Reviews tagging 'Police brutality'

Thirteen Storeys by Jonathan Sims

17 reviews

b0gd0g's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective 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

Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Physical abuse, Violence, and Police brutality

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Death, Cannibalism, Death of parent, and Colonisation

fionamclary's review against another edition

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

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, eviction

mistrum_crowe's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Blood, Police brutality, and Murder

Moderate: Bullying and Cannibalism

Minor: Deadnaming

casdelvo's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Violence, Murder, and Classism

Moderate: Mental illness and Cannibalism

Minor: Deadnaming and Police brutality

lavend3r_cactus's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious reflective tense slow-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

3.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Blood, Police brutality, Murder, and Classism

Moderate: Child abuse, Cannibalism, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Deadnaming and Deportation

boxalligators's review

dark 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? No

3.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Violence, Police brutality, and Cannibalism

Moderate: Bullying, Death, Gore, and Blood

Minor: Addiction, Deadnaming, and Transphobia

gracecrandall's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• 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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Gore, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Cannibalism, Murder, Abandonment, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Addiction, Deadnaming, Racism, Transphobia, Grief, Death of parent, and Deportation

artmajorese's review against another edition

adventurous dark slow-paced

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

4.0

If you enjoyed the Magnus Archives, you'll probably enjoy this. Jonathan Sims stays true to his brand of spookiness. He also sticks with his characteristic tendency to build slowly on a narrative through small episodic arcs.  

While I enjoyed it, it didn't quite hit 5 stars for me.  It felt both too fast and too slow. By the time I got familiar with a narrator, it changed to a different narrator in a different chapter.  By the last chapter, when all the threads were tied together, I had forgotten which character was which.  Things happened fast for each narrator, but the build of all information together was too slow for my taste, so that when we hit the big reveal it felt rushed rather than foreshadowed and earned.   

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Genocide, Racism, Sexism, Slavery, Xenophobia, Police brutality, Trafficking, Medical trauma, Colonisation, War, and Classism

songofthewolfy's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• 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

5.0

Excellent debut novel by Jonathan Sims! I loved The Magnus Archives, and thoroughly enjoyed this novel. I did feel that the end went a little fast for how much of a build-up there was to the climax. But I found it very enjoyable, and can't wait for more from him!

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Mental illness, Torture, Blood, Police brutality, Cannibalism, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Colonisation, and Classism

Sims uses the listed content warnings to deliver a scathing critique of society. However, he does not shy away from depictions of mental illness, gore, and trauma. Please use discretion.

plumwildflowers's review

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder

Moderate: Drug use, Police brutality, and Colonisation

Minor: Transphobia