A review by fionamclary
Thirteen Storeys by Jonathan Sims

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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