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pbeeandj's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Animal death, Mental illness, Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, and Violence
Moderate: Fatphobia and Grief
Minor: Ableism
meg_thebrave's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Parts of this book are strange, parts are not fun, but overall? I had a great time listening to this first installment. The audiobook is really good; the narrator is sarcastic and doesn’t take much too seriously, which fits the tone. Quentin is kind of insufferable, but I ended up rooting for him and especially his friends. I’m excited to read the next one; I think it’ll be stronger. I really enjoyed the pacing of the book, and the different places the story went. I also appreciated the way the author didn’t shy away from gory descriptions and intense emotions when necessary. Overall, it’s a lot of fun.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Ableism, Alcoholism, Death, Fatphobia, and Cannibalism
Minor: Homophobia, Mental illness, Pedophilia, and Sexism
an_library_stan's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
It's a testament to the world building and plot that I overall enjoyed this book despite major issues with the language.
The magic is mysterious, even to the characters. I think it was nice they never really defined it. There were times when this annoyed me. Why didn't they just use magic to do X? I also was confused that sometimes really basic spells took meticulous study, understanding of the magicians' environment and specific ingredients to perform, and other times they just whipped out powerful spells seemingly without needing any of that.
The premise of the magical school and fantasy land and exceptional kids appealed to the part of me that felt like I never found my place in high school. I disliked the boy genius element of this, where it was mostly individual magicians doing genius magic after hard solo study. Kind of the same vibe as Iron Man building a super suit by himself.
My biggest issue with the book was some of the language the author used. It feels dated and cringe even for 2009. The book lives up to the stereotype of male authors writing excessively about women's breasts, including describing some as "gropable." Other sexism like this zinger "She hit like a girl, without any weight behind it, but he hadn't seen it coming to roll with it." Broadly sexualizes most female characters and few of the male characters. Multiple uses of the R word, descriptions of people "rocking autistically", racism towards indigenous people - descriptions of someone as "going native", this line seemingly painting Maori as other than human - "Human, or close to it anyway. Maybe Maori." There's a lot of normalized alcoholism in a friend group and no one really supports each other. Also intimate partner violence with a woman physically and verbally assaulting a man.
The magic is mysterious, even to the characters. I think it was nice they never really defined it. There were times when this annoyed me. Why didn't they just use magic to do X? I also was confused that sometimes really basic spells took meticulous study, understanding of the magicians' environment and specific ingredients to perform, and other times they just whipped out powerful spells seemingly without needing any of that.
The premise of the magical school and fantasy land and exceptional kids appealed to the part of me that felt like I never found my place in high school. I disliked the boy genius element of this, where it was mostly individual magicians doing genius magic after hard solo study. Kind of the same vibe as Iron Man building a super suit by himself.
My biggest issue with the book was some of the language the author used. It feels dated and cringe even for 2009. The book lives up to the stereotype of male authors writing excessively about women's breasts, including describing some as "gropable." Other sexism like this zinger "She hit like a girl, without any weight behind it, but he hadn't seen it coming to roll with it." Broadly sexualizes most female characters and few of the male characters. Multiple uses of the R word, descriptions of people "rocking autistically", racism towards indigenous people - descriptions of someone as "going native", this line seemingly painting Maori as other than human - "Human, or close to it anyway. Maybe Maori." There's a lot of normalized alcoholism in a friend group and no one really supports each other. Also intimate partner violence with a woman physically and verbally assaulting a man.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism
Moderate: Ableism, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, and Racism
_lilyeliza_'s review
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
goddamn this book was frustrating. at first it was fun, then by about 200, i was sick of it. i think that’s kind of the point, you progress with the mindset of quentin as you go. but it makes it so hard to finish this book. the pacing is very hard to read. it goes so so fast, but it feels like they’ve done nothing. it’s supposed to be the same frustrations as quentin, but once again, it’s a struggle to finish this book. the worldbuilding is also frustrating, as it feels like there is no worldbuilding until quentin himself is experiencing it. there’s no worldbuilding outside the plot, even simple things like the entire backstory of the library (something quentin wouldn’t know) aren’t explained until he walks into the library for an arbitrary reason. the best example of this is right before he goes to brakebills south, he goes “i’ve always wondered about the mystery of the fourth years”, but he hasn’t wondered! we’ve never heard about this until right now! also quentin is just an asshole!! his struggles are relatable and sympathetic and it’s easy to empathize with him, but gosh it’s frustrating. he feels entitled in his own story, we see it play out over and over again. he believes that he deserves to be the main character, and the fact that he hasn’t stumbled into a quest means that he gives up on it all. i understand what we’re looking at, but to ONLY see the world through his eyes is just frustrating. he becomes so apathetic and insensitive. he spends the entire book being incredibly self centered, but it feels like he never learns. alice dying for him so that he can go to become king is the most frustrating shit. they fixed all their problems right at the end and now she’s a martyr so he can go save the day!! no bitch, you’re still a dick and you don’t deserve this. but yeah, it’s a technically good book and makes very good critiques of its own characters. but at the end of the day, i think books should be enjoyable to read and this one was not. also, the fox thing was weird and lowkey creepy.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction and Alcoholism
Moderate: Drug abuse, Mental illness, and Toxic relationship
haleyrayreads's review against another edition
dark
lighthearted
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
The concept of this book is great, the characters are okay, but the plot drags a bit. I appreciate not being dragged through separate books for each year of school but the transition between years could be abrupt and unclear at times.
The story is mainly driven by character who are pretty one note and their motivations are questionable at best. Their main quest is motivated by ‘well we aren’t doing anything else right now.’ and it takes forever to get to that point. This first 2/3 if this book was so slow. However, once they’re off on their quest the story moves at a more brisk pace that’s refreshing until the main antagonist is taken care of. After that it goes on several chapters too long. It felt like every time a chapter ended I thought that was the end, then there was even more story that served no purpose than to allow readers to wallow in our narrator’s sorrow. This could have been cut in half or more and gotten the same point across.
The concept is great and it’s a fun story with some adjustments, but the pacing, character development, and casual use of ableist and fatphobic language would make me hesitate to read this particular book again.
The story is mainly driven by character who are pretty one note and their motivations are questionable at best. Their main quest is motivated by ‘well we aren’t doing anything else right now.’ and it takes forever to get to that point. This first 2/3 if this book was so slow. However, once they’re off on their quest the story moves at a more brisk pace that’s refreshing until the main antagonist is taken care of. After that it goes on several chapters too long. It felt like every time a chapter ended I thought that was the end, then there was even more story that served no purpose than to allow readers to wallow in our narrator’s sorrow. This could have been cut in half or more and gotten the same point across.
The concept is great and it’s a fun story with some adjustments, but the pacing, character development, and casual use of ableist and fatphobic language would make me hesitate to read this particular book again.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Cursing, Blood, and Alcohol
Moderate: Ableism, Death, Fatphobia, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, and Violence
Minor: Body shaming, Infidelity, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Blood, and Toxic friendship
bitofadisgrace's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Ok this book is definitely a product of its time (frequent use of the "r-word", jokes at the fat character's expense), but I still had fun. I watched and adored the show, which fixed a lot of the issues I have with the books, so I might be overly generous with the rating.
The book was very long and feels somewhat unfocused in the first 3/4, but imo it ended up being worth it for the plot twist near the end.
The book was very long and feels somewhat unfocused in the first 3/4, but imo it ended up being worth it for the plot twist near the end.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism and Mental illness
Moderate: Fatphobia, Homophobia, and Grief
Minor: Pedophilia
jmeier's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I would give this book a five if it weren't for the mild to moderate ableism, racism, and overall attitude of white privileged. The characters are all white. The setting is all white. The narrator and protagonist us multiple disability slurs and is deeply judgemental of neurodiverse coded characters. I love the story, but it reads like something from the 80s at points, not 2009.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Body shaming, and Classism
Moderate: Drug abuse, Drug use, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, and Toxic friendship
Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Biphobia, Death, Gore, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, Sexual content, Violence, Religious bigotry, and Alcohol
doriandelioncourt's review against another edition
The writing is bad and reminds me of a fan fiction with metaphors that are far too forced. Grossman wins the crown for men-writing-women with his unnecessary sexist and even racist descriptions of the character. The gay character is made fun of for his sexuality and slut-shamed (there are rape jokes made on their behalf). The story drags because of the POV. Quentin is a whiny nice-guy protagonist who feels like an author self-insert. None of the characters are likeable, which wouldn't be a problem if their flaws were a focus of the story. All in all this book is a big cringe fest and I would not recommend it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Alcoholism, Biphobia, Body shaming, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol
glowbruise's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-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
4.75
books for people who check the back of old wardrobes for Narnia
Content Warnings
Moderate: Ableism, Body shaming, Death, Drug use, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail
multiple uses of the r word, fatphovia directed at a specific character, women often described by their attractiveness/ particular mention of their chestireadinbed's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
I cannot in good conscience give this book higher than a 3 rating. Despite definitely planning to read on.
Lev Grossman is a deeply weird person. There's way too many weird phrases about balls and people fucking animals. . .or being animals fucking. . .idk it's weird.
Also I fucking hate the main character. He's getting a bit more bearable at the end, and no one says the main character has to be likable(I love the poppy war and the main character is an insufferable drug addicted war criminal), but it's like reading catcher in the rye with magic and I can't explain how much I hated Holden in that book. They are the same.
I do however love some of the supporting cast and the way that the books never feel like they are going to let you see the point. The only dance around it. Interested to see where they go.
Lev Grossman is a deeply weird person. There's way too many weird phrases about balls and people fucking animals. . .or being animals fucking. . .idk it's weird.
Also I fucking hate the main character. He's getting a bit more bearable at the end, and no one says the main character has to be likable(I love the poppy war and the main character is an insufferable drug addicted war criminal), but it's like reading catcher in the rye with magic and I can't explain how much I hated Holden in that book. They are the same.
I do however love some of the supporting cast and the way that the books never feel like they are going to let you see the point. The only dance around it. Interested to see where they go.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, and Alcohol
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Fatphobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, and Suicidal thoughts
Minor: Sexual harassment