Reviews tagging 'Classism'

The Ruthless Lady's Guide to Wizardry by C.M. Waggoner

14 reviews

goodnessgraceous's review

adventurous emotional funny hopeful mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Drug abuse, and Addiction

Moderate: Suicide, Death, Abandonment, Alcoholism, Child abuse, and Grief

Minor: Classism and Animal death

verinvaldez's review against another edition

The second I put this book down I realised I didn't care about the characters and I had no interest in what happens next in the story.

The chapter titles seem like they're trying to be funny but come across as pretentious. The author's commitment to the very unique narrative voice is impressive, but attempting to understanding Delly and all the made up slang made reading this book a chore. The pacing is dreadful too, which doesn't help.

The classism is done in an interesting way and the queernorm society was intriguing at least.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death, Animal cruelty, Murder, Sexual content, Drug use, Drug abuse, and Classism

lim's review

I wanted to love this but... How could a story with magic, murder plots, and badass queer women be that boring? I went into it expecting a fun (or at least interesting) historical fantasy with a sapphic bodyguard romance, but every page was a struggle to get through. The weird made-up words and old-timey speech the MC used made it unbearable. Around 30%, I realized how much more I had left and just couldn't do it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death

Moderate: Classism, Drug abuse, Gore, Addiction, Animal death, and Murder

Minor: Sexual content

ptaradactyl's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful 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

3.5

It was an interesting and fun adventure, although very uneven between the romance and the mystery and action. But the dialect and speaking style was just not my thing. I was very tired of hearing about “gulls” till it was done 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism and Addiction

cozyscones's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child death, Abandonment, Classism, and Drug use

Moderate: Cursing, Fire/Fire injury, Suicide, and Animal death

relin's review

I really enjoyed the characters but struggled with the pacing and writing style around this point where I noticed I was setting it down frequently. Picking it back up again got harder each time, but I had to read the ending to see what happened. I did skip ahead so I could have that conclusion even though I was missing some key parts.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Child death, Drug abuse, Suicide, and Violence

Moderate: Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Cursing, Animal death, Blood, Gun violence, Gaslighting, Addiction, Abandonment, Child abuse, Toxic friendship, and Classism

Minor: Fire/Fire injury

There is also attempted

sorocide

that is not accomplished.

nytephoenyx's review

adventurous funny lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

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

3.5

 I have mixed feelings about The Ruthless Lady’s Guide to Wizardry.

I picked it up because it looked light and funny, and it was amusing, but not so much funny. It’s a book largely written in a fantasy-style slang and takes some adjusting. The first third of the book requires slow, deliberate reading until the reader learns what some of Delly’s slang, the world-specific and magic-specific terminology, and what things are just verbal mannerisms. If I’d been listening to the audiobook, I think this would have gone more smoothly as I could rely on the narrator’s tone for some interpretation in the early parts. As it was, it ended up as more of a slow read than I would have liked, and that put a damper on he whole thing.

Normally I’d complain about the romance in a fantasy book, but I think this one was well balanced. The book’s description was a little different on my edition, and it made clear that Delly was set to get householded (married) to someone wealthy… or at least have a good romp and acquire some expensive gifts she could pawn. I really didn’t think the romance was too much, altogether. Fantasy was the day job, romance was the night job. Really, like most of our normal lives. And Winn was likable enough, not swooning or distracting.

The fantasy elements of this book was fascinatingly constructed. It is equal parts alchemy and magic, a good combination that at times made things seem just slightly fantasy-steampunk. Dialect choices aside (which weren’t bad once I figured them out, but I’m in enough of a slump that it was a chore) I thought the world was pretty good. Even the supporting cast was interesting.

It does feel like there’s more story here, almost as though C.M. Waggoner has a sequel in mind, or at least other stories in this world. The whole plot with a fine lady and assassins mentioned in the book description only takes up a small part of the novel, with the larger story based around vengeance, justice, and busting up a drug ring. It’s all still interesting, just not quite what I expected.

As I said at the beginning of this review, I am on the fence. Some days I liked the book, some days I didn’t. I think when I was able to sit down and read it for longer spurts, it fared better. Story-wise, I recommend it to folks who like books like Just One Damned Thing After Another (which I do!) so I don’t regret picked it up. Just know that it’s a bit more than it appears. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Vomit, Drug use, Animal death, Drug abuse, and Death

Moderate: Blood

Minor: Classism

_teoeo's review against another edition

adventurous funny mysterious 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? Yes

3.25

Well, guess this book was okay. The first few chapters I quite liked it, eventually I got a bit bored and started to skim the pages. Also have to say that the english was pretty hard to understand for a non-nativ English speaker. My favorite character was Winn and I also enjoyed reading about Buttons. Also, Delly was an interesting character to read about and I was a fan of the criticism of classisim that was portrayed through the plot and interactions/dialogues. Don't know what to think about the romance plot though, I hoped for a slow burn but it was the total opposite. 
All in all it was an okay read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcohol, Drug abuse, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Animal death, Alcoholism, and Classism

Moderate: Death and Gun violence

rachellyeah's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious sad 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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Death, Addiction, Blood, Gore, Drug use, Violence, Fire/Fire injury, and Murder

Moderate: Alcohol, Suicide, Classism, Cursing, Gun violence, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Abandonment, and Alcoholism

Minor: Sexual content, Body horror, Child abuse, and Kidnapping

rtaire's review

adventurous challenging dark mysterious 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Blood, Murder, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Addiction, Body horror, and Child death

Moderate: Classism and Death