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sarahmanuel3's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Graphic: Body horror, Cancer, Death, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Abortion, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, and Alcohol
Moderate: Bullying, Panic attacks/disorders, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Eating disorder, and Emotional abuse
schnaucl's review against another edition
- 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
4.75
The characters were interesting and as were the ways the high school was both magical and utterly ordinary. Ivy's resentment at the wasted magic was understandable, as was the student's "waste" of magic because they're just kids and it's common for them, not the extraordinary thing it is for Ivy.
It was a very well built world. I'd like to spend more time there.
Moderate: Body horror, Gore, Blood, Medical content, Medical trauma, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Cancer, Death, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Abortion, and Death of parent
mel_odramatics's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
Graphic: Cancer, Child death, Emotional abuse, Medical trauma, Abortion, and Death of parent
Moderate: Sexual content
foreverinastory's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Rep: white female MC (I think Ivy is queer but I'm uncertain), BIPOC bisexual male love interest, several lesbian female side characters, pansexual female side character, BIPOC female side character.
CWs: Body horror, abortion, cancer, gore, blood, death, murder, medical trauma, medical content, grief, past death of parent, alcoholism, alcohol consumption, terminal illness, bullying, emotional abuse, violence, mentions of past pregnancy that was terminated, vomit, gaslighting, toxic friendship, injury/injury detail, sexual content. Moderate: eating disorder and mention of weight checks, cursing, mention of past adult/minor relationship, panic attack, suicide, sexual harassment.
Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Bullying, Cancer, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Abortion, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Cursing, Eating disorder, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide, and Sexual harassment
jodean's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I wish the ending had been tied up a bit more, tho.
Graphic: Alcoholism, Abortion, Murder, and Alcohol
Moderate: Body horror, Cancer, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Adult/minor relationship
longlost's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- 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
The school life of Osthorne in general felt very real and present - reading this did make me feel re-immersed in school culture, for good or for bad, and learning about all the magic lore from Ivy's outsider point-of-view was interesting. I very much enjoyed Rahul as a character (my beloved) and I appreciate the affect he had on Ivy's character development.
Regarding the murder mystery itself: I have some Thoughts.
Gailey's writing style was also very enjoyable to me; in parts of the book where they would delve so deep into a scene that it would take a few more paragraphs to learn of small circumstances that took place during the scene that weren't focused on, a choice that feels like it helped with the tension & mystery elements. Ivy's inner voice also felt very authentic.
Overall: a good mystery book with some fun fantasy elements and a cache of pain to hit you with when you reach the story's end.
Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Bullying, Cancer, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Terminal illness, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Abortion, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, and Alcohol
Moderate: Stalking, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Sexual content
TW details -internationalreads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Cancer, Death, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Abortion, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, and Alcohol
laguerrelewis's review against another edition
- 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
4.75
Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Terminal illness, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Abortion, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
samusc's review against another edition
- 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
Magic For Liars contained many of my favorite elements aspects for a book to have:
- Messy main characters (they excel with this)
- Complex sibling relationships
- Unreliable narrator
- Murder mystery where everyone is sus
- Urban Fantasy and Dark Academia setting
Other aspects that I really enjoyed were the romance subplot (with casual bi rep!), a chosen one trope where the chosen one isn't the main character, and the authenticity of the aftermath of losing a parent to cancer in high school.
The way interactions between characters are written out, with emphasis on mirroring people, hit really hard as an autistic reader.
The twists were a wild ride, well plotted and hinted at in a satisfying way.
Graphic: Body horror, Death, and Blood
Moderate: Cancer, Emotional abuse, Abortion, Death of parent, and Pregnancy
librarianmage's review against another edition
- 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? It's complicated
4.0
Graphic: Body horror, Cancer, Emotional abuse, Gore, Blood, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Murder