Reviews tagging 'Body horror'

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

10 reviews

craftysnailtail's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I was pretty excited for a sapphic novel by this author, but to be honest, I wasn't sold on the romance. The main characters are likeable and unique, I'm just not sure they make sense together. The plot was interesting, but this book felt like two novels squished together. I think it would've been better split up into two. It was still a fun and slightly creepy read, just like the first in the series. I highly recommend listening rather than reading this one. The slang would've been a nightmare without the talented VA they got for the audiobook. 

It's a bummer the romance fell flat for me because the characters were well developed. It almost makes me feel like the author wasn't entirely comfortable writing a gay couple. The first book had quite a bit of explicit material, but this one has zero spice. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing, it just felt odd to me when compared to the first in the series. Overall, I would read more from this series because I enjoy the characters and atmospheric plots. They're great autumn reads. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol

Moderate: Classism

Minor: Confinement

mika_ha's review

adventurous challenging lighthearted medium-paced

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

4.0

When english is not ur nativ langue it's hard to read in the beginning the characters have a heavy accent esp3in the beginning but it adds to there charm. Only thing I didn't like was the end the last chapters seemed rushed could've added a few more pages to keep the pace of the rest of the story. And give It a nice round ending 

---

Content Warnings

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Alcohol

hatpnole's review

adventurous dark funny hopeful 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

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal death, Drug use, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Body horror and Violence

Minor: Suicide and Vomit

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

---

Content Warnings

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

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

Minor: Body horror, Child abuse, Sexual content, 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

---

Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Death and Classism

quasinaut's review

adventurous funny 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? Yes

3.5

I have such a mixed reaction to this book. Personally, I like that it returned to the world introduced in Unnatural Magic, but it could be confusing or off-putting for someone who picked up this book without having read the earlier book, especially since it's easy to miss that they're at all related. 

Overall, I feel like this story had its moments but could have benefited from more editing to tighten up the story and flesh out the characters. Sometimes the characters' actions felt too ill-conceived and/or conveniently timed to advance the plot. The accents and slang helped establish the world but at times veered into being heavy-handed and confusing. The intrigue wrapped up surprisingly quickly -- I kept expecting something to go wrong, or an earlier character to reappear, or someone to actually be working for the other side. 

I look forward to seeing what C. M. Waggoner writes next. Even if this one had a few moments that missed the mark, I quite enjoyed getting more adventures in this world!

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Alcohol, and Classism

Moderate: Sexual content and Abandonment

Minor: Suicide

dealingwithdragons's review

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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Sexual content, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol

Moderate: Ableism, Bullying, Child abuse, Forced institutionalization, Abandonment, and Classism

Minor: Infertility

sarz's review

adventurous dark funny tense slow-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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Classism

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Body horror, and Fire/Fire injury

eamily's review

adventurous dark emotional funny lighthearted mysterious fast-paced

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

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Suicide, Torture, Blood, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Body horror, Cursing, Gun violence, Infidelity, Forced institutionalization, Vomit, Grief, and Gaslighting

blackrabbitrun's review

adventurous funny slow-paced

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

3.75

This book will sink or swim for you depending on your opinion on characters who will say "gesticulate towards the firmament" instead of "point at the sky", and use words like "post-bong-etary" and "enkittenated". Because Dellaria Wells is such a character, and she's the narrator.

The language is a bit heavy in the opening chapters, but lightens up quickly once the plot gets underway and Delly becomes too busy vanquishing undead mechanical spiders to think through too many hoops when talking to her new companions. While Delly's narration drops extraneous flourishes, the overall language of the book stays delightfully immersive throughout - religion, history, geography, wealth, class, personality and character development woven deep into characters' word choice and grammar. The fact that there's a plot (and a romance) as well became almost secondary, though the latter deserves praise for avoiding most of the stupidest romance plot contrivances.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Drug abuse, Drug use, Blood, and Murder