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toffishay's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.75
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Violence, Blood, and Murder
Moderate: Confinement, Emotional abuse, Vomit, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Minor: Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, Racism, Rape, Slavery, Torture, Xenophobia, Police brutality, Medical content, Trafficking, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, and War
fionamclary's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Graphic: Confinement and Trafficking
Moderate: Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Gore, Slavery, Car accident, and Classism
Minor: Drug use, Rape, Police brutality, War, and Injury/Injury detail
awkwardimagination's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Graphic: Child abuse, Gore, Violence, Blood, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Moderate: Confinement, Death, Drug use, Slavery, and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Torture
sauvageloup's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
pros:
- the writing style was different and fun. I got a real sense of who Ropa was and liked her a lot. her character comes through through the writing, with a quirky mix of slang and complicated language and concepts. shes both smart and street smart.
- I also really loved priya and gran as side characters, they were great. priya was a lot of fun to read, and ropa's love for her gran was obvious.
- there was also some lovely descriptions in Huchu's writing, creating a great atmosphere.
- the horror was also genuinely creepy
- while the mystery was great, the tensions ropa had about still bringing money in and helping her family felt very real. she really feels she has to carry everything and doesnt tell anyone older than her, apart from Callender, who fails her.
- I likes the dystopian Edinburgh a lot, made a nice change from London, and the implied breakdown of society which was hinted at but never entirely explained, was interesting.
- priya's magical wheelchair was fab, really interesting application of magic.
- and the bits of African culture, the mbira helping ground the spirits and gran's magic, were great, enjoyed learning about them.
cons:
- I never got a real sense of Jomo, he seemed quite hapless and not particularly helpful, didnt quite get Ropa's loyalty to him.
- occasionally the slang dialogue did feel a bit forced but not often.
- the two main bits of the plot seemed very disparat .
- I did get a bit frustrated with the refusal to give an in depth explanation of a lot of things, like
but overall, really enjoyed this read :)
Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Slavery, Violence, Trafficking, and Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Child death, Death of parent, and Murder
Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, and Sexism
a past character's gambling addiction is discussed.nytephoenyx's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
The magical concepts were interesting, but the system was infodumped and the protagonist’s explanation came off a bit impatient with the whole thing. I still haven’t nailed down the time period (futuristic but with loads of contemporary pop culture references?). The descriptions of magic were good and the plot was interesting, but delivery was simplified and overly lucky.
In general, the book was interesting to read, but a bit too messy to hold my interest for a re-read or continuation.
Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Drug use, Blood, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Slavery, Torture, Violence, and Medical content
Minor: Excrement and Vomit
The main character is BIPOC and a supporting character uses a wheelchair. Characters experience poverty.cor_luz's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.75
Minor: Slavery and Fire/Fire injury
anniereads221's review against another edition
4.0
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Physical abuse, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Classism
nicnevin's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- 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
Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Slavery, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Police brutality, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
uranaishi's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
Graphic: Confinement, Slavery, Torture, Violence, and Kidnapping
Moderate: Animal death, Child abuse, Death, Drug use, Physical abuse, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Trafficking, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Animal cruelty, Emotional abuse, Rape, Murder, Abandonment, War, and Classism
adancewithbooks's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.5
We follow Ropa, a ghosttalker who is just trying to make some money to keep paying the rent the place she lives with her grandmother and her sister. She sends messages between ghosts and their living relatives. Its a hard but simple life. But when ghost mother contacts her to find out what happened to her son she gets thrown in all kind of holes of Edinburgh she had no idea about yet.
Ropa has a very distinct voice which I think is a great thing. But I have to be honest and say that it took me very long to really get into it. Everytime I picked it back up I needed to get back into it again and that took some of the flow out of the story for me. I also had a bit of a bone to pick with how some of the magic was explained through Ropa reading passages of books. That was pretty dry.
When it comes to the world building the actual idea of the setting and the magic is really interesting. I think we got a good idea of what was important to the story but there is still a lot left to be discovered in other books. I loved that Ropa had to work a bit for the magic by figuring out what would work for her.
I did find it annoying that there was a reference to an incident in the past which is what shaped Edinburgh to what it is today. Yet there is never a good explanation of that.
With a title like The Library of the Dead I really thought we would be having more time with the library. Instead it is just something that is used in the background. I guess I was dissapointed by that. It doesn't seem like such an awesome place with those grumpy people in there.
I did like the addition of Priya and the Zimbabwean roots we see shining through.
Graphic: Slavery and Kidnapping
Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Racism, and Death of parent