Reviews tagging 'Adult/minor relationship'

Smoke and Mirrors: Short Fictions and Illusions by Neil Gaiman

6 reviews

lancemama's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective sad fast-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? It's complicated

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Child abuse, Gore, Grief, Death, Mental illness, Murder, Violence, Body horror, Emotional abuse, and Sexual content

Moderate: Body shaming, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Misogyny, Animal death, Bullying, Mental illness, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Antisemitism, Cannibalism, Classism, and Alcohol

hannahsutherland's review against another edition

challenging dark funny medium-paced

• Diverse cast of characters? No

There were some real bangers in this book and also some real duds. 

One thing I loved was that so many of the stories seemed to feature a main character that is fashioned after Gaiman himself. 
One thing I really, really didn't enjoy was the number of stories that featured older men hooking up with young women. One story (Looking for the Girl) even mentioned a middle aged man in a "relationship" with a sixteen year old. 🤢
I found all the stories based on H P Lovecraft's fictional town to be boring. 

The stories that I would give five stars were: 
🗡️Chivalry🗡️
🎅Nicholas Was...🎅
👾Virus👾
🃏Fifteen Painted Cards from a Vampire Tarot🃏 
👶Babycakes👶
🫀Snow, Glass, Apples🫀

Reading the illustrated version Snow, Glass, Apples is what made me want to pick up an anthology of Niel Gaiman's short stories. 

---

Content Warnings

Minor: Adult/minor relationship

peeshpish's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

A bunch of short stories, mostly dark, some with the intent to be scary & others more emotional. A few are funny, too. Many of the characters are dealing with loneliness, & most are men. Some are told where the author is the main character. The story settings vary in how much they take place in reality vs fantasy, often combining the two (at least one is set in a fantasy world & many incorporate well known myths, folk/fairytales, and other authors’ fantasy/sci-fi works.) The forward has a short story of its own & small tidbits explaining his thoughts behind each story, so don’t skip it!

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Sexual content, and Violence

Moderate: Gore, Blood, Drug use, Transphobia, Physical abuse, and Chronic illness

Minor: Terminal illness, Adult/minor relationship, Sexual assault, Death, Death of parent, Suicidal thoughts, Racial slurs, Pedophilia, and Infidelity

jessthanthree's review against another edition

dark fast-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? It's complicated

2.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Gore, Sexual content, Vomit, Animal cruelty, and Child death

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Animal death, Death, Medical trauma, and Murder

linw21's review against another edition

adventurous funny mysterious medium-paced

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

3.5

I liked the first stories and the last ones. The middle ones I didn’t enjoy as much but I may have to revisit them another time. Not my favourite but still good.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Animal death, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Murder, and Body horror

innerweststreetlibrarian's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.0

This is a disturbing bunch of weird, creepy, dark and sometimes sexy stories. Lots of monsters, of the human and the fantasy kind. The one I liked best was about the hotel cleaner in Hollywood who tended the fish ponds. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Child death, Animal death, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Abortion

Moderate: Child abuse, Blood, Chronic illness, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Cannibalism, Gore, Murder, and Rape

Minor: Alcohol, Torture, Self harm, and Injury/Injury detail