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csmall73's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Its a strange story. Quentin is swept into a magical world of breakbills and magical college essentially. His entire time at breakbills is encompassed in the first part of the book. There’s no threats or quests. Seems more like a diary of his time there.
Reading about some of the sexual encounters of his peers was odd and detached. I found Quentin’s and Alice’s fox encounter weird and borderline SA. I say borderline because it appears so but also he was unprepared for his animal brain at the time. Then the ensuing relationship seems detached like a friends with benefits but not?
All seem lost in fucking, philosophical discussion, wine and lack of real motivation. Like bunch of rich kids that never had a job or purpose in life. Existential crisis. Amidst this existential crisis Quentin cheats on Alice.
Fillory, keeps popping up in passing as well as other worlds but no real connection with the story other than a childhood fascination with the world. 300/402 pages with nothing insight. Then all of a sudden a forgotten side character happens upon a way to Fillory. Out of the blue. I don’t understand why penny would come to them specifically after having issues in school with one another and distancing himself from them specifically.
Alice is an underestimated queen. Quentin is a petty asshole about the breakup and the consequences that come his way.
Content Warnings
Minor: Alcoholism, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Sexual harassment
jennlongb's review against another edition
Imagine a college-aged Harry Potter that doesn’t actually do much magic — or much of anything. There doesn’t seem to be a definable plot, goal, or conflict. Things just happen, and then the story goes on. The main character over or under sexualizes his female peers, and seems to be offended when they don’t fall for him. He even is offended that his gay (or bi) friend didn’t try to sleep with him, even though he himself is not gay, or bi. But really, nothing of note happened in the first 34%. A couple people died, but was it exciting? Were the deaths impactful? No. I probably could have forgiven some of the sexuality and language if the plot was compelling, but I was just too bored to spend more time on it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cursing
Moderate: Sexual content
Minor: Violence
acopytopy's review against another edition
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny
Moderate: Sexual content
Minor: Suicide
distractible's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcohol
Moderate: Death, Infidelity, and Violence
Minor: Fatphobia, Mental illness, and Sexual content
lms33's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Cursing, Drug use, Sexual content, and Alcohol
Minor: Pedophilia
emcbuckett's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.25
This is basically a combination of Harry Potter and the Chronicles of Narnia except with a lot more alcohol and sex. The author refers to the workings of his main characters body far more often than is necessary or helpful.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction and Alcoholism
Moderate: Sexual content and Violence
haleyrayreads's review against another edition
dark
lighthearted
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
The concept of this book is great, the characters are okay, but the plot drags a bit. I appreciate not being dragged through separate books for each year of school but the transition between years could be abrupt and unclear at times.
The story is mainly driven by character who are pretty one note and their motivations are questionable at best. Their main quest is motivated by ‘well we aren’t doing anything else right now.’ and it takes forever to get to that point. This first 2/3 if this book was so slow. However, once they’re off on their quest the story moves at a more brisk pace that’s refreshing until the main antagonist is taken care of. After that it goes on several chapters too long. It felt like every time a chapter ended I thought that was the end, then there was even more story that served no purpose than to allow readers to wallow in our narrator’s sorrow. This could have been cut in half or more and gotten the same point across.
The concept is great and it’s a fun story with some adjustments, but the pacing, character development, and casual use of ableist and fatphobic language would make me hesitate to read this particular book again.
The story is mainly driven by character who are pretty one note and their motivations are questionable at best. Their main quest is motivated by ‘well we aren’t doing anything else right now.’ and it takes forever to get to that point. This first 2/3 if this book was so slow. However, once they’re off on their quest the story moves at a more brisk pace that’s refreshing until the main antagonist is taken care of. After that it goes on several chapters too long. It felt like every time a chapter ended I thought that was the end, then there was even more story that served no purpose than to allow readers to wallow in our narrator’s sorrow. This could have been cut in half or more and gotten the same point across.
The concept is great and it’s a fun story with some adjustments, but the pacing, character development, and casual use of ableist and fatphobic language would make me hesitate to read this particular book again.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Cursing, Blood, and Alcohol
Moderate: Ableism, Death, Fatphobia, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, and Violence
Minor: Body shaming, Infidelity, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Blood, and Toxic friendship
alicelalicon's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and Sexual content
ambient's review against another edition
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
enjoyable for the most part but definitely slow, the first part reads “slice of life but depressed” with the way nothing happens and just follows studying in Brakebills and discovering magic and such, the action starts off very late in the book, the character development was probably the best part imo in the way sometimes Quentin felt like he was getting worse ? and then he got better and then worse again, not a linear bad-to-good, wished we got more from other characters and not just Q though
the writing’s straightforward and blunt with prose here n there, n there was more than one reference to harry pot which made it feel kinda too try-hard to be “the adult harry potter” (the marketing term itself makes me cringe a little) but it stopped before it became way too much
my worst critique was at times the writing felt stereotypically “man writing women”, had some pretty questionable at best remarks sometimes, but ultimately nice read that moved at a turtle’s pace, the end’s kind of a cliffhanger but will i be picking up the sequel ? ehh
the writing’s straightforward and blunt with prose here n there, n there was more than one reference to harry pot which made it feel kinda too try-hard to be “the adult harry potter” (
my worst critique was at times the writing felt stereotypically “man writing women”, had some pretty questionable at best remarks sometimes, but ultimately nice read that moved at a turtle’s pace, the end’s kind of a cliffhanger but will i be picking up the sequel ? ehh
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexism and Sexual content
Minor: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Racism, and Cannibalism
jmeier's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I would give this book a five if it weren't for the mild to moderate ableism, racism, and overall attitude of white privileged. The characters are all white. The setting is all white. The narrator and protagonist us multiple disability slurs and is deeply judgemental of neurodiverse coded characters. I love the story, but it reads like something from the 80s at points, not 2009.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Body shaming, and Classism
Moderate: Drug abuse, Drug use, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, and Toxic friendship
Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Biphobia, Death, Gore, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, Sexual content, Violence, Religious bigotry, and Alcohol