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pbeeandj's review
- 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
Graphic: Addiction, Animal death, Mental illness, Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, and Violence
Moderate: Fatphobia and Grief
Minor: Ableism
jackielane's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.25
Moderate: Ableism, Alcoholism, Death, Misogyny, and Alcohol
an_library_stan's review
- 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
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.
Graphic: Alcoholism
Moderate: Ableism, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, and Racism
jmeier's review against another edition
- 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
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
sarah2438's review
1.0
**Spoilers**
If I wasn't reading this to impress the guy I'm seeing, I would've DNF'd on page 11 when Quentin says "Unpretty women were so much easier to deal with in some ways-- you didn't have to face the pain of their probable unattainability." (For context: he literally just met this paramedic, who is currently working over a corpse.) Quentin is an insufferable misogynist that gives strong incel-vibes. (His hide-a-coin type magic tricks at the beginning did NOT help that image and honestly made me cringe.) All of his thoughts about women are how attractive they are and how they can serve his own needs, whether that's stroking his ego or being a sexual object. It was honestly disgusting and never seemed to improve. When he wasn't around women, Quentin did have funny moments-- I like a sarcastic douche. But he also spent most of the pitying himself, which got tiring. And yeah, he was obviously struggling with things, like disillusionment, depression, and lacking a sense of purpose. But none of those are valid excuses to cheat on your girlfriend with a threesome, and then have the nerve to be upset with her when she dumps your ass and sleeps with someone else. And when you play a stupid prank that results in major trauma to everyone in the school and the murder of a classmate, just own up to it, and don't move on after a week. God I just really hate this man and did not see any redeeming qualities in him.
Might still read the next book if this guy will let me near it after seeing my thoughts on the first one.
**Edit: He dumped me so I'm lowering my review from 2.5 to 1 star cause let's be honest, that's what it deserves. Don't curve your book review for a man, if he's recommending a bad book then take that as the red flag that it is.
Graphic: Misogyny
Moderate: Sexual content, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail
doriandelioncourt's review against another edition
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
- 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
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 chestlauralintunen's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Addiction, Death, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Grief, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Ableism, Alcoholism, Cursing, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Cannibalism, and Toxic friendship
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Body shaming, Child abuse, Drug use, Incest, Misogyny, Pedophilia, and Sexism
katreadswaytoomuch'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? Yes
2.5
This book is full of misogyny, racism, and ableism. AND IT WAS PUBLISHED IN 2009. It suffers horribly from man-writes-woman.
I also found the MC more unlikeable than he was in the SyFy series. I can’t figure out if that was by design and genius or if it was how the author thinks and distasteful.
I’m so glad SyFy got a hold of this. They really improved the story overall. Don’t bother with the book. Just watch the show.
I still gave it 50/100 because I do like the concept. The characters are meant to be flawed; I love that, but I couldn’t stand the descriptions of female, POC, and plus-sized characters. The plot was really all over the place too.
Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, Fatphobia, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Blood, and Cannibalism
Minor: Pedophilia
Racial slurs, man writes womanauteaandtales's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Minor: Ableism, Body shaming, Cursing, Death, Fatphobia, Gore, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Murder, and Toxic friendship