Reviews tagging 'Medical content'

Magic for Liars by Sarah Gailey

32 reviews

arsrose's review against another edition

mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Medical content, and Medical trauma

Minor: Pregnancy, Cancer, and Chronic illness

jazhandz's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

4.5

I think this is my favorite Sarah Gailey book I’ve read yet. I had expected it to be a little more twee and Harry Potter-referential (that’s always how it was pitched to me) but instead it was a straight-up noir, and a good one at that. Twisty mystery, complicated hero, sympathy for all parties. Really enjoyed it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Death, Medical content, Body horror, and Abortion

Moderate: Blood, Cancer, Death of parent, Medical trauma, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Pregnancy

booksandteatime's review

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy, Panic attacks/disorders, Cancer, Gore, Medical content, Abortion, Blood, Death, and Death of parent

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship and Eating disorder

verinvaldez's review

dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

3.0

Very enjoyable, it's fun to watch Ivy investigate and interview people as long as you ignore that she has never interviewed people before yet is oddly good at it. I didn't care for the romance but think it was a shame that there isn't any closure for either character there. The whole Chosen One plotline was very obvious

Dylan was too flat of a character to have ever actually been the Chosen One.

and the reveal of who did it and why wasn't satisfying to me. The ending felt sudden and I expected more from it.

It's a bit of a miracle Ivy managed to solve this case considering she spends the majority of the book drunk, hungover, obsessing about her new crush and worrying about her relationship with her sister. Gailey tries to dig deeper with themes of parent death, identity and estrangement but it just fell flat for me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism and Alcohol

Moderate: Medical content, Cancer, Pregnancy, Abortion, Blood, and Death of parent

Minor: Eating disorder

writererinm's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense 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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma and Medical content

erebus53's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious sad slow-paced

• 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

This was an audiobook I checked out as part of a reading challenge, to read a book that had been nominated for literary award(s),  but not been an actual award winner. I figured that could go one of two ways; the book could be a hidden gem that's only of niche interest, or a promising title that didn't quite match up to the top billing nominees. The book ended up being slightly more of column B.

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.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Pregnancy, Abortion, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Chronic illness, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Terminal illness, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Mental illness, Medical trauma, Medical content, Grief, Drug use, Death of parent, Death, Bullying, and Blood

Minor: Eating disorder, Adult/minor relationship, and Pedophilia

sarahmanuel3's review against another edition

dark mysterious fast-paced

• 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Death of parent, Violence, Body horror, Cancer, Alcohol, Terminal illness, Blood, Murder, Pregnancy, and Death

Moderate: Bullying, Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, Vomit, Injury/Injury detail, and Medical content

Minor: Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, and Adult/minor relationship

chris_reads's review against another edition

emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Abortion, Alcohol, Body horror, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Blood, Cancer, Gaslighting, Death, Medical content, and Stalking

Minor: Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Terminal illness, and Medical trauma

schnaucl's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad 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

4.75

I really liked this book.   Even though I guessed some of the twists, I thought it was cleverly written.  I really liked the protagonist's voice, and her ability to imagine herself in different timelines felt very genuine.

I almost expected it to turn out that it was a kind of magic that she was doing, to so fully inhabit the alternate timeline characters.

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. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcohol, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Toxic friendship, Blood, Gore, and Medical content

Minor: Sexual content, Terminal illness, Cancer, Death, Eating disorder, Abortion, Death of parent, and Emotional abuse

tessarudnick's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious tense medium-paced

• 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

An enjoyable read. The worldbuilding and mystery are both compelling, with a satisfying ending to a complex set of clues. The mystery is well done with clues and foreshadowing throughout. Lots of queer representation as always in Sarah Gailey's work. I loved many of the characters, though protagonist and narrator Ivy was by far my least favorite. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism and Alcohol

Moderate: Blood, Abortion, Bullying, Death, Toxic friendship, and Medical content

Minor: Cancer, Eating disorder, Death of parent, Suicide, Terminal illness, Sexual harassment, Pregnancy, and Murder