Reviews tagging 'Murder'

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

34 reviews

alisonvh's review against another edition

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adventurous funny lighthearted 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

3.5

This book left me cold and I have no idea why. It’s well written and it has everything I want: magic, adventure, a super charming main character, and a little bit of romance thrown in for good measure.

I think what threw me off is I found it hard to relate to the main character. She’s the type who expects things to go wrong, so she has a tendency to self-sabotage. Although I was able to understand why she was doing what she was doing, it’s so far from who I am that I found it hard to relate to her.
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craftysnailtail's review against another edition

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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. 
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raptorq's review against another edition

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adventurous dark funny hopeful lighthearted 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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haydo's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional 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

This book is completely ridiculous in the best way possible. I laughed, I cried, I giggled and kicked my feet, truly experienced the full range of emotions with this one.

I think if you like badass women solving mysteries and doing magic, you will absolutely love this book.

I must also include the best descriptive quote I’ve ever read: “It was something like a bucket if buckets were lobsters, and something like a lobster if lobsters were murderous.”
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littlelizzieborden's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny lighthearted mysterious reflective relaxing sad tense medium-paced

4.0

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parks_summer's review against another edition

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

3.75

This was an easy, slightly adventurous read. The language choices took some getting used to at first (the dialect and sentence structure overall), but I settled in quickly. 
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clarabooksit's review against another edition

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adventurous funny 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

4.0

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basil_touche's review against another edition

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

2.5

I'll just say right off the bat that I found this book extremely disappointing. 

At first I was really into the victorian style of writing and a story involving magical female bodyguards with a sapphic romance on the side. But then the book dropped the bodyguarding aspect less than 100 pages into it and instead
focuses on the characters starting a drug ring to catch a murderer.
The blurb for this focused solely on the bodyguarding aspect and I wouldn't minded the change had it actually turned out to be anything interesting, but it just wasn't. I was expecting some deep governmental conspiracy that links in with the classism that the book features (I will give the book that it handles that well), not a narrative that doesn't really deliver anything.

Around five chapters focused on just the romance and
the building of the drug producing laboratory, it was a repetitive cycle of working on in the lab, luncheon, flirting and resting.
It was just so dragged out and unnecessary. All this meant that the ending was extremely rushed and we aren't even given a motive for the antagonist. All the characters are rather one dimensional as well, that by the end of it I didn't care about any of them or if the romance between the protagonist and the rich half-troll clanner worked out in the end.

It's a real shame as I love the idea of a fantasy book set in a victorian setting with the period appropriate writing style but this book just did not fullfill anything for me. Waste of time.
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fayeferre's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark funny inspiring reflective 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

3.5

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laurel616's review against another edition

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adventurous funny mysterious tense 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? It's complicated

4.25

While it took me a moment to get into the writing/slang, after I did I really enjoyed it.  There is a very creative magical system in play, but it often left me quite confused as to what people's actual powers were.  Overall an enjoyable read that keep pretty good pacing throughout the entire story. 
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