Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

Thirteen Storeys by Jonathan Sims

4 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

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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.

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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

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

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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

klavin_lovell's review

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

4.0

I won't pretend that it wasn't The Magnus Archives that brought me here. I discovered the podcast this year and fell in love with it and as soon as I discovered Jonny had a novel I had to get a copy.

Now I wouldn't recommend reading the book expecting another Magnus Archives as that's not what it is. It is, however, fantastic.
It can become gruesome so I would recommend practicing caution but if you've listened to the more violent Magnus Archives episodes it should be bearable. 
In my opinion the story is fascinating, an intelligent statement about morality and self preservation. The ideologies that may come with one's experiences and backgrounds. It can be a little difficult to follow with every chapter being a different narrative and keeping up with the large main cast can be tricky if you don't have the best memory, like myself.
However the cast is diverse and some characters are very memorable, Jonny has shown his skill with a wide range of characters and themes and I am definitely looking forward to his next project.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Mental illness, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Cannibalism, and Murder

Moderate: Bullying, Cursing, and Grief

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child death, Deadnaming, Drug abuse, Homophobia, Transphobia, and Death of parent