phantompansy's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Body horror, Classism, Blood, and Gore
Moderate: Colonisation, Confinement, Death, Mental illness, Cursing, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder
Minor: Medical content, Addiction, Fire/Fire injury, and Transphobia
sapphic_reader'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? No
3.0
Graphic: Police brutality, Violence, Cannibalism, and Body horror
Moderate: Gore, Bullying, Death, and Blood
Minor: Transphobia, Deadnaming, and Addiction
rainbowalcremie1995's review
- 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
3.75
Spoiler
capitalismI wasn’t sure what to expect going into this book. I definitely liked it overall, but it took me a while to finish it. I bought the book a few months back, read the first few chapters, put it down for a bit when the pacing got a bit slow, and finally started over and finished the book over the last few weeks.
I have two chapters I would consider my favorites. The first is Carter’s chapter, which works as a great standalone story about an awful, awful person becoming a victim to something he created. Something I love about that chapter is that
Spoiler
Donna is basically working as intended and taking over his life, creating someone to be a better person in his place if he won’t do it himselfSpoiler
breaking into the middle of the building, seeing the pipes inside, and deciding to join the bodies he’d been followingSpoiler
Janek went through a traumatic work place accident similar to the ones the ghosts he’s following were victims of, and I found that to be a stronger character motivation than the vague concept of people suffering somewhere else.I feel like the ending of the book wrapped things up a little neatly, but I didn’t mind. I loved the scenes of all these different characters we’ve been in the heads of getting to interact with each other in a strange setting. It might have been sort of anticlimactic and convenient to
Spoiler
have the characters just use the ghosts they’ve been haunted by to each thematically beat Tobias to death, but it was still pretty funAs a last aside, I (like everyone else) listened to the Magnus Archives podcast sometime before reading this book. I liked the podcast, but I never considered myself a huge fan of it, and I fell behind and never finished it, either. If you’re a big fan of the podcast, though, I will say this book is pretty similar in tone and themes, with both using the real world horrors of capitalism and class divides in addition to the supernatural elements.
Graphic: Death, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Blood, and Cannibalism
Moderate: Classism
Minor: Genocide, Suicide, Slavery, and Deadnaming
You probably listened to the Magnus Archives first. You know about what to expect.ladyinverse's review
- 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
Graphic: Blood, Classism, Death, Drug use, Drug abuse, and Body horror
Moderate: Vomit, Violence, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Cannibalism, and Murder
Minor: Medical content, Grief, and Kidnapping
bazer63's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Spoiler
There is literal eating the rich, what more can I saySpoiler
Graphic: Body horror, Violence, Mental illness, Gore, and Blood
Moderate: Cannibalism
slime_retro's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Body horror, Violence, and Blood
Minor: Vomit and Drug use
catherinedsharp's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
A dark and gothic book with a slow plot; it takes a while for things to happen which is a little annoying, and has caused my rating to be lower, but it makes sense for you to be able to understand the plot.
As things went on, you could see links forming. The plot is written and formed in depth with things hinting to each other.
I found the ending satisfying although somewhat predictable. A metaphor for capitalism amongst other things, this novel can be seen as a horror story and social commentary.
Would recommend.
Graphic: Death, Drug abuse, Physical abuse, Murder, Blood, and Cannibalism
gracecrandall's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Chronic illness, Death, Drug use, Classism, Violence, Terminal illness, Colonisation, Murder, Gore, Police brutality, Confinement, Blood, Abandonment, Body horror, Cannibalism, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Addiction, Transphobia, Death of parent, Racism, Deadnaming, Grief, and Deportation
jan_coco_day's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Cannibalism, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Blood, Classism, Confinement, and Death
Moderate: Dementia and Drug abuse
This book does NOT contain sex, sexualisation, or sexual violence.subobscura's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Murder, Gore, Blood, Violence, Torture, and Injury/Injury detail