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misslupescu'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? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Body horror, Death, and Murder
Moderate: Addiction, Mental illness, Violence, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Drug use and Cannibalism
fionamclary's review against another edition
- 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
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.
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Drug use, Gore, Violence, Blood, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Moderate: Bullying, Slavery, Police brutality, Grief, Cannibalism, and Colonisation
Minor: Addiction, Child death, Deadnaming, Genocide, Mental illness, Transphobia, Vomit, Death of parent, and Deportation
Homelessness, evictioncardaisy's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Violence, Murder, and Classism
Moderate: Gore, Mental illness, Xenophobia, Blood, Cannibalism, Stalking, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Slavery, Suicide, Terminal illness, Transphobia, Medical content, and Deportation
itsmeautievee's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
The story is good and maybe it was the audio performances that made it difficult for me to listen to.
I enjoyed the story as an Allegory. I don't know that I'd read it again but I did enjoy it and I would recommend it to others.
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Cannibalism, and Classism
Moderate: Chronic illness, Mental illness, Self harm, Violence, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Deadnaming, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, and Stalking
Does contains scenes depicting children experiencing distresscranberry10088's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Murder, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail
gagereadsstuff'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
3.5
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Cannibalism, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Moderate: Child death, Deadnaming, and Colonisation
rayne_fall's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Death, Mental illness, Violence, Blood, Cannibalism, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Moderate: Child death, Drug use, and Toxic friendship
Minor: Chronic illness, Homophobia, Suicide, Transphobia, and Colonisation
bookcheshirecat's review
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!
Graphic: Gore, Violence, Blood, Cannibalism, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Moderate: Addiction
Minor: Deadnaming, Drug abuse, Transphobia, and Colonisation
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
3.25
Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Blood, and Classism
Moderate: Confinement, Cursing, Death, Mental illness, Murder, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Addiction, Transphobia, Medical content, and Fire/Fire injury
rainbowalcremie1995's review against another edition
- 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
I 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
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
As 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, Violence, Blood, Cannibalism, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Classism
Minor: Deadnaming, Genocide, Slavery, and Suicide
You probably listened to the Magnus Archives first. You know about what to expect.