Reviews tagging 'Abandonment'

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

10 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

willowd's review against another edition

adventurous funny medium-paced

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

4.0

(Note: I haven't read the first book!) 
Is this book amazing? No. But was it fun? Certainly. 
A bit heavy on the accents, so if that bothers you, skip it. I recommend listening over reading this story, due to the accent & grammar. If you're a non-native speaker, some of Delly's made up words might be more challenging. I found the dialogue very enjoyable to listen to. Oh also - the chapter titles are delightful.

I found the second half a bit drawn out - but I truly warmed up to the old lady and her mouse. The pacing of the second half could have been tweaked, or used another twist.

Now, somehow my book club thought this was marketed as sapphic (Idk where, because I didn't see anything like that? I dunno, I didn't look super hard!) and I want to be clear that it's not. The main character is clearly bi/pan. The main couple is two ladies, but there is sexual content that is not sapphic, and there is no wlw sexual content. However, the sexual encounters the MC has before are fairly glossed over, and honestly, as someone who doesn't love romance novels, was fine by me. I've read too many books with sudden love nonsense! With everything else going on, it sounded too exhausting for a romp. 
I think this author has promise, especially in the realm of audiobook. Maybe even a play? I look forward to her next work, and hope that it gets marketed accurately!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Death, Animal death, Murder, and Drug use

Moderate: Abandonment, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Forced institutionalization, and Alcoholism

Minor: Sexual content

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.

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

purrson's review

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious medium-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Drug use, and Abandonment

Moderate: Animal cruelty

Minor: Animal death

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!

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Content Warnings

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

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

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Content Warnings

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

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

Minor: Infertility

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

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Content Warnings

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

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

jamie_reads_stuff's review

adventurous funny lighthearted medium-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? It's complicated

3.75

The pacing was super weird, but enjoyed the characters and world building overall

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Vomit, Abandonment, Violence, Toxic friendship, Suicide, Sexual content, Outing, Drug abuse, and Drug use

Moderate: Blood, Bullying, and Confinement