Reviews with content warning for Transphobia - Thirteen Storeys

Reviews tagging 'Transphobia'

Thirteen Storeys by Jonathan Sims

27 reviews

fionamclary's review

challenging dark inspiring mysterious sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Johnny Sims is truly a storyteller for the ages with a distinctive voice and clear passion for his themes. As a longtime Magnus Archives fan, it was delightful to experience that distinctive voice in a different format with new subject matter. Thirteen Storeys is terrifying and satisfying, as the best horror novels are. The wide range of characters we meet within its pages should give any reader someone to identify with. Chapter one comes out strong with my personal favorite, Violet, our office-job drone turned anticapitalist militant. The description toward the end of her chapter of her personal haunting had me equally spooked and hyped and in awe of this man's writing. It is clear just how committed Johnny is to making sure that we know that the real monster, the true horror of this world, has been capitalism this whole time. Johnny also makes prolific use of his penchant for sleep disorder horror, with multiple characters experiencing insomnia and other sleep disturbances that make you question whether the things they're experiencing are real, or just an exhausted hallucination...and which option is scarier.

My only complaint is that my copy is bursting with typos. I almost feel bad for the copy editor credited in the back because I'd hate to have my name on something where I don't seem to have done my job. There's multiple instances of missing words or words that shouldn't be there, incorrect or missing punctuation, wrong words, and even one instance where a character's entire name was different. I hope there's other editions out there that don't have this problem, but it was so egregious that it sometimes took me completely out of the story. Which is a real shame, since the story is a masterpiece.

Content Warnings

cardaisy's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark mysterious reflective tense medium-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

4.25

Kind of slow to start, probably just because the first couple of stories weren't really my favourite, though it could also be partly because it takes a while for the overarching mystery to properly establish itself as well. I think chapter 4 (Bad Penny) was when it really hooked me. I really enjoyed the interconnectedness of the stories and how events would overlap or how one character would mention another one in passing. You also start to recognise the narrators as they pop up because they've been mentioned or featured in other stories

It was also really fun having gone into this as a big fan of The Magnus Archives, and to see the parallels between the two. Jonny definitely has a certain style and specific themes that interest him and I really love it. If you are a fan of TMA, you'll almost certainly enjoy this, and I'd recommend the audiobook as well (each chapter also has a different voice actor, which is very fun and fits the book really well as a sort of anthology)

I think the last chapter/climax of the story was maybe a bit heavyhanded, but I also think it maybe needed to be, if that makes any sense at all. Overall I really enjoyed this though, and while I don't think any of these stories are incredibly unique or groundbreaking, I do think that they are all well done. That maybe doesn't sound like a compliment, but I think it can be difficult sometimes to really properly write a specific trope or theme, and Jonny does that for most of the stories in this book

My favourite story was Sleepless (chapter 6), I just think it was really masterfully done storytelling, and the end of this chapter was also a turning point for me putting together my theories for the last chapter/what happened to Tobias Fell. I feel like this chapter just had a really great cohesive story and throughline, and was a great example of a simple story executed really well. The different elements of the story slotted together at the end in a way that felt really satisfying for me. The voice actor also did a fantastic job as well, from her characterization of Alvita, which really does come across as an exhausted and overworked single mother, to the voice she does for the late night host, which is such a nice juxtaposition to the rest of the narration

Besides sleepless, my favourites were:

- Bad Penny (4), genuinely creeped me out at times, and I like the perspective of a horror story told by a child who doesn’t realise they should be afraid of what's going on

- Essential Viewing (8), a fun "haunted house" story from the perspective of a sort of real estate agent/building manager

- Inbox (5), this one is maybe a bit more plot heavy, and helps to orientate the overarching story, but I also just really enjoyed the mystery elements of it

Others that I enjoyed were

- A Foot in the Door (7), this was good, centered around a woman who's trying to do a sort of paranormal investigation of the building. We also get a decent amount of exposition and history about the building

- Old Plumbing (11), I really loved Janek as a character, though this story didn't really do much for me, it was good though

- Round the Clock (10), this explored dynamics of masculinity, bystander-ism, and almost a sort of us vs them mentality and the things you might excuse of a close friend. I liked this one well enough, but I guessed the twist at the beginning (or the general idea of it) and I feel a bit conflicted about it. Very tense at times though, Max comes across as very unstable and violent

- Night Work (1), a decent opener and set the tone for the rest of the book, though maybe not the most interesting or compelling

- The Knock (2), this was interesting, and it was fun to see such a different perspective right after Night Work. This had a Pickman's Model vibe to it, that concept of a haunted painting, and I overall liked it, though it wasn't really one of my favourites

- Point of View (12), I'm a bit uncertain what to say about Damien's story, because it's written as a transcript of a video and is more a story that ties everything else together, rather than a distinct short story like the others. I also don't think that the format translated super well to audio, but I do think it was a good transition into the last chapter

Not my favs

- Smart (3), a commentary on AI and smart home technology, not my favourite trope, but I think people who do enjoy it more would like this. I think this one also has a sort of "Black Mirror" vibe to it (though probably just because a lot of episodes center around technology). This was also the first story where the character has a more direct link to Tobias Fell which was fun

- A Stubborn Stain (9), this just wasn't my favourite. I do actually think the concept is interesting, but there were just too many elements of this that felt too heavyhanded and overt. The parallel of the stain and the decline of his marriage was an obvious plot point from the beginning, which I wasn't opposed to, but then the additional parallel of his work and the pollution caused by the company he works for was just a bit too much. I think if just one of those two themes were explored it would've felt more rounded and cohesive, but there were too many elements going on and they felt rushed and overall the story didn't flow as well as it could've in my opinion

Content Warnings

sucrecube's review

Go to review page

dark hopeful mysterious 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

5.0

Read this because I listened to The Magnus Archives and very quickly became deeply obsessed (listened to 140 episodes of it in a week), and NEEDED more of Jonathan Sims' work. I plan to read more of his stuff eventually as well.
If you're familiar with The Magnus Archives, this has a similar sort of format; a bunch of short horror stories that are, in some ways, connected, and a main plot is built with that. Sims is really excellent at building intrigue for his mysteries, and he's also quite good at building tension in his horror. I would personally say a good chunk of the horror in this book is more "psychological" in nature, rather than "thrilling," which is absolutely perfect because that's my favourite kind. None of the stories overstay their welcome, and they're all varied, so there's basically a charcuterie board of horrors here. I also really loved the themes in this book!

I hate the rich!

One of my biggest problems is the pacing of the final chapter. I understand the difficulty in

juggling like 13+ characters, and I definitely think it was handled decently, but I do feel like it could have been better. In juggling those 13+, I also feel like a few of them were kind of flattened personality-wise to, again, work with the fact that there were so many characters.

Overall though I really enjoyed the ending! It felt insanely satisfying, which is great because I, honestly, often leave a book or show dissatisfied with its ending, especially when it comes to horror.
Another teeny tiny thing is that I hate the amount of typos. I can overlook a couple but there were probably at least ten or so? I feel like even that is a major understatement. I mostly overlook it in the case of this book because of how much I enjoyed it but typos are a massive pet peeve of mine in a piece of writing.

Despite my criticisms I really don't want to rate it lower than I have because I enjoyed it and I generally enjoy Sims' work so much!! Despite its flaws it was just such a fun read. I've been trying to read more lately, and this was probably the fastest I've finished a book of this length in a very long time because of how much I loved it. Maybe I'll adjust my rating at a later time but I just really can't bring myself to rate it any lower right now lol.

Content Warnings

cranberry10088's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Content Warnings

rayne_fall's review

Go to review page

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Content Warnings

rachelunabridged's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark mysterious tense fast-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

3.75

Content Warnings

bookcheshirecat's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

4.5

“This world was designed to generate winners and losers, and it showed a lack of character to wish yourselves a winner without accepting what it does to those who lose.”

➽ I can't believe I waited this long to finally read Thirteen Storeys, as it was amazing! I was so excited for Jonathan Sims' debut novel because I loved The Magnus Archive, the podcast he was a writer on. I'm normally not really into Horror but TMA got me super obsessed and I loved the way it was written. Luckily, he's also fantastic at writing novels and just really writes Horror in a way that draws me in. Thirteen Storeys is focused on Banyan Court, a huge complex that was built by the eccentric billionaire Tobias Fell, who has become a hermit and rarely leaves his penthouse anymore. The story starts with a newspaper entry about his sudden death following a dinner party with 12 guests ... who have no idea what happened. We're slowly working our way back by following different people in the weeks leading up to the dinner party and the strange experiences with Banyan Court.

➽ This feels more like an anthology, as every story is about a different character's life and how Banyan Court haunts them in one way or another. Still, after a while you begin to see the connections between the stories and I loved figuring out what was going on! The dinner party itself only happens at the very end, but I personally didn't mind that as the setup was intriguing and gave us some insight into Tobias, his dubious past and the secrets of the building. The people he invites for the party couldn't be more different, as the complex has two sides. One is for the rich people, but the back is hidden away and full of cheap apartments for those who can't afford better. There were so many intriguing stories, we've got a young woman who only works the night shift, a couple horrified by a mysterious stain in their wall that won't come out, a startup CEO whose own technology turns against him and an art collector who gets obsessed with a painting. There was always a sinister undercurrent to the stories, especially when it comes to the concierge who deals with an intense coworker and a plumber who has been noticing that the pipes don't work like they should. Every single story left me intrigued and I'm definitely excited for more books by Jonny!

Content Warnings