Reviews tagging 'Death'

The Magic Fish by Trung Le Nguyen

122 reviews

redrosemoth's review

adventurous emotional hopeful medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Blood, and Death of parent

Minor: Homophobia

solaria's review

emotional funny hopeful reflective relaxing sad medium-paced

• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

Stunning art, absolutely adorable ending, love love love love

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Homophobia, and Death of parent

lilybear3's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

I loved the use of fairytales in this story and I loved reading the Vietnamese version of them.  It is a tearjerker, happy and sad tears.  It is a beautiful story with beautiful illustrations.  The colors lend themselves when they are in the real world and when they are telling a fairytale.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Homophobia, and Grief

Moderate: Blood

marissab's review

emotional hopeful lighthearted mysterious reflective sad fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Minor: Body horror, Death, Homophobia, Violence, Grief, Religious bigotry, and Injury/Injury detail

rosie_valadez's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Homophobia, Grief, Religious bigotry, and Death of parent

Minor: Animal death, Blood, and Cannibalism

haileylouise's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

Beautifully executed, from the writing and retelling of classic fairy-tails to the artwork, I could not have loved a story more. This especially hits home as a southeast asian queer who struggled with coming out to their parents, plus with the added elements of religion playing into it. I would 1000% recommend everyone to read this, especially queer pocs!

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Content Warnings

Minor: Death, Homophobia, Terminal illness, Blood, Religious bigotry, and Outing

lunarxcross's review against another edition

reflective sad 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Blood, Grief, Cannibalism, and Death of parent

erin_362's review

fast-paced

• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

The art style in this is gorgeous and I loved the way the fairy tales were integrated into the story 
also the use of the colors showing the different times/ locations vs fantasy stuff was so cool  
I really liked this 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Murder, and Outing

Moderate: Homophobia and Blood

thewordsdevourer's review against another edition

emotional hopeful medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.25

the magic fish is a heartfelt, gorgeously drawn graphic novel that explores the immigrant experience and uses fairytales to bridge the cultural and language barriers of coming out.

the art is wonderfully detailed (the hair esp, and the dresses) and i like how nguyen uses 3 color palettes to differentiate between the settings. what amazes me the most, however, is the ingenious composition and structure that play off the art and word bubbles, flowing very smoothly. 

in terms of story, the internal journeys of tiên and his mom form the crux of it, the former w/ his gay identity and the latter w/ her immigrant experience. there's not a lot going on esp interspersed w/ the fairytales (each of which is variations of a country, which is interesting), but the pace is relaxing and it's great that there's no unnecessary tension aside from the aforementioned characters' struggles. i do wish, however, that the ending - as touching as it is - was longer, as rn it's too abrupt.

all in all, this is a great graphic novel w/ both great art and story, and i certainly hope to read more of nguyen's work.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, and Murder

Minor: Homophobia, Death of parent, and Outing

lomahongva's review

emotional hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cannibalism and Murder

Moderate: Child abuse, Homophobia, and Religious bigotry

Minor: Death, Death of parent, and War