Reviews tagging 'Fire/Fire injury'

Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz

12 reviews

tiffthelibrarian's review against another edition

mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Death, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury

junowo's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious relaxing medium-paced

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

4.5

A very enjoyable mystery novel. I liked the use of the “book within a book” framework to create parallels and deepen meaning. Both Atticus and Susan are enjoyable characters to read, and I really loved trying to work things out myself.
I will say that the justification at the end for certain character’s actions fell a bit flat, but I was willing to suspend disbelief for the sake of the climax!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Child death, Death, Fatphobia, Gore, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Classism

Moderate: Animal death, Cancer, and Car accident

renyoi's review against another edition

adventurous funny mysterious reflective relaxing slow-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

4.25

Really clever take on meta mystery, which is becoming more and more of a popular genre these days. It’s relatively rare to find an author in favor of the “death of the author” philosophy in any real sense, but Horowitz definitely advocates for that position in this book, which is refreshing. Very cozy read. Not as subversive as I would have assumed based on the conceit, but I didn’t mind that much by the end.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Chronic illness, Death, Fatphobia, Suicide, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Animal death

Minor: Ableism, Homophobia, and Misogyny

thedistortionist's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Terminal illness, and Murder

Moderate: Animal death, Child death, and Suicide

Minor: Homophobia, Mental illness, and Fire/Fire injury

corriejn's review against another edition

3.75

A whodunnit mystery within a whodunnit mystery-- the first half of the book is a murder mystery story set in small town England in the 1950s, and is presented as a manuscript an editor is reading. The second half reverts back to modern times and the editor-- with a new set of characters and storylines to get to know, which I found a bit jarring. I didn't enjoy the second half as well as the first, and found it dragged a bit.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Death, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

angela005's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Child death, Death, Terminal illness, Violence, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Animal death and Suicide

Minor: Racism and Fire/Fire injury

anagspereira's review against another edition

adventurous challenging mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

I loved the premise and its execution, although the ending of the modern day/ real side of the story within a story was a bit disappointing. It was overall a very fun experience and I loved annotating the book with my own comments/ theories throughout the read. 

 

I thought the romantic sub-plot in the modern day era was unnecessary, plus it overall cheapened the story with the whole “will the workaholic woman forgo everything she cares about for romance?” clichê. Specially since by the end she had lost agency to even decide on the matter.

 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder

Minor: Animal death, Child death, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Suicide, Terminal illness, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

simply_fran's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Violence, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Xenophobia and Medical content

purplepenning's review against another edition

mysterious slow-paced

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Cancer, Child death, Death, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Infidelity, Suicide, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

breezer's review against another edition

mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.0

For a book with such an interesting premise it was SO BORING

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Child death and Suicidal thoughts