Reviews tagging 'Terminal illness'

Magic for Liars by Sarah Gailey

45 reviews

laguerrelewis's review

dark emotional funny mysterious reflective 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

4.75

If anything about this book’s summary speaks to you, please read this book. An excellent concept executed brilliantly, with a compelling mystery, interesting characters, and an honestly fresh take on the concept of hidden magic schools (which, btw, a nonbinary author did way better than a certain transphobe…). At points I did feel like I was getting ahead of our protagonist with connecting clues, but the mystery still has enough twists and creativity  that it kept me on my toes and surprised. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Emotional abuse, Medical content, Murder, Death, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Pregnancy, Vomit, Alcohol, Terminal illness, Abortion, Bullying, Gore, and Grief

betyplush's review

dark emotional mysterious fast-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Terminal illness

Minor: Sexual content

nicnevin's review

dark mysterious tense 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? Yes

4.0

This book is a murder mystery in a high school that so happens to be filled with young mages. 

Ivy is a private detective given the case. Ivy has no magic but her twin Tabitha does. Ivy tries to navigate the world of magic and murder whilst remarking that how similar the high school environments are. 

Its a good book, even if the ending is abrupt and so many loose ends are left dangling. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Blood, Body horror, Body shaming, Cancer, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Murder, Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, Sexism, Terminal illness, Toxic friendship, and Violence

lilifane's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

3.0

The premise of this one was SO good: A violent death in a magical school. The protagonist Ivy, a private detective without any magical powers, whose estranged sister is one of the magical teacher, gets hired to find out what happened. This could have been such a cool murder mystery. 

Instead, it was just really weird and kind of boring? 

Beside the premise, I also loved some characters, like Rahul and Mrs. Webb. I also liked a tiny portion of the magic (the healing parts were so cool! I think these were the most exciting and thrilling scenes of the whole book), the queer rep and the setting kind of. 

But that's basically it. The whole investigation was random and full of boring teenager drama I didn't care for at all. The clues and red herrings were ridiculous, especially because it was kind of easy to guess who done it pretty early on. The decisions Ivy makes are the worst ever. The magic system is weird. I mean there are some cool parts to practical magic but the theory? The book lost me there. It just felt weird. And don't get me started on the romance plot...

I'm really torn because it felt like a more realistic take on a magical school, not another romanticized version. With teenagers acting like actual teens and a school which provides sex ed and contraception. I liked this a lot. It felt like the book was written for everyone who waited for their Hogwarts letter to arrive for half their life and finally gets to experience a magical school as a non-magical adult. And it's kind of disenchanting. Also, the way the Chosen One trope is handled here was actually really refreshing. 

But I was expecting SO much more from the actual mystery plot. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Alcohol, Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Cancer, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Medical content, Medical trauma, Terminal illness, Toxic friendship, and Vomit

yavin_iv's review

emotional mysterious fast-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Blood, Medical trauma, Alcoholism, Cancer, Death, and Death of parent

Moderate: Pregnancy, Abortion, Terminal illness, Murder, Cursing, Bullying, and Violence

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Sexual content, and Eating disorder

a_dara_ble's review

emotional funny mysterious medium-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

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Blood, Cursing, Medical content, and Murder

Minor: Grief, Sexual content, and Terminal illness

piperlee's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.75

What I thought would be an interesting murder mystery with magic mixed in ended up being a highly character-driven and contemplative story about family, grief, and feelings of inadequacy.
I really enjoyed this book, despite the weird. The magical high school and variety of characters kept it interesting and added a lot of mystery to the story. However, the ending left me feeling frustrated. It was too unbelievable for me to justify Ivy’s decision at the end with all the horror and trauma the murderer had caused. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Murder, Terminal illness, Abortion, Cancer, Death of parent, Death, Gore, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Alcoholism, Bullying, and Grief

5aru's review

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

Amazing read. Kept me hooked throughout! The author's style is so agreeable to read, and the mystery is so well-woven, I had a hard time putting it down -  although the resolution of the case did peter out a bit. I really like how Ivy's feelings are fleshed out throughout, she's a very rounded character and I grew to really like her despite all her (rather glaring) flaws. The rest of the cast is almost equally as interesting, too.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Cancer, Abortion, Addiction, and Alcoholism

Moderate: Medical trauma, Medical content, and Terminal illness

Minor: Adult/minor relationship

sebrittainclark's review

challenging dark mysterious medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Murder, Grief, Death of parent, Death, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Alcoholism and Bullying

Minor: Eating disorder

katie_the_librarian's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Death, Grief, Medical content, Abortion, Bullying, Cancer, Death of parent, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Sexual content and Terminal illness

Minor: Toxic relationship