Reviews with content warning for Sexual content - Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore

Reviews tagging 'Sexual content'

Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan

8 reviews

keepsleep's review

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mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

3.75

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silver_valkyrie_reads's review against another edition

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funny hopeful mysterious reflective 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

4.25

This book gave me a roller coaster of reactions, but in the end, it wrapped up well and made sense, and any barbs directed at Christianity seemed to be just passing rather than integral to the point of the story. In fact, however unintentionally, this story really highlighted for me how glad I am to know that I DO get to to live forever with Jesus.

As usual, the author does a fantastic job combine elements of traditional life with modern technology, in a way that really allows for the complexity of the contrast, without making either side totally the villain.

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cookiecat73's review against another edition

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mysterious slow-paced

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

3.5

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nicolaparty's review against another edition

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It was really starting to drag around the middle. I also thought there was poor character development, so I wasn't at all invested in what the characters did next.

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amiegold's review against another edition

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funny lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

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

4.75

I enjoyed Penumbra's Bookstore. It was a challenging intellectual mystery combined with a magical reading world. Very fun and I enjoyed uncovering the mystery with Clay. Clay is definitely a nerd, and reads like one. I think this could turn some people off, but it felt authentic to me and I enjoyed it!

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peytonktracy's review

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adventurous funny mysterious fast-paced

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

3.5

A fun, funny, fluffy read! A lost young man stumbling into an adventure into a secret world, which leads to a bigger magic world, which ends up bringing him home. In its own way, it’s a kind of classic fantasy narrative arc that just takes place in San Francisco.

I had a blast with this read - it made me laugh quite often - and it was honestly the kind of adventure I dreamed of stumbling into as a kid. I thought some of the plot elements were eyeroll worthy, even if they made me laugh (come on, boob physics?), and the very brief, vague sex scenes with Kat felt unnecessary and out of place. But overall, I liked the authors ability to make interesting, unique characters and make me care about them quickly and effortlessly.

My only complaint was that the ending felt rushed. It went from this big climactic moment to nothing/failure at their quest to “Oh, he did it…” *so quickly* and easily, it gave me a little whiplash. It wasn’t dissatisfying exactly, I actually like how it wrapped up, but it just felt… too easy?

And maybe that’s because a key element to the books success involves a system, as a museum professional, I wish from the BOTTOM OF MY HEART existed and it just does not, and could not ever, exist. Crossed a reality threshold that is too real for me and therefore felt like too much of a deus ex machina. So that’s where the ding comes from. But I still found this book a great time and you’ve ever wanted an adventure to show up in your real live world, this is for you!

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theseasoul's review

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adventurous funny lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
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

3.5

|| 3.5 ⭐️ ||

This book has got to be sponsored by Google. My goodness.

We follow Clay Jannon, a young man who finds a job as one of three clerks in a 24-hour bookstore. The bookstore is unusual—it’s very tall and narrow, attracts only a few mysterious customers, and carries mostly very specialized books that are…not like your typical books. Clay starts out doing his job and nothing more, suppressing his curiosity about the books & the store’s purpose to the best of his ability. Gradually, however, he becomes suspicious and is determined to find out what’s going on behind the scenes. He enlists several of his friends to help with this mission; one that turns out to be more complex, or simple, than he originally anticipated.

I have really mixed feelings upon finishing this. It was a lighthearted and relatively cozy mystery, which I appreciated. It was easy, smooth and quick to read, a nice break from some of the heavier books I’ve read recently. I enjoyed several of the characters’ personalities, and some of the humour, but a lot of the humour in this book crossed the line into less-than-clean territory and was the opposite of funny to me. Some things could’ve easily been swapped out for far better humour.

The concept behind this book was really intriguing, although all the geeky programming talk lost me sometimes. I certainly didn’t expect computers and the internet…and Google…to play such a giant role in a book about a bookstore.

Oh, and the cover could be better too.

|| Content warnings ||

A handful of s-words. Two characters sleep together a couple times (fades out and no details are given). There’s a strip club located next door to the bookstore, and we are reminded of this frequently. Humour contains some sexual innuendos. One of Clay’s friends runs a company that programs and sells codes that construct the human body for movies and games—especially boobs.

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skudiklier's review against another edition

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adventurous hopeful mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

4.5

Lately I've been really enjoying reading books without knowing anything about them going in, but this is one of the few cases where I'm not sure that made the experience better. I genuinely didn't even know what genre this book was, so I was a little disappointed when it became clear there was nothing bigger going on, since that was hinted at. But overall I enjoyed this! It was nice to listen to and I like the message in the end. It had an interesting resolution. Also I enjoyed all the stuff about SF since that's where I live.

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