Reviews tagging 'Alcoholism'

The Magicians by Lev Grossman

30 reviews

lauraew333's review

adventurous dark mysterious slow-paced

• 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

1.0

Complete waste of time, honestly. The author doesn't do anything to world build, character build, or plot build. I found the characters flat and uninteresting.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Sexual content, and Toxic relationship

emoryjoy's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

2.0

This never happens... The show is better. That may be in large part due to the fact that in the show, you don't get Quentin's inner monologue. If this is what the average man's thoughts are like, then you can have me down as a certified man hater. He is a very sad man who needs more therapy than he would ever be willing to pursue. 

I've listened to this book twice now, (it's my cousin's favorite and I really tried to like it-) and I hated it both times. I will say this though, this book accidentally kicked me out of my reading slump. It was so awful that I needed a pallet cleanser and so I checked out all of my favorite childhood series and then was able to start reading all of these other things that had been on my list. I'm updating this review about 2 years later and I have not slowed down my reading since then. So it gets an extra star for that. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Grief, Stalking, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

csmall73's review

adventurous dark mysterious sad slow-paced

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

3.0

 

 

Its a strange story. Quentin is swept into a magical world of breakbills and magical college essentially. His entire time at breakbills is encompassed in the first part of the book. There’s no threats or quests. Seems more like a diary of his time there. 

 

Reading about some of the sexual encounters of his peers was odd and detached. I found Quentin’s and Alice’s fox encounter weird and borderline SA. I say borderline because it appears so but also he was unprepared for his animal brain at the time. Then the ensuing relationship seems detached like a friends with benefits but not? 

 

All seem lost in fucking, philosophical discussion, wine and lack of real motivation. Like bunch of rich kids that never had a job or purpose in life. Existential crisis. Amidst this existential crisis Quentin cheats on Alice. 

 

Fillory, keeps popping up in passing as well as other worlds but no real connection with the story other than a childhood fascination with the world. 300/402 pages with nothing insight. Then all of a sudden a forgotten side character happens upon a way to Fillory. Out of the blue. I don’t understand why penny would come to them specifically after having issues in school with one another and distancing himself from them specifically. 

 

Alice is an underestimated queen. Quentin is a petty asshole about the breakup and the consequences that come his way. 

 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Alcoholism, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Sexual harassment

noom's review

adventurous challenging dark funny fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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

4.0

God what a book, I ate it up. It's an odd book for sure, but really engaging. The plot is bonkers but never falls apart. The magic system is interesting and the world building is unique.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism and Violence

deathmetalheron's review

dark funny mysterious reflective sad fast-paced

• 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

Moderate: Alcoholism, Infidelity, Violence, and Alcohol

Minor: Drug use

niff_the_nerd's review against another edition

adventurous dark reflective medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Sexism, and Alcohol

Moderate: Ableism

tbd24's review

adventurous dark funny tense 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

4.0

I rather like this series, this is the second time i’ve read it and there are just really great turns of phrase in the prose. I love world building and this book embraces that times three, the magic system is cool and complicated and the characters are never just good people. Quentin is shitty and obnoxious but like what 17 yr old “gifted kid” isn’t? There’s a few questionable moments, the author loves to make women suffer viscerally a little too much in my opinion, but at least he still remembers to make them people. Overall, it’s a good read and an interesting series

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Death, Infidelity, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, and Alcohol

Minor: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Child death, Cursing, Drug use, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Suicide, Violence, Excrement, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Fire/Fire injury, Cultural appropriation, and Injury/Injury detail

_nem_'s review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-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? It's complicated

4.0

I found this book very odd. There were certain moments that had me saying "WHAT??" out loud. It all tied together so nicely. I wouldn't say it had a happy ending but it was hopeful especially right at the end. 

It definitely reminded me of Narnia when talking about Filory especially with the books but then discovering a dark side. There were lots of very odd scenes but overall it had me hooked. I would say there are a lot of points where the plot does seem to grind to a halt and it seems like the book could end there. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal death, Blood, and Alcohol

hyperashley's review against another edition

adventurous dark medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism and Drug use

emcbuckett's review

adventurous dark slow-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? Yes

2.25

This is basically a combination of Harry Potter and the Chronicles of Narnia except with a lot more alcohol and sex. The author refers to the workings of his main characters body far more often than is necessary or helpful. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction and Alcoholism

Moderate: Sexual content and Violence