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erebus53's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
The narration in this book as brilliantly delivered. The main character is jaded and sardonic, and is a lonely woman with a tendencies toward takeout food and alcoholism. Xe Sands narrates the character expressively and playfully, especially the parts where the characters are getting more and more inebriated. An interesting narrator; I might see if I can find other titles read by her.
As far as genre goes, the story is magic-school meets murder mystery, and a romantic twist, with the emphasis mostly on the crime solving stuff. As a result it slid off me a bit, because murder mystery things aren't really my preferred genre. I did like that there was diversity in the story. There were characters of different ages, and there were several queer (gay and pansexual) characters in this story, but the main character is a woman trysting with a man. Although the characters are ethnically diverse, their ethnicity is not focused on at all in the story.
The thing that probably drove me most to distraction was the slow pace. I generally love stories that dwell on the building of relationships between the characters, but the main theme of this book was the impossibility of being able to really bond with others if you aren't prepared to be honest with them, so the relationship building aspect felt shallow and unrewarding.
On a personal note, this book does deal with the aftermath of losing a mother to cancer. It probably says a lot about how much I have grieved and coped and healed that I didn't find this subject matter really upsetting, but rather, I felt like it represented real-life everyday tragedy and the failure of a family to cope because they couldn't share their feelings openly, and support each other in their loss.
Graphic: Alcoholism, Bullying, Chronic illness, Death, Drug use, Gore, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Abortion, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Eating disorder, and Pedophilia
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
chris_reads'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
Graphic: Body horror, Toxic relationship, Abortion, Abandonment, and Alcohol
Moderate: Cancer, Death, Blood, Medical content, Stalking, and Gaslighting
Minor: Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Terminal illness, Medical trauma, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail
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
tessarudnick's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
Graphic: Alcoholism and Alcohol
Moderate: Bullying, Death, Blood, Medical content, Abortion, and Toxic friendship
Minor: Cancer, Eating disorder, Suicide, Terminal illness, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, and Sexual harassment
just_one_more_paige's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- 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, Death, Gore, Terminal illness, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Abortion, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Murder and Pregnancy
arksyn's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Death, Medical content, and Murder
Moderate: Gore and Grief
Minor: Cancer
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
my_forest_library's review against another edition
- 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
5.0
Graphic: Medical content, Medical trauma, and Abortion
Moderate: Body horror
taryn_evelyn's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.25
Graphic: Alcoholism, Gore, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Alcohol