Reviews tagging 'Torture'

An Unkindness of Magicians by Kat Howard

9 reviews

sakeriver's review

dark mysterious 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? No

5.0

I’ve had this on my shelf a long time, and I wonder if it would have hit the same if I’d read it back when I first bought it. A story about a person seeing a rotten system and actually tearing it down has a certain extra catharsis in 2024, I think.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture and Murder

rory18's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Body horror, Abandonment, Confinement, Blood, Torture, Trafficking, Child abuse, Death, Violence, Slavery, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Sexual assault, Incest, Racism, Sexual violence, and Classism

Minor: Child death

Tagged as incest due to

Sydney being raised by Ian's aunt

, but in a manner similar to how Rapunzel is raised, so it's like... Pseudo/adoptive-incest of cousins?

booksthatburn's review against another edition

I stopped reading because I’m concerned that this book where a secret and powerful group of magic users whose power is propped up by a secret location where children (and some adults) are tortured and killed in New York City might be antisemitic. It’s at least playing way more into blood libel than I’m comfortable reading.

I hated almost every character. Sydney and her employer are the most sympathetic characters among the magicians, and it seemed like most of the other magicians were meant to be somehow repulsive. Sydney are her employer are also the only magic users who are in the competition but not part of the established houses. At least as far as I got in the book, the members of the houses are varying degrees of unpleasant, from just generally complicit in the pain caused by their magic, all the way up to one being a serial killer who thinks his method of direct murder is better than the secret torture dungeon. I don’t know if he’s right or wrong, but I’m uninterested in the debate.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Violence, Self harm, Body horror, and Death

Moderate: Alcohol, Child abuse, Slavery, Sexism, Murder, Torture, Racism, and Child death

Minor: Vomit, Sexual content, and Death of parent

beccaand's review

adventurous dark mysterious fast-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? Yes

3.75

man i love urban fantasy - this was real solid!
probably suffered a bit from having too many perspectives

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Murder, and Torture

Moderate: Child abuse, Gore, Stalking, and Confinement

Minor: Body horror, Panic attacks/disorders, and Cursing

lizkoroskenyi's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture and Violence

Moderate: Child abuse

habitualrereader's review against another edition

dark 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? N/A

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Torture and Murder

bookcaptivated's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Slavery, Torture, Murder, and Violence

Moderate: Body horror, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, and Vomit

Minor: Abandonment, Alcohol, Child abuse, Cursing, Racism, and Stalking

jmatsumura's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense

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

4.5

This book was very good. It's The Magicians by Lev Grossman meets A Promising Young Woman (flim). I had my doubts in the first few chapters but was fully engulfed by the end- which didn't play out exactly as I had thought. That is always a plus. The magic was good, the morals better, and the plot well-paced. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual violence, Violence, and Torture

dancingkouign's review against another edition

dark mysterious fast-paced

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

3.75

Really enjoyed the plot and got through the book pretty quickly thanks to the great pacing.

However, I personnally struggled to connect to the characters or feel invested in the story.
I guess they all seemed a little bit too cool for me to find them believable??
I did feel quite a lot of empathy for them, I just had difficulties liking them because they never felt real in my mind (I can even like antagonists so that's not the issue)

I genuienly think most people will love this book tho!

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Content Warnings

Minor: Panic attacks/disorders, Torture, and Body horror