with the book. Just watch the show.

I still gave it 50/100 because I do like the concept. The characters are meant to be flawed; I love that, but I couldn’t stand the descriptions of female, POC, and plus-sized characters. The plot was really all over the place too.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, Fatphobia, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Blood, and Cannibalism

Minor: Pedophilia

Racial slurs, man writes woman

hanxiety's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

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

4.0

Updated re-read review: 4/5

25 year-old me liked this book much better than 19 year-old me. 

3.5/5

So I definitely have mixed feelings about this book. I was recommended it by a friend who LOVES it, and we like similar things, so I thought, why not? When I finally decided to start reading it, it took me about 3 months to read 150-some pages before I practically DNF'ed. Then last month, I decided to start it over and found it far more engaging. However, this book is still sort of boring. Lev Grossman's way of writing is so depressing and wordy that it takes a while to get into. Even once I got into the book again, it still took me a long time just to read a few pages.

If you're looking for high action fantasy, this is not a book I would recommend. There's a lot of world-building, and while the world is actually really interesting, it kind of gets in the way of plot. The book is also a little disjointed in that probably the first half is devoted to Brakebills and then the rest happens in a couple different locations. The time span of the book is around 6 years which is kind of a lot for one novel.

I also wouldn't go into this book looking for "college Harry Potter mixed with Narnia", which is sort of what my understanding of the book was. It really isn't much like HP at all, except that it also involves a wizarding school, though Brakebills is far more cold and unwelcoming than Hogwarts. Fillory does shared some similarities with Narnia, but it's more nightmarish. Basically The Magicians takes the innocence and happiness of childhood fantasy-lands and makes them grotesque. 

Despite all the complaints above, I actually did enjoy the book. It isn't a favorite by any means, but it was still enjoyable. I would say the last quarter or so of the book is the most interesting, though there were other moments when I was really engaged as well. I think the best part was the characters. They were interesting and well-developed. Quentin is an unlikable, yet likable protagonist, who does things that you will hate but yet somehow make him more relatable and human. More than anything, this is his story. It's more character-driven than plot-driven and I think I was thrown off by that at first. 

So yes, I would recommend this, but know what you're getting into first.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction and Alcoholism

Minor: Pedophilia

azebrareads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, and Grief