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bree_h_reads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Blood, Animal death, Death, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Alcohol, Cursing, and Body horror
Moderate: Grief, Sexism, Misogyny, Kidnapping, Sexual harassment, and Death of parent
Minor: Infertility, Kidnapping, Racism, Self harm, Pregnancy, Fatphobia, Medical content, Sexual violence, Suicide attempt, Rape, and Sexual assault
twoweeeeks's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Gore, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, and Animal cruelty
Moderate: Stalking, Fire/Fire injury, and Death
Minor: Sexual violence, Death of parent, and Alcohol
alexga's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
This book does not require "romance" tag frankly speaking.
I was planning to read next book in the series but I read negative reviews of it and realized that Curran is the main romantic interest and since I dislike him, I don't want to invest my time. I liked Nick better, at least he respects Kate unlike lion boy who quite often invalidates her. I read some reviews for the following books in the series and it seems like not only he gets better, on the contrary he became more of a douche. No thank you.
Graphic: Blood, Animal cruelty, Murder, Cannibalism, Violence, Physical abuse, and Gore
Minor: Death of parent, Rape, Sexual assault, Kidnapping, and Murder
thoseoldcrows23's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Torture, Violence, Death, Body horror, and Gore
Moderate: Sexual harassment, Stalking, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death of parent, and Sexism
Minor: Sexual assault, Fatphobia, Child abuse, Child death, Pedophilia, Rape, and Suicide
Mentions of beastilaity, use of the G slur (used in the main text to describe MC's appearance) and the R slur (used in the first bonus chapter to describe MC's behavior).wickedgrumpy's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.0
It's a solid start to the series. I had forgotten how gruesome some of the content can be but it effective paint the picture of apocalypse adjacent times.
The mystery was exciting though knowing the culprit made it a bit frustrating when they were trying to figure out who the baddie was.
Minor: Abandonment, Animal death, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Blood, Gore, Grief, Incest, Pedophilia, Confinement, Cursing, Fire/Fire injury, Child abuse, Child death, Infertility, Murder, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Medical content, Misogyny, Police brutality, Stalking, Torture, and Sexual violence
booksthatburn's review against another edition
- 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
4.0
Kate is a loner by necessity who finds herself getting more entangled than she intended when she investigates her mentor's murder. She has a sword that's excellent at killing undead and needs to be fed if it doesn't get the opportunity often enough.
I wish we had a bit more of her dynamic with Jim, though maybe that's me thinking they were closer than they actually are when this starts out. If the point is that she's kept even her most frequent battle partner at a distance, this conveys that pretty well by treating him as an afterthought except when necessary. Her dynamic with Curran, Jim, and the Pack lays the foundation for many things later on in the series, but, focusing on this book specifically, I like how both she and Curran are so wrapped up in violence as a language that their every interaction is tense and has the possibility of blood, even things that ought to be innocuous.
When starting out a series that seems to be mostly the contemplation of violence, actual violence, and then some romance, it's still a bracing start to kick things off with cannibalism, necrophilia, bestiality, and a murder dungeon. These are balanced with less stressful elements in the narrative, with the most upsetting topics tending to get the barest descriptions, but in combination they make it clear that this city isn't kind to its residents, and Kate will have plenty of things to stab even when this particular murder spree is (hopefully) halted.
MAGIC BITES is a book I've read and re-read for years; it's the start of one of my favorite urban fantasy series, and I enjoy it tremendously. Reading it for this review, I'm impressed with how it holds up for me, but it was never my favorite book in the series. Every time I read it I intensely dislike what happens with Crest. It mostly fits the plot, it enables a truly fantastic related plot beat, but the moment where Kate shows up at his apartment always devastates me because I just wish she'd put other things together earlier. I don't think it breaks the book or anything, it's just a very stressful scene that serves to change who Crest is and can be in the series to make room for someone else.
I love the twist itself, and I appreciate how the groundwork is laid from the very start of the book. The plot works well (even that one scene I don't like has a pretty important purpose), and this sets up a lot for the series to draw upon as it gets going.
Graphic: Death, Violence, Blood, and Gore
Moderate: Animal death, Fatphobia, Murder, Death of parent, Alcohol, Body horror, Body shaming, Cursing, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Self harm, and Sexism
Minor: Suicide, Ableism, Animal cruelty, Slavery, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Racial slurs, Rape, Sexual content, and Mental illness