Reviews tagging 'Blood'

The Ruthless Lady's Guide to Wizardry by C.M. Waggoner

9 reviews

relin's review

I really enjoyed the characters but struggled with the pacing and writing style around this point where I noticed I was setting it down frequently. Picking it back up again got harder each time, but I had to read the ending to see what happened. I did skip ahead so I could have that conclusion even though I was missing some key parts.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Child death, Drug abuse, Suicide, and Violence

Moderate: Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Cursing, Animal death, Blood, Gun violence, Gaslighting, Addiction, Abandonment, Child abuse, Toxic friendship, and Classism

Minor: Fire/Fire injury

There is also attempted

sorocide

that is not accomplished.

nytephoenyx's review

adventurous funny lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

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

3.5

 I have mixed feelings about The Ruthless Lady’s Guide to Wizardry.

I picked it up because it looked light and funny, and it was amusing, but not so much funny. It’s a book largely written in a fantasy-style slang and takes some adjusting. The first third of the book requires slow, deliberate reading until the reader learns what some of Delly’s slang, the world-specific and magic-specific terminology, and what things are just verbal mannerisms. If I’d been listening to the audiobook, I think this would have gone more smoothly as I could rely on the narrator’s tone for some interpretation in the early parts. As it was, it ended up as more of a slow read than I would have liked, and that put a damper on he whole thing.

Normally I’d complain about the romance in a fantasy book, but I think this one was well balanced. The book’s description was a little different on my edition, and it made clear that Delly was set to get householded (married) to someone wealthy… or at least have a good romp and acquire some expensive gifts she could pawn. I really didn’t think the romance was too much, altogether. Fantasy was the day job, romance was the night job. Really, like most of our normal lives. And Winn was likable enough, not swooning or distracting.

The fantasy elements of this book was fascinatingly constructed. It is equal parts alchemy and magic, a good combination that at times made things seem just slightly fantasy-steampunk. Dialect choices aside (which weren’t bad once I figured them out, but I’m in enough of a slump that it was a chore) I thought the world was pretty good. Even the supporting cast was interesting.

It does feel like there’s more story here, almost as though C.M. Waggoner has a sequel in mind, or at least other stories in this world. The whole plot with a fine lady and assassins mentioned in the book description only takes up a small part of the novel, with the larger story based around vengeance, justice, and busting up a drug ring. It’s all still interesting, just not quite what I expected.

As I said at the beginning of this review, I am on the fence. Some days I liked the book, some days I didn’t. I think when I was able to sit down and read it for longer spurts, it fared better. Story-wise, I recommend it to folks who like books like Just One Damned Thing After Another (which I do!) so I don’t regret picked it up. Just know that it’s a bit more than it appears. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Vomit, Drug use, Animal death, Drug abuse, and Death

Moderate: Blood

Minor: Classism

rachellyeah's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense 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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Death, Addiction, Blood, Gore, Drug use, Violence, Fire/Fire injury, and Murder

Moderate: Alcohol, Suicide, Classism, Cursing, Gun violence, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Abandonment, and Alcoholism

Minor: Sexual content, Body horror, Child abuse, and Kidnapping

rtaire's review

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Blood, Murder, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Addiction, Body horror, and Child death

Moderate: Classism and Death

dealingwithdragons's review

adventurous funny mysterious 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Child death, Drug abuse, Addiction, Alcohol, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Medical content, Murder, Sexual content, Suicide, Violence, Vomit, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Confinement, Cursing, and Death

Moderate: Ableism, Child abuse, Forced institutionalization, Abandonment, Bullying, and Classism

Minor: Infertility

eamily's review

adventurous dark emotional funny lighthearted mysterious fast-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

Graphic: Drug abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Toxic friendship, Blood, Classism, Death, Drug use, Abandonment, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Torture, Suicide, and Murder

Moderate: Grief, Vomit, Infidelity, Body horror, Gaslighting, Gun violence, Cursing, and Forced institutionalization

mothie_girlie's review

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal death, Blood, and Drug abuse

Moderate: Toxic relationship

jamie_reads_stuff's review

adventurous funny lighthearted medium-paced

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

3.75

The pacing was super weird, but enjoyed the characters and world building overall

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Vomit, Abandonment, Violence, Toxic friendship, Suicide, Sexual content, Outing, Drug abuse, and Drug use

Moderate: Blood, Bullying, and Confinement

blackrabbitrun's review

adventurous funny slow-paced

• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

This book will sink or swim for you depending on your opinion on characters who will say "gesticulate towards the firmament" instead of "point at the sky", and use words like "post-bong-etary" and "enkittenated". Because Dellaria Wells is such a character, and she's the narrator.

The language is a bit heavy in the opening chapters, but lightens up quickly once the plot gets underway and Delly becomes too busy vanquishing undead mechanical spiders to think through too many hoops when talking to her new companions. While Delly's narration drops extraneous flourishes, the overall language of the book stays delightfully immersive throughout - religion, history, geography, wealth, class, personality and character development woven deep into characters' word choice and grammar. The fact that there's a plot (and a romance) as well became almost secondary, though the latter deserves praise for avoiding most of the stupidest romance plot contrivances.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Drug use, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, and Murder